Packaging has always been a major topic for Cdiscount

PUBLISHING DATE
LIRE CET ARTICLE

Rémi Naudion, the Transport and Deliveries Director for Cdiscount and its subsidiaries (C Chez Vous and C-Logistics), has outlined his company’s strategy for packaging, one of its core competencies.

What are your main areas of activity? C-Logistics manages all the logistics and deliveries for any customers receiving orders placed through Cdiscount. But there’s more. C-Logistics is a new 3PL (third party logistics) player in e-logistics. We see ourselves as an e-commerce logistics specialist. We also offer our logistics and transport solutions to other actors like Stokomani or Adopt. There is also C Chez Vous, a subsidiary of C-Logistics, which transports heavy and bulky goods to home addresses or collection points. Besides Cdiscount, we work with more than 30 clients.

Why are packaging and recycling important topics in your eyes? Packaging has always been a challenge for Cdiscount for two reasons. Packaging is the first physical link between customers and their internet orders and the customer has an ecological sensitivity. The second challenge concerns the environment. We are working to reduce the impact of our activities and this takes on different forms when it comes to packaging. In 2016, we were the first e-commerce company to deploy 3D packaging machines which match the size and shape of the packaging to its contents. We measure the dimensions before it enters the machine so it cuts the necessary amount of packaging down to the millimetre. This reduces the volume of packaging by 30%. The material used to design the packaging is reduced by the same amount, and it reduces the number of trucks on the road because we can fit more parcels into them.

What are you doing to become more and more environmentally friendly? We are increasingly trying to involve the end client in our strategy to reduce the impact of e-commerce. Two actions are worth mentioning. We do not overpack products which do not need it. If the client only orders a vacuum cleaner or iron, we suggest not packing it because the suppliers packaging is likely sufficient. Since November 2021 we have been offering “hipli”, a type of reusable packaging. On Cdiscount, consumers can chose to receive their orders packed with hipli which can then be folded up and deposited in a post box. The Hipli promise is that it can be reused 100 times.

How much importance do you place on CSR? For example, 100% of C Chez Vous deliveries in central Paris and Bordeaux use electric vehicles for the last mile. In Lyon, C Chez Vous is working with the start-up Fends La Bise who delivers washing machines or furniture with cargo bikes. Reducing our environmental impact is at the heart of Cdiscount’s supply chain strategy, and its subsidiaries C-Logistics and C Chez Vous. On the social front, Cdiscount sponsors various associations and funds. For example, we are working with the Envie network to give products which no longer work a second life so to speak. Envie collects and repairs the products before putting them back into circulation or reuses the materials they’re made of.

Cdiscount is also an important sponsor for Plantons for the future? C-Logistics and C Chez Vous are sponsors of the Plantons for the future fund. It’s the sum of all our actions which aim to reduce our CO2 emissions. Plantons for the future enables us to off-set our CO2 emissions on the transport and deliveries side. It’s more than just buying carbon credits. The principle behind Plantons for the future, is to support France’s entire forest and wood sector, and promote projects all over the country which encourage landowners to maintain and re-wood certain areas of forest so they can fulfil their role of capturing C02.


Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *