Retail versus E-Commerce: Did you hear?... Recent Carnegie Mellon study indicates e-commerce more e-friendly…sort of

In a report that is not necessarily great news for brick-and-mortar retailers, results of a Carnegie Mellon Design Institute study estimates that e-commerce retailers use less energy -- click here to read. Further, the study found that e-commerce retailers could claim a carbon footprint that was a third smaller than their brick-and-mortar brethren.

This is certainly an argument that was made by Nau founders when the company, now owned by Horny Toad, first launched to much fanfare and some raised eyebrows -- click here to read the SNEWS® story, "The time is 'Nau' for new concept in retail." Nau claimed that by building its business on a foundation of stores that had small footprints, and encouraged customers to purchased items on the web or even in the store to have it shipped, the overall environmental impact was less than a traditional brick-and-mortar model. Now, it appears, science is backing up that claim…to a point.

To conduct the study, researchers used a test case of purchasing a flash drive either in a brick-and-mortar store or via the web. Buy.com was the e-commerce site, giving researchers open access to data that might otherwise be considered confidential -- data center info, energy consumption info and delivery details.

To create a comparison, researchers made the assumption that a consumer shopping at a brick-and-mortar store drove approximately 14 miles roundtrip, buying on average three items per trip. By comparison, a UPS or FedEx delivery truck certainly uses a significant amount of fuel and energy, but spreads it out by delivering numerous packages, meaning less energy per package than a traditional shopper.

E-commerce data centers and computers use much less energy compared to a traditional store, giving them a strong edge there, too.

Of course, a shopper that walks, rides a bike or picks up many more packages during a single trip starts to swing the data points in favor of brick-and-mortar stores. Researchers also made it very clear that Buy.com cannot be compared with an e-tailer such as Amazon or Backcountry.com, since it uses a virtual model where it warehouses nothing and instead has products shipped directly to buyers via its distribution partners.

And all those overnight shipping upgrades? Well, that swings the pendulum of energy savings well into the camp of the brick-and-mortar business.

No mention was given to packaging, which in an e-commerce model is an Achilles' heel, generating far more packaging to ship one item than a brick-and-mortar store does by receiving multiple products in one box. --Michael Hodgson

Gimme Shelter, Not Vandalism

10/30/2008 THE NEWEST PARK CITY BUS SHELTER IS COMPLETE

LOCATION: NORTH SIDE OF KEARNS BOULEVARD BETWEEN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL

Local artist Bob Commander, well known for his community projects in the Park City area has completed a summer long project, known to close friends and business associates as "THE Shelter".

Mr. Commander, also known as the "Local Artist" is a partner in the Park City based, eco-friendly clothing company: Locals Have More Fun. He stepped away from creating new art for the young company to work with a local non-profit, Arts Kids. Mr. Commander worked with Arts Kids in creating a bus shelter by the community for the community.

His work culminated in the installation of the "shell". Mr. Commander called on close friends and business associates to help with the heavy lifting of the metal pieces. Mr. Commander oversaw the installation so as not to damage the art, the coating that protected the art, and to make sure that the proper steps were taken to install the sheet metal to the existing bus shelter.

Mr. Commander on the completion and famous last words: "I just hope the older kids appreciate this "cute" bus shelter that the younger area kids worked so hard on."

I say famous last words, because the bus shelter didn't last a week before it had graffiti art on top of the existing art and also some of the pieces were mangled and pulled apart.

So much for pride in Park City.










and corporate projects in the Park City area, but better known as the "Local Artist" for the local eco-friendly clothing company, Locals Have More Fun

29 Miles Per Gallon

06/17/2008 18:30 Mountain

Hello Friends,

Thank goodness for technology.

I recently took a road trip from Park City, UT to Denver, CO, stopping in many resort towns along the way. My Ford Escape SUV Hybrid, loaded down with camping gear and Locals Have More Fun clothing hummed along at 29 miles per hour.

Steamboat Springs, Edwards, Avon, Beaver Creek, Vail, Frisco, Breckenridge, Dillon, and Silverthorne were hit in on Friday. Denver, Boulder, Golden, and Aspen were hit on Sunday.

There is something to be said about that Rocky Mountain High. It was great to be in a state with somewhat normal liquor laws (3.2 beer is still envogue). A high five was given as we crossed the state line into Colorado and the Tabernacle Choir welcomed us across the state line into Utah as we passed Dinosaur.

Locals had a strong weekend with a strong performance in a weekend fair in Holladay and then in Colorado with a strong response from soft goods buyers in the resort towns and healthy meetings with sales reps and our screen printers.

The momentum is gaining and Locals will be able to offset its carbon footprint, educate, and give back sooner than thought.

Have a great day,
Head Local