A lot of hot air?

Last month, a member of the Retail Week team practically staggered out of the office’s courier room with an enormous cardboard box. After rummaging through the hundreds of tiny protective cardboard strips that it contained, she eventually fished out her online order from Origins: a 3cm-high bottle of skin lotion.

This beauty brand is not alone in the excessive amount of packaging used to deliver online orders. Retail Week decided to put retailers to the test and the results were very mixed.

At a time when costs are scrutinised more than ever, packaging is one way to save serious cash. And while retailers often pile the pressure on their suppliers to reduce packaging, this mystery shop shows that many retailers themselves are falling at the last hurdle.

Among the worst offenders in this experiment was Boots. An order of mascara and some baby wipes came packed up like precious china. Boots UK director of insight, loyalty and multichannel Ruth Spencer says, though, that it does try to keep packaging to a minimum. “Our warehouse systems are designed to know the exact product dimensions of each item in an order, and then recommend the most efficient size of packaging to be used.”

Sainsbury’s and Tesco are both guilty of using an extraordinary number of plastic bags for relatively small orders. One Sainsbury’s bag contained nothing more than two lonely limes. Its director of direct channels Tanya Lawler says every effort is made to ensure groceries are packed in as few bags as possible. “Our colleagues are trained to pack in an efficient way without compromising the quality of the shopping, and all shopping is checked before it goes on to the Sainsbury’s delivery vans.”

Tesco’s bag usage was equally extravagant - one bag contained a triple pot of houmous and nothing else. However, Tesco should also be applauded for being the only grocer to offer a no-bag delivery option.

This service has been in operation since 2007 and 40% of its online shoppers choose not to have plastic bags delivered. A Tesco spokesman says the no-bag option was simple to introduce and creates operational benefits. “If you’re doing the picking in store this speeds up the process and makes it much easier, and importantly we’re providing our customers with choice at the same time.” It does raise the question why other grocers can’t introduce a no-bag policy. The question was put to Sainsbury’s but it declined to answer.

Despite this all retailers have made huge efforts to reduce packaging usage in-store. Sainsbury’s has reduced the number of plastic bags it gives out by awarding Nectar points for bag re-use. In addition, all the grocers take bags back for recycling. Spencer adds that Boots, despite its poor result in this test, has “recently increased the number of boxes available from seven to 11 different types in order to further minimise the amount of packaging used”.

My-wardrobe.com should be singled out for its minimal packaging option in which products arrive in just tissue paper and a cardboard box. Premium brands such as this have the additional problem of customer expectation. Chief executive and co-founder Sarah Curran says: “As a luxury retailer we have always strived to offer a premium experience and the beautifully gift-wrapped item is a key part of that.” She adds that 20% of customers opt for minimal packaging.

Homebase was among the greenest performers in this test. Home Retail Group CSR manager Rosi Watson says it has been working hard on reducing packaging. “It’s good for the environment, it’s good for the customer and it’s good for the bottom line”. But it is not easy: “You have to get the balance right and ensure the product isn’t damaged.”

There is still room for improvement, often through simple measures such as better staff training. The CSR agenda is a huge and complex area for retailers, but there are steps that could be taken that would help the environment, please customers and save money.

BOOTS

The order A mascara and some baby wipes

The packaging A large cardboard box, thick brown paper for cushioning, bubble wrap around the mascara, two leaflets and one thick - and not knowingly requested - Christmas catalogue

Green rating RED

What does Boots think is going to happen to some baby wipes and a mascara in the back of a delivery van? Four wholly unbreakable products were wrapped up as if they were a valuable antique. This truly was ridiculous and Boots needs to seriously look further at its packaging usage. A bag would have been fine. The hefty - and unwanted - Christmas catalogue that had been included along with two marketing leaflets only added to the excessive pile of recycling that I had to deal with.

TESCO

The order 39 non-bulky grocery items

The packaging 12 bags

Green rating AMBER

Top marks to Tesco in the grocery deliveries. It was the only food retailer in the mystery shop that allowed shoppers to choose whether they wanted their goods delivered in bags or not for the purposes of this test. Retail Week chose to receive plastic bags to check Tesco’s environmentally friendly packing skills. Unfortunately, these weren’t great. With 12 bags used, this equates to a woeful average of 3.3 items per bag. A small bottle of fabric conditioner had been wrapped in a bag and then put into another bag on its own. Three loose courgettes came in their own bag as did a triple-pack of houmous. Tesco’s plastic bag usage was poor, but at least it does offer the option of delivery without plastic bags at all.

