Does ecommerce sustainability even matter anymore?
In today's business climate, many operations leaders quietly wonder if sustainability initiatives still belong on the priority list. There seem to be bigger issues to address: Supply chains are uncertain. Material costs continue to rise. Headlines focus more on affordability than sustainability.
Ecommerce sustainability still matters, but the approach has changed. For years, sustainability was treated as a marketing approach or a compliance chore. But Operations leaders always knew better. Real impact comes when sustainability is treated as the outcome of better execution, not a separate initiative.
Now, the corner office has caught up.
What Ecommerce Sustainability Means Now
Sustainability initiatives are very much alive. Among the world's 2,000 largest companies, 41% now have net-zero targets for their entire value chain in 2025, up from 27% in 2024. But the emphasis has shifted from loud branding to quieter, more targeted execution and compliance.
Most large companies are not abandoning sustainability; they are reframing sustainability around risk, cost, and resilience. Surveys and board-level guidance by The Conference Board, a global think-tank of over 2,000 public and private companies, show three clear themes:
1. Sustainability is Emerging as Business as Usual
Climate and sustainability are now treated as core business issues - supply-chain risk, cost volatility, and regulatory exposure - rather than standalone environmental, social & governance (ESG) campaigns.
2. Companies Are Targeting Scope 3 Progress
New reporting rules and net-zero commitments are pushing companies to show measurable progress on Scope 3 emissions - indirect emissions upstream or downstream in the value chain.
For most companies, Scope 3 is the biggest slice of their footprint - often 70-90% of total emissions. That's because Scope 3 captures all those supply-chain and product-use emissions impacts beyond their own walls. Logistics optimization, inventory placement, and distributed order management are Scope 3 levers: they change how much transport and distribution emissions companies create outside their owned operations.
3. Green Investment is Shifting to Improving Operations
As a result, investment is shifting toward capabilities embedded in operations - end-to-end visibility, better planning, network optimization - rather than isolated "green" projects. That's where the biggest impact on Scope 3 emissions occurs.
This is the core idea behind ecommerce sustainability in 2026: The companies making real positive environmental impact are not chasing initiatives. They are fixing operations.
Consumers Care About Sustainability - But Expect You to Fund It
On the demand side, the story is familiar. Shoppers say sustainability matters. It influences trust and brand loyalty. But price still wins at the checkout.
Recent consumer research all shows the same pattern. Most shoppers care about climate impact, yet most are unwilling to pay more than a small premium for sustainable options.
- Multiple recent studies report that around two-thirds of consumers are concerned about climate and say sustainability shapes which brands they trust and stay loyal to.
- When tested at checkout, the majority refuse to pay more than a very small premium; many surveys find that 60-70% of consumers cite price as the main barrier to buying more sustainable options.
The result is a tension that Operations leaders recognize: customers like sustainable options, they reward brands that offer them, but they are largely unwilling to underwrite a cost increase.
DOM Drives Ecommerce Sustainability - And Higher Margins
Sustainability no longer lives in slide decks or annual reports. To have an impact, it needs to be embedded in operations, where it shows up in everyday decisions about inventory placement, how orders are handled, and how deliveries are shipped.
Distributed Order Management, or DOM, changes how those decisions get made. DOM systems route ecommerce orders to the fulfillment location with the lowest delivered cost that still meets the consumer's delivery expectation. That usually means the location closest to the consumer. Shorter shipping distance means less shipping cost and less carbon emissions. When inventory placement and order routing improve, costs fall and emissions fall with them.
Sounds good - in theory.
But does it work? And if so, how can we measure the impact?
Etail decided to find out.
Using actual Etail customer data, one study showed DOM could cut last-mile emissions by 35.5% and save $5.6M annually.
Proving the DOM's Impact on Sustainability
Working with Penn State, researchers modeled a large ecommerce operation that had implemented Etail's DOM-based order and inventory management system. They tested what would happen if orders were fulfilled from ideal inventory locations using a modern, rules-driven DOM engine. The products, customers, and network stayed the same. Only the decision logic changed.
The study results were direct and measurable.
Last mile transport emissions dropped by 35.5 percent. Shorter delivery distances and fewer suboptimal ship-from locations drove most of the reduction.
Annual shipping costs fell by roughly $5.6 million. Savings came from fewer miles traveled, lower fuel use, better route and trailer utilization, and fewer inefficient shipments.
Nothing else changed. The gains came entirely from day-to-day decisions regarding better inventory placement and smarter order allocation. Ecommerce sustainability was not an added initiative; it was the natural result of more efficient operations.
This is where ecommerce sustainability and DOM intersect. When fewer miles are driven and fewer shipments are split, emissions fall and costs fall together. Customers get faster, cheaper delivery. Operations teams get a better P&L. No one has to subsidize improved sustainability as an outcome.
Why Distributed Order Management is a Core Ecommerce Sustainability Lever
Operations leaders do not need new strategies around sustainability. They need to know which levers produce results. DOM touches many of the most important ones.
Fewer miles per order
DOM evaluates available nodes and routes each order to the best fit based on inventory, proximity, service level, and constraints, which naturally cuts line-haul and last-mile distance. Every avoided mile reduces both fuel spend and emissions.
Lower split-shipment rates
When inventory is placed and exposed correctly, more orders can ship from a single location. That means fewer boxes, labels, handling events, and last-mile trips per order - all of which reduce cost and carbon emissions.
Healthier inventory in the right places
The distributed inventory strategies that support DOM reduce overstock in low-demand nodes and under-stock high demand locations, leading to fewer inter-facility transfers, emergency moves, and markdown-driven churn. Those avoided transfers also are avoided emissions. https://www.etailsolutions.com/distributed-inventory-management
Higher trailer and route utilization
When orders are funneled to optimal nodes and carriers, you get fuller trucks, fewer partial loads, and more efficient routing. That is classic transportation efficiency and a direct lever on emissions per unit delivered.
Better promise accuracy
DOM's real-time view of network inventory, constraints, and service rules allows more accurate delivery promises and higher on-time performance, which cuts costly reships, expedites, and failure-recovery moves that add redundant miles.
Accurate reporting
DOM also generates the data needed for credible reporting. It already records where orders ship from, how they move, and which carriers handle them. When paired with standard emissions factors, this data supports consistent transport emissions estimates without manual effort.
Executing Ecommerce Sustainability at Scale
These are not new ideas. They are core operations principles. DOM just makes them executable at scale, across all sales channels and fulfillment nodes, every day.
Ecommerce sustainability is not about choosing between cost, service, and climate impact. It is about fixing the decisions that create waste.
Distributed Order Management makes those decisions smarter. The Etail study shows what happens when inventory is placed correctly and orders flow through the network with intent. Costs fall. Emissions fall. Service improves.
That's not a sustainability program. It's good operations. And in today's ecommerce environment, that's the kind of sustainability that lasts.
Additional resources
PLATFORM OVERVIEWS
Distributed Inventory Management
BLOG POSTS
What is Distributed Order Management
Ecommerce Sustainability by the Numbers
Sustainable Ecommerce Fulfillment
WHITE PAPERS
Ecommerce Fulfillment: The Complete Guide to Sustainable Ecommerce Fulfillment
