Nudging Green-but-Slow Shipping Choices in Online Retail

Faster e-commerce fulfillment often comes at a cost to the environment because of energy-intensive transportation modes and more frequent, less consolidated last-mile deliveries. Despite these environmental implications, most retailers feel pressure to provide fast fulfillment to remain competitive. But what if consumers could be nudged to voluntarily choose green-but-slow shipping? In practice, a variety of information strategies are used to nudge such decisions, but it is unclear which strategy is best and why. This study examines these questions in two logistical contexts, each involving a different type of process change to support green-but-slow shipping: shipping mode and order consolidation. We first introduce a conceptual framework for selecting information strategies based on their influence on customer perceptions related to key stakeholders in each context: delivery convenience (self), environmental impact (society), and sustainability intention (retailer). Then, drawing on behavioral research and industry practices, we identify and test the effect of a comprehensive set of information strategies (i.e., Process, Green Label, Green Process, and Green Outcome) through controlled experiments involving 3,800 participants. Experimental results suggest that different logistical contexts require distinct nudging strategies, aligning with our conceptual framework. We find that including a green label is particularly effective for the shipping mode context, especially when combined with outcome information. In contrast, process information is more promising in the order consolidation context. Also, adding financial incentives can enhance the effectiveness of information strategies without a clear environmental signal, whereas pairing them with a simple green label may be effective for low eco-conscious individuals. This paper was accepted by Elena Katok, operations management. Funding: This work was supported by the Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota [MF-0009-23]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.00239 .