The environmental impact of B2C e-commerce: the case of Amazon and AliExpress

E-commerce turned into one of the main drivers of retail globally, which has critical impacts on consumer behaviour and business processes. This thesis tries to outline the ecological footprint of e-commerce, with greater emphasis placed on Amazon and AliExpress. In this context, the understanding of their environmental footprint is crucially important. An overview of e-commerce describing trends taking place in the market, as well as the main drivers of its environmental footprint will be discussed at the beginning of the study. Then, the theoretical framework concerning the customer satisfaction models, giving particular importance to the TRI*M Grid methodology will be also presented. Another basis of this research is the questionnaire submitted to consumers in order to assess their level of satisfaction with sustainability actions put in place by Amazon and AliExpress. The gathered data was used to conduct a detailed segmentation analysis in the study of the differences that exist among different consumer profiles. The thesis is structured according to the following 7 main chapters: 1. E-commerce 2. Theoretical Framework 3. Methodology 4. The Sample 5. The Analysis 6. Segments 7. Conclusions The segment analysis is inclusive of consumers who are willing to and customers who are not willing to pay a premium price for e-commerce sustainable practices, male and female, and finally high/medium/low environmentally aware customers. This thesis, in combining theoretical insights with empirical data, therefore tries to give sufficient insights into the multi-dimensional relationship that exists between e-commerce and environmental sustainability. The conclusions will synthesize the most important findings arising from the overall analysis. This research adds to the steadily increasing literature related to sustainable e-commerce practices while offering diversified insight into the perceptions and expectations of consumers in the digital retail environment.