Bol.com plans to send seven million items without a cardboard outer box this year. That's twice as many as last year. Only when it is really necessary will bol.com pack an item.
With this move, the e-tailer hopes to save a lot of packaging material and reduce CO2 emissions. Currently, about 20 per cent of bol.com's total CO2 emissions come from packaging.
'Own packaging is sturdy enough'
Bol.com started last year by omitting the recognisable blue box. Initially for 3.5 million items. Now that number is doubled to seven million. "From a sustainability point of view, we don't want to ship unnecessary packaging," explains Jori Ebskamp, CSR lead at bol.com. "And the same goes for the padding material that goes into those cardboard boxes. Therefore, in 2019, we started to stop packing items such as fans, deep fat fryers, irons, printers, coffee makers and nappies. Our own packaging of these items is sturdy enough for transport from our warehouse to the customer's front door. We just stick a shipping label on those."
Minor adjustment
The online giant scrutinised its assortment of 23 million items in recent months to examine what can be sent without a bol.com box. Colleagues in the distribution centre are also investigating which items are still suitable for sending unpackaged with a small adjustment to the original packaging. Items from sales partners that outsource logistics to bol.com are also undergoing this test.
Ebskamp: "We share this information with our suppliers, who in turn make the packaging suitable for online shopping. This allows us to ship more items without cardboard boxes every year. Now, for example, also slides, air mattresses, buggies and Christmas trees."
