Making commerce sustainable through process unification

Building sustainable commerce extends far beyond basic environmental commitments. Both in France and globally, coherent orchestration of operations has become a crucial challenge for the fair and sustainable management of commerce. 

Unifying systems leads to a more responsible operation rooted in real-time data. This enables retail businesses to effectively reduce their ecological and social footprint. This article explores how unifying processes can transform operations toward a more sustainable and equitable commerce model. 

Why unification is the key to sustainable commerce

A unified platform

A single, unified architecture significantly reduces the environmental footprint of business operations. Handling sales, inventory, and orders from one platform avoids tool accumulation and synchronization issues. 

With a consolidated database, every action from sales to returns and preparation immediately updates the inventory. This alignment prevents system discrepancies that typically cause stockouts and enables commerce to operate as an efficient logistics hub. 

This integration fosters more responsible development as companies save significantly by preventing overproduction, thus minimizing the social impact of repeated corrections on team operations.

Real-time integrations

Real-time software integrations ensure that every movement is promptly synchronized with POS, OMS, WMS, and e-commerce systems. This precision allows retailers to respond swiftly to actual consumer demand, whether reallocating products, rebalancing store inventories, or prioritizing warehouse tasks. 

Real-time integration effectively reduces carbon footprint by eliminating superfluous movements, promoting sustainable commerce. In France, this approach enhances commercial coherence, catering to a public keenly aware of the true impact of operations, especially within the fashion industry.

Unified data

With all systems utilizing the same data, business operations become consistent and measurable. Public prices, customer statuses, or inventory levels exist in one version on the commerce platform, ensuring management decisions are factually based. 

This common framework enables retail players to maximize their data usage:

• Analyzing economic and ecological performance by channel;
• Precisely tracking product life cycles;
• Personalizing in-store experiences to enhance customer engagement.

Unified data also simplifies team training, as work is conducted on a single reference point with standardized practices.

See also: Hyper-personalization and data, towards a new customer experience in omnichannel commerce

Sustainable logistics: reducing kilometers from store-hub

Click & Collect

Click & Collect involves picking up a product already on the shelf rather than shipping it from a warehouse, reducing the distance traveled by orders. The OMS automatically determines the best pickup point based on real inventory and distance. This method curtails long-distance transportation and accelerates product availability. 

It also enhances service quality in commerce, resulting in fewer picking errors, damaged parcels, and returns due to long delays.

E-reservation

E-reservation prevents shipment initiation when customers merely want to check a product’s availability online before visiting. The system temporarily reserves the item in the selected store without extensive logistical preparation, minimizing unnecessary transport and reducing canceled orders. 

Unified inventory between POS and OMS ensures online availability mirrors store reality, avoiding customer disappointment and needless trips. Additionally, the end customer completes the last mile, reducing transport-related emissions.

Ship-from-store

Data-driven ship-from-store is a highly effective strategy for sustainable commerce. The OMS picks the most appropriate store based on current inventory, distance, workload of preparation, and likelihood of successful first-time delivery. 

Dynamic stock allocation diminishes cross-shipments between stores and avoids sending parcels from distant points. Consequently, fewer kilometers are traveled and the first-time delivery success rate improves.

Inventory: fewer stockouts, fewer overstocks

Real-time inventories & movements

Continuous inventories and real-time stock movements ensure precise inventory visibility, item by item. Each purchase, return, transfer, or correction is instantly reflected in the POS, OMS, and WMS, limiting the buildup of unsold items.

Orchestration rules for sustainable commerce

Orchestration rules facilitate automatic determination of the best action for each order. These principles rely on measurable criteria, such as actual availability and distance, to curtail unnecessary trips and cross-flows between POS. 

Unified systems ensure these rules are based on reliable data, automatically selecting the most sustainable options for commerce.

Inter-store sales

Inter-store sales facilitate the circulation of products without involving the central warehouse. If a consumer orders an item unavailable at store A but present at store B, the OMS can arrange a transfer. This method minimizes long-distance trips and mitigates local stockouts.

A unified system simplifies team operations, enabling swift identification and reallocation of dormant units to high-demand areas. This approach enhances product rotation, anticipates stockouts, and avoids unnecessary solicitations from producers.

Openbravo POS manages inter-store transfers through a single platform, streamlining product circulation and ensuring consistency.

Recommerce strategy and unified product life cycle

Buyback

Item buyback helps capture products at the end of their use. The consumer returns an item, and the POS promptly records the transaction. It assesses the condition and initiates its entry into the second-hand flow. 

