DECAF - Decarbonising E-Commerce delivery And Fulfilment

**Covid-19, the surge in e-commerce and sustainability**

Covid-19 impacted our world on multiple dimensions: it accelerated the adoption of e-commerce by both retailers and consumers, with a lot of businesses having to reinvent themselves by moving into an online proposition. Covid-19 pushed consumers to purchase online more than ever. This inevitable shift will negatively impact the environment in terms of carbon footprint and waste, driven by excessive packaging and last mile deliveries. Covid-19 also impacted the way we see our world, and sustainability has become even more important for people, who are increasingly worried about the impact we as humans are having on the environment. This trend is also making logistics companies think and develop greener ways of doing e-commerce deliveries.

**The failure of small and medium enterprises to have access to green e-commerce logistics**

A big part of the problem is that green e-commerce logistics solutions are not available for small and medium enterprises (SME). Green logistics solutions are typically designed and made for large enterprises with a lot of resources and large volumes. This, despite the fact that SME e-commerce retailers already constitute more than a third of e-commerce sales in the UK and are growing more than three times faster (36% per annum) compared to large e-commerce retailers (11% per annum). These SME e-commerce retailers do not have the resources nor the technical expertise to set up their own green, environmentally friendly logistics for their customers and 57% of SME retailers want advice on how to be more sustainable.

**A greener approach to e-commerce**

We at Bezos.ai believe that e-commerce should be done in a sustainable way. Bezos.ai's vision is to "Deliver Happiness" to everyone involved in our ecosystem. Bezos.ai is on a mission to help SME e-commerce retailers get access to green e-commerce logistics. We know that consumers have a willingness to pay a premium to reduce the environmental impact of their online purchases. Our long term goal is that the cost of fulfilling and delivering an e-commerce order in a green and sustainable way should be the same as the current "non-green" cost.

To decarbonise e-commerce fulfilment and last-mile delivery, Bezos.ai will create a novel technology add-on to its existing Fulfilment-as-a-Service (FaaS) platform, making it easy for SME e-commerce retailers to offer an option of green fulfilment and delivery to their customers. Bezos.ai will combine its existing FaaS technology with the innovative technology add-on, to make green e-commerce logistics accessible for SME retailers. The technology will focus on the reduction of the carbon footprint of e-commerce packaging and last mile deliveries. For the first time, SME retailers will have access to green fulfilment and zero-emissions last mile delivery capabilities, with one simple integration, without the need for complicated logistics or technical expertise, nor the need to invest massive amounts of capital.