Online stores that preselect a sustainable delivery option see a significant increase in the share of sustainable deliveries
08-25-2026 - Online stores that choose to pre-select the sustainable delivery option at checkout see the share of green deliveries rise from around seven to 75 percent. By comparison, even a one-euro discount on shipping costs only pushes that share up to about twenty percent. This was revealed by a field experiment conducted jointly by logistics SaaS platform Wuunder and the Univeristy of Groningen in the live checkout of the webshop SOXS.co.
Over an eight-month period, researchers tracked consumers’ delivery choices. The study examined the effect of the preselected (default) delivery option, information provided (such as sustainability labels), and financial incentives (a discount of fifty cents or one euro on the shipping costs for the sustainable option).
Most online stores have fast delivery set as the default in the checkout process. With that setting, about 7 percent of consumers actively chose the more sustainable, delayed delivery option. When the sustainable delivery option is preselected, that share rises to 75 percent. The study tested not only the effects of preselection but also the effects of a financial incentive. For example, a one-euro discount on shipping costs raised the percentage to 20 percent, while a fifty-cent discount raised it to 15 percent.
Adding a sustainability label also had little effect. One in ten consumers chose sustainable delivery after this label was added. A more effective way to encourage consumers to make a different choice is to combine the pre-selected sustainable option with a discount and a label. With this adjustment, the percentage of consumers rose to about ninety percent.
In practice, many online stores still rely on checkout tools that, according to the study, yield the least results. Of the 100 online stores surveyed, more than a third (38%) do not offer any sustainable delivery options at all. Of the 62 stores that do, slightly more than half (51.6%) rely on discounts, and a quarter (25.8%) on providing information. Eight of these 62 online stores have the sustainable option preselected.
Wuunder and the University of Groningen (RUG) have previously collaborated on research into sustainable logistics. This aligns with the company’s mission: it was one of the first shipping platforms worldwide to achieve B Corp status. This means Wuunder meets international standards for social and environmental impact, with an independent party assessing whether sustainable ambitions are actually integrated into its business operations.
Jeroen Gehlen, founder of Wuunder: “Every day, we see how much money is lost at checkout. Online stores invest in discounts and green labels because it makes sense, but the results of this study show something different. Preselecting the sustainable option changes the behavior of many customers without costing a cent. Every customer who chooses a green delivery day makes it possible to save 30 percent on warehouse costs. In terms of package delivery, that means 20 percent fewer delivery vans and, consequently, 7.5 percent fewer CO2 emissions. Why would a retailer pay for discounts that have barely any effect when this free intervention yields the best results? That’s the opportunity for us: sustainability that doesn’t affect the margin and doesn’t require any extra effort from the customer.”
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