With a shared database, each reclaimed unit is traceable, enabling teams to identify repairable or resalable pieces without manual intervention. Some brands include organic or responsible sectors in their buyback policies to promote more equitable practices.

Quality control

Quality control ensures every returned item is assessed using consistent criteria. Conducted in-store or in the workshop, this step avoids trips to a central warehouse and accelerates item re-circulation. 

Quality control data automatically integrates into the unified reference, including photos, classification, and repair needs, instantly directing the product to the appropriate channel.

Resale

Resale seamlessly occurs when data is unified. Once an item is deemed sellable, it automatically re-enters store inventory or a specific channel, quickly finding a buyer and reducing immobilization time. 

Real-time updates reflect the correct condition, price, and availability on each channel, eliminating the need for manual online postings and stock adjustments by teams.

Repair

Repair prolongs product lifespan. When an item needs intervention, the POS or OMS automatically triggers a workshop request, limiting transportation to distant repair centers. Centralized data gives the workshop precise information about the product’s origin, classification, and required operations.

To explore further: Discover recommerce in practice.

Rental

Integrated rental relies on a unified view of the usage cycle. Each product is precisely tracked as the POS, OMS, and rental modules share the same data. Availability, reservations, and returns are consistent across systems, minimizing scheduling errors and facilitating item circulation. 

This approach supports the development of a sustainable model where usage is prioritized over ownership.

See also: Consignment and clothing rental, how durable products are redefining the fashion industry’s economy.

Reporting dedicated to fostering sustainable commerce

Reporting systems for sustainable commerce accurately measure the social, environmental, and economic impact of each product cycle. Companies track reliable, unified indicators like the recovery rate and average extended lifespan. 

Centralized databases allow dashboards to update in real-time, enabling teams to swiftly pinpoint friction points and opportunities to mitigate environmental impact.

Checkout experience & dematerialization

mPOS/SCO

mPOS and self-checkout (SCO) devices make checkout more flexible and efficient. Associates equipped with mobile terminals can complete a purchase directly on the shelf, eliminating queues. SCO terminals handle simple purchases without requiring staff, also reducing unnecessary paper usage with digital receipts.

Electronic tickets

Electronic tickets replace paper receipts by automatically sending them via email or through the customer’s account at checkout. This process minimizes costs and prevents lost receipts during returns. 

As these tickets integrate directly into CRM and OMS, companies benefit from a more comprehensive purchase history. Dematerialization enhances data quality and eliminates paper waste, supporting a more sustainable commerce.

RFID technology

RFID technology transforms checkout and store preparation by automating item identification. Products passing in front of a terminal are automatically recorded and stock updated. This speeds up the checkout process, reduces manual handling, and shortens queues. Data collected seamlessly integrates into POS, OMS, and CRM systems, enhancing stock accuracy.

More sustainable and agile IT

Reduced IT footprint and costs

Moving to the cloud eliminates the need for local server maintenance in stores, which are often energy-intensive and complex to manage. By centralizing infrastructure, companies cut down on electricity consumption and standardize security. The cloud also simplifies team training by providing uniform interfaces. 

Mobile checkout solutions, leveraging lightweight terminals or existing store devices, limit the need for specialized equipment with a high carbon footprint. SoftPOS requires less hardware, thereby reducing the overall IT footprint.

Composable architecture to evolve CSR initiatives

In a composable architecture, each module can be added, replaced, or updated independently. This modularity avoids heavy projects and reduces IT debt. 

The API-first approach ensures that every service communicates in real-time with POS, OMS, WMS, CRM, and reporting tools. Data flows seamlessly, facilitating impact measurement and partner integration (recycling actors, workshops). 

This evolving architecture supports sustainable commerce transformation, adapting to regulations and public expectations. It also aids the global expansion of brands through lightweight and consistent deployment.

Measuring to decide: sustainable commerce KPIs

Operational KPIs link technological choices to their impact on commerce sustainability, providing clear insights into progress and potential steps for developing equitable practices.

Developing sustainable and responsible commerce is a global challenge. It hinges on companies’ ability to unify processes. By centralizing data, French retail players optimize production, reduce social impact, and fortify their environmental commitment.

Fewer stockouts, fewer kilometers traveled, less paper… Process unification becomes a sustainable performance driver for commerce, effectively aligning commercial efficiency with social and environmental impacts.