Incentivizing sustainable consumer behavior in e-commerce

Sustainability has increasingly become a pivotal factor in shaping consumer shopping decisions. However, creating incentives for customers to make sustainable shopping decision, especially online, is not straightforward. Customers tend to prioritize factors like cost, convenience, and speed, often overlooking the environmental footprint of their purchases.

Our research project, at the intersection of sustainability and e-commerce, seeks to investigate the viability of various strategies that could nudge consumers towards eco-friendly purchases. This involves exploring ideas like promoting eco-friendly products, rewarding green purchases, and using psychological triggers such as gamification.

The ambition is to foster a more sustainable e-commerce landscape. To achieve this, we need to understand the drivers of sustainable consumer behavior online.

Potential research questions in this context could be:

  1. What factors influence consumers’ willingness to make sustainable purchases in the e-commerce landscape?
  2. How can gamification techniques be implemented in e-commerce to foster sustainable purchasing behavior among customers?

Important:

Please explain in a motivation letter (½-1 page) why you are interested in this topic.

Contact person: Charlotte Goblirsch