Shoper online stores ready for the eco revolution

As of the beginning of 2021, the so-called "plastic tax" and regulations limiting the marketing of disposable products made of plastic went into effect in the European Union. What consequences will the plastic tax have for online sellers and buyers?

Indications that the end of the popular bubble wrap in shipments was approaching appeared almost three years ago. In the meantime, many stores have independently decided to introduce eco-friendly packaging into their offerings. They have replaced bubble wrap - with biodegradable fillers, plastic tape - with recyclable tape, and the cartons themselves - with recycled cardboard.

- It is difficult to say whether eco-packaging is always more expensive. Much depends on the type of materials used, as the choice of eco-packaging and fillers is very wide today," comments Artur Halik, Head of Sales of the Shoper online stores platform. - We can already see that more and more sellers, running their own online store, decide to introduce ecological solutions, which shoppers are also increasingly looking for in their stores.

According to a survey conducted by Raconteur, the higher cost of green packaging is a common concern among online store owners. In Poland, however, it may be the other way around - the bill, though only just being consulted with experts, includes an additional fee for those still willing to buy in single-use plastic packaging.

What no one expected is rising paperboard prices, which quite coincidentally coincided with the entry into force of new EU regulations. The closure of the five most environmentally damaging paper mills in China has reduced the amount of paperboard produced, increased the waiting time for ordered cartons, and raised their prices. However, this is a temporary setback.

In the latest survey of Poles' environmental attitudes conducted for Blue Media, 40 percent of our compatriots say they would be willing to pay extra for non-plastic packaging. This is good news, especially since the percentage has increased by 5 percentage points since last year.

Plastic and other plastics account for more than 80 percent of marine waste, half of which is single-use products. Microplastics, and the remains of plastics floating in the oceans, become an invisible threat to animals living in and around the aquatic environment - fish, birds, turtles, or whales. And let's not forget that by ending up in the digestive tract of fish, microplastics also end up in our bodies.

The European Commission, in introducing regulations banning single-use plastic products, conditioned its decision on the need to reduce plastic trash. Although Poland has had less than three years to introduce its own regulations, national laws are being introduced at the last minute, and their specific shape will be known in the coming weeks.

However, the e-commerce industry should not worry about possible increases in shipping prices or the products themselves related to the new law. Among online stores on the Shoper platform, eco-friendly packaging is not new - offered as one of the options or, increasingly, as the only possible packaging for an order, it is quite popular among buyers.

An example of this is the Simple Store, which operates on the Shoper platform, whose creators pack shipped products in recycled paper and corrugated cardboard, fill them with scrooge, which is 100% biodegradable, while they use paper tape or simply string to seal the packages. The Less More store also packs in recycled materials. The use of biodegradable packaging is also boasted by the Lillow store. The Cantino online store, on the other hand, has just specialized in selling eco-friendly packaging - mainly for the food service industry.

- In Poland, there is a steadily growing interest in activities that could be a bit more environmentally friendly than our existing lifestyles. However, it is still not easy to find organic products in one's neighborhood, and for their producers to find a sufficient number of customers through traditional distribution channels. Selling via the Internet often turns out to be the best way to reach conscious, increasingly demanding and environmentally-conscious people, comments Shoper's Artur Halik. - The ability to offer a product and service an order that would be environmentally friendly from A to Z is increasingly an important advantage that prevails among customers in choosing a store.

For more information, please contact: pr@shoper.pl.