OCADO

The order 22 non-bulky grocery items

The packaging Four plastic bags

Green rating Amber

With an average of 5.5 items per bag, Ocado had the most efficient use of plastic bags of all three grocers tested for this feature. As soon as the driver delivered the order, he also asked if there were any used bags that could be taken back for recycling. Despite only having Sainsbury’s bags in the house, he said Ocado was happy to take those too, so top marks for bag recycling.

Arguably, though, despite only using four bags, there would have been scope to reduce this further. One bag contained stamps, a jar of horseradish and a baby bib that could have been put in a bag that contained packaged smoked salmon, ham and beef. But the problem, I suspect, is the average customer might complain about having to fish around for stamps among a bag of food destined for the fridge.

MOTHERCARE

The order A wooden toy and a baby toothbrush

The packaging Two separate deliveries, comprising one boxed toy in a plastic bag, three leaflets and a padded envelope

Green rating AMBER

There wasn’t an unnecessary amount of packaging used for each product, but it does seem bizarre that they arrived in two separate deliveries.

Shipping from different warehouses for different product categories means the amount of packaging required instantly increases. In theory, a cardboard-packed baby toothbrush could easily have been put in the bag that the toy arrived in, but it was sent in a separate and unnecessary padded envelope.

SAINSBURY’S

The order 40 non-bulky grocery items

The packaging 11 plastic bags

Green rating RED

A total of 11 bags were used for a 40-item delivery - an average of 3.6 items per bag. Some bags were fine, and were full of fridge items and store cupboard items. One bag, however, only contained two limes. This wasn’t even a substituted product. It is these substituted or short shelf-life items - put in blue bags - that are particularly environmentally unfriendly. Is it really necessary to put one bunch of bananas with a short shelf life, some lettuce (another short shelf life), and one cucumber (a replacement for a half), all in separate bags? Customers clearly need to be able to find such products quickly among their shopping in case they want to hand them back to the delivery driver, but how difficult is it to sift through three items in one bag?

MY-WARDROBE

The order A jumper

The packaging Tissue paper, ribbon, a bag and a cardboard box

Green rating Amber

The luxury packaging option (the default setting), is lovely to unwrap and in keeping with a premium brand, but extravagant. The retailer offers a minimal packaging option just using tissue paper and a box. Despite ticking this option the luxury version was sent. This is the second time this has happened to me with an order from this etailer, but it should be commended for attempting to offer a green option.

HOMEBASE

The order An iron and an ironing board

The packaging None around the ironing board other than the manufacturer’s packaging, one plastic bag around the boxed iron

Green rating GREEN

It was refreshing to take delivery of the ironing board in no more packaging than you would get had you bought it in a shop. Apart from anything else, it makes it far easier to unwrap. Sometimes there seems to be a retailer mentality that because a product is being delivered in a van it needs yet more protective packaging. Often, it doesn’t. Overall the packaging was minimal, but if you were being particularly critical you could say that Homebase used a very large plastic bag for a reasonably small boxed iron.

ASOS

The order A scarf

The packaging One plastic bag

Green rating GREEN

Asos couldn’t be faulted for its packaging use in this instance. The scarf arrived in a simple plastic bag, packed in the delivery bag that is also used for returns. The package contained one receipt and no superfluous marketing material. Admittedly, a scarf is non-breakable, but many other fashion retailers would still use tissue paper or boxes and include reams of leaflets when really, all the average female online fashion shopper wants is to try on their new item of clothing.

COMET

The order An electrical hair styler

The packaging A plastic bag and one leaflet

Green rating GREEN

Comet scored well in this test and resisted the temptation to wrap the box in extra unnecessary protective layers. The product arrived in nothing more than a Parcelforce bag, which had a prominent recycling logo on it. The bag could also be used for returns, although it did state that “additional packaging may be required for some returns”. Comet included minimal marketing material other than one small piece of paper that promoted a wine offer. No complaints.