Commerce and e-commerce, the match

Among the grievances that we bring to digital, that of the environmental consequences of e-commerce comes up chronically. Recently, several works, including Oliver Wyman's study entitled "Is e-commerce good for Europe" provide interesting information on this subject. The first point that emerges is that the trade as a whole is not doing so badly. If e-commerce is growing, so is physical commerce, even if it is much more weakly (1% versus 15% for e-commerce). The second point that needs to be emphasized is that trade as a whole is changing rapidly. If the physical trade therefore believes, it is on the other hand the independent actors of their supply chains which are put in difficulty. The future clearly belongs to the players integrated into these supply chains. And contrary to popular belief, e-commerce is not significantly more efficient than physical commerce: the turnover of both sectors is comparable, at 220,000 euros per employee.

For the moment, if the distribution sector is destroying jobs, it is probably more due to the gradual automation of cash register systems than to the emergence of e-commerce, at least in Europe. It should be borne in mind that in France, Amazon, for example, only has one fully automated warehouse, where Leclerc already has more than six. This trend is set to become widespread, which could ultimately lead to significant job losses at this level, and in the much longer term, at the level of a still hypothetical empowerment of delivery vehicles.

In terms of road traffic generated, the match seems unequivocal, with 4 to 9 times less traffic generated by e-commerce. If this seems counter-intuitive, we must consider the pooling specific to this field. A suitably loaded e-merchant truck can thus serve several dozen households, whereas a car traveling to the supermarket will only serve one family.

In terms of land use, while the huge logistics warehouses that seem to be springing up like mushrooms along the highways can legitimately worry us, the artificialization of the land remains less important for e-commerce, however, because unlike traditional trade, it does not, by definition, require stores.

In terms of CO2 emissions, the match would also be very unequal, with an efficiency ratio of 1.5 to 2.9 in favor of e-commerce. This is also the consequence of particularly optimized logistics chains down to the consumer's mailbox and the absence of sales areas, which consume energy and eliminate the potential for CO2 capture of the land in its natural state. In this respect, it is interesting to point out that France would have the lowest CO2 footprint of the European countries studied, largely due to the less carbon-intensive energy mix in France than elsewhere.

Several dimensions remain, which relate more to the choice of companies than to strictly measurable issues. The disappearance of local traders, replaced by chains, is a point of concern, particularly when we observe that independent traders in France have been less successful in digitizing themselves and entering supply chains than in other European countries. Moreover, working in a logistics center is not the same as being in contact with customers and it would be interesting to compare the prospects for development that exist in one or the other sector.

This work is no less virtuous, because it makes it possible to better understand the externalities of trade and, particularly in the context of environmental transition, to better orient public policies to achieve France's stated objectives.