Sustainability has transitioned from a trendy concept.
Both consumers and stakeholders expect businesses to minimise their environmental impact while maintaining efficiency and growth.
For businesses that need to navigate the complexities of digital commerce, Product Information Management (PIM) solutions are a key to success. PIM solutions centralise product data, streamline operations, and support scalable growth, making product management more efficient while promoting sustainable e-commerce.
What is Sustainable E-commerce
Sustainable e-commerce combines economic growth with environmental and social responsibility. It focuses on reducing environmental impact through practices such as:
- minimising waste
- using renewable energy
- promoting ethical supply chains
It also emphasises long-term profitability by integrating environmentally friendly operations, ethical labour practices, and responsible resource management into every aspect of a business.
Sustainable e-commerce affects both traditional businesses and digital businesses.
E-commerce has added challenges to sustainability, with faster product access leading to more deliveries and returns.
Challenges to E-commerce Sustainability
As hard as it is to believe, product information management is a big hurdle when it comes to achieving e-commerce sustainability. The way businesses manage their product data can have a major impact on their sustainability initiatives:
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High product returns: Poor product descriptions, incomplete specifications and inconsistent images lead to customers ordering products that do not meet their expectations. This increases the environmental footprint caused by potential returns.
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Poor visibility into product lifecycles: Many businesses struggle to track and document product sustainability metrics like material sourcing, recyclability, and energy usage due to fragmented data systems.
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Challenges with eco-friendly compliance: Adhering to sustainability regulations standards can be time-intensive and complex with unorganised data.
Going Green with PIM Software
Many companies find it challenging to expand without increasing their environmental footprint. However, with a composable PIM solution, e-commerce businesses can achieve sustainability and scalability.
Composable PIM solutions are designed to grow with businesses while maintaining operational efficiency. Thanks to a composable architecture, businesses can scale without straining their resources.
Also, a composable PIM supports sustainable practises by streamlining processes that could otherwise lead to waste:
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Reduces inventory errors: Accurate product data minimises miscommunication between systems and reduces over- or under-stocking that leads to waste.
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Optimises supply chain data: Centralised product data ensures that manufacturers, distributors and retailers receive the same data, avoiding redundancies and errors that can lead to resource inefficiencies.
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Reduces system waste: Composable solutions reduce the environmental impact associated with frequent system upgrades or changes.
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Minimises the environmental impact: By improving operational efficiency and eliminating manual, resource-intensive processes, PIM solutions inherently reduce energy consumption and the associated environmental footprint.
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Enriches product information: PIM solutions enable organised, complete and enriched product data with all environmental metrics, helping customers make informed decisions when purchasing products.
How Bluestone PIM Drives Sustainable E-commerce
Sustainable e-commerce it’s about creating smarter, leaner operations that reduce environmental impact while meeting customer expectations. Bluestone PIM not only streamlines product data management, but actively supports environmentally friendly practices.
Bluestone PIM brings several advantages to sustainable e-commerce:
Bluestone PIM is a much easier way for us to add the footprint data into the system.
1. Decreases Product Returns
Incomplete or inaccurate product information can cause customers to purchase products that don’t meet their expectations, leading to returns. This process generates unnecessary emissions and waste. Bluestone PIM addresses this problem by centralising product data, ensuring consistent and detailed product information across all sales channels.
With comprehensive product information, customers make informed decisions, reducing the likelihood of returns and fostering customer trust.
2. Supports Sustainable Packaging Initiatives
Bluestone PIM can track and manage packaging data, including information on materials and recyclability. This makes it easier for businesses to reduce non-recyclable materials and achieve goals like zero-waste packaging.
3. Facilitates Global Expansion
Bluestone PIM supports localisation and multi-language capabilities with AI Linguist feature, helping businesses tailor product information for different markets. This minimises unsold inventory and supports environmentally friendly global expansion.
4. Optimises Environmental Footprint Tracking
With Bluestone PIM, businesses can easily share detailed sustainability-related product information with customers and stakeholders, increasing the trust and loyalty of environmentally conscious consumers.
5. Enhances Data Transparency
With Bluestone PIM, businesses can easily share detailed sustainability-related product information with customers and stakeholders, increasing the trust and loyalty of environmentally conscious consumers.
6. Supports Compliance with Environmental Regulations
The European Union (EU) is making changes to support sustainability. For this reason, it has introduced an eco-standard, the Digital Product Passport (DPP), which will come into force in 2026. The DPP states that businesses operating in EU countries must provide detailed information about the life cycle of their products - such as information on material composition and recycling.
Bluestone PIM helps businesses comply with environmental standards by centralising sustainability data and certifications. By simplifying compliance with environmental standards such as the DPP, Bluestone PIM helps businesses avoid fines.
Want to learn more about the DPP?
7. Uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) to Reduce Environment Impact
Bluestone PIM, hosted on AWS, benefits from energy-efficient infrastructures. AWS is sustainable with 4.1 times more energy efficiency than on-premises solutions and can reduce workloads’ carbon footprints by up to 99%.
In 2023, Amazon matched 100% of its electricity consumption with renewable energy, with over 7 billion litres of water replenished annually.
8. Uses AI to Emphasise Sustainability
Bluestone PIM's AI-driven features, such as AI Enrich, play a role in driving sustainability. By automating content creation and refining product descriptions, these tools help to improve the accuracy and quality of product information, resulting in fewer product returns - a significant contributor to waste in e-commerce.
Additionally, with AI generated content, businesses can automatically create clear and detailed descriptions that emphasise ecological standards and product sustainability.
PIM as a Sustainable E-commerce Driver
Sustainability and business efficiency are no longer opposites. With solutions like Bluestone PIM, businesses can align their operations with environmental goals while achieving higher productivity, faster time-to-market and a better customer experience. Whether it’s streamlining omnichannel commerce, enabling precise localisation or complying with eco-friendly regulations, PIM is the cornerstone of a sustainable digital strategy.
Ready to make your business more sustainable? Talk to our experts or book a demo session today and find out how Bluestone PIM can turn your product information management into a green advantage.
