Internet Changes Everything

Internet cast-offs block the roads

Times Online

THOUSANDS of unwanted home-delivery goods, many ordered on the internet, are clogging up Britain’s roads as they are returned, according to a government-sponsored report, writes Andrew Porter.

Ministers are now demanding retailers come up with better solutions to curb the impact of the traffic on roads and the environment.
The report says £500m is being lost by unnecessary freight journeys. The problem is set to get worse because of a European Union directive demanding that large electronic items are recycled.
The Efficiency of Reverse Logistics report has been drawn up by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport with Cranfield School of Management and Sheffield Hallam University. It concludes that retailers have given little thought to how to manage returns in “a sustainable way”.

David Jamieson, the junior transport minister, has challenged industry “to find solutions and change business practices to reduce the [number of] wasted products and the £500m of avoidable transport effort”.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the amount spent via mail order and internet shopping in the three months to July 2004 was 12.5% higher than in the same period last year, the highest since records began in 1986.
Present estimates are that internet shopping will be worth £17 billion this year in the UK, representing 7% of all retail sales.

October 31, 2004 at 12:34 AM in eCommerce | Permalink | TrackBack (100) | Top of page | Blog Home