A themed day of the Mittelstand-Digital Center Handel on March 5, 2025 gave retailers: Inside and other interested parties, the opportunity to illuminate the topic of logistics from different sides. The focus was on returns and packaging, but also the digital delivery note and greener logistics.
Packaging made of old plastic
The theme day started to create a world without wild plastic waste with the presentation of Wildplastic, a company that is committed to the mission. “Wild plastic” is all the plastic that is located outside of the recycling cycle on illegal landfolter, in nature or in the street. 6.3 billion tons of plastic waste have been produced worldwide since the 1950s and 400 million tons of flasty are added every year, and the trend is rising. According to Wildplastic, only 9 percent have been recycled; 12 percent were burned and 79 percent are still in the environment, where they have enormous effects on people and nature.
Together with partners: The company founded in 2019 collects the “wild” material and trusts local collection organizations in order to use the important expertise for the local conditions and to support existing structures – currently in India, Ghana, Nigeria, Thailand, Indonesia and Sierra Leone. The wild plastic is then processed into new products – for example on garbage bags, but also shipping bags that the online trade can use.
“This is a real system innovation: we combine plastics with Europe where the need is,” explains Wildplastic co-founder Christian Sigmund. And the customer: Inside, understand that every product is a little different. “They are bags made of old plastic, so it is authentic and understandable if the products don’t look perfect,” says Sigmund.
When asked about economy, i.e. whether you pay more for sustainability, the innovator replies: “Depending on the model, there are only a few cents or even a fraction of a center. A fair wage is paid for this and we save a material that would otherwise be lost. This is a little more expensive, but hardly noticeable in the individual unit. “
Reusable packaging
The Rudi Siegle company also deals with packaging for retail – reusable packaging. Reuse.me has been on the market for about a year and after careful research on the market, as you can offer shipping bags made of recycling material that are part of a closed cycle.
“We have built up our own circulatory system,” explains Siegle. The Reuse.me app can be heard: inside Palace or other incentives such as coupons to return the packaging obtained to so-called drop points so that they can be reused. “We currently have more than 700 drop points in Germany, mainly with DHL and Hermes. This number should grow to 2000 by the end of the year and we want to expand into German -speaking countries, ”reveals Siegle. If a company wants to keep its own sustainable packaging, you can also make it circulatory via ID stickers.
Sermin Reinold, founder of the Label Dayê Rose for timeless and sustainable still and circumstance fashion, uses Reuse.ME packaging and has received good feedback from her kitchen. She laughs at the question of whether this gets a choice between one and reusable: “No, you just have to show it as a company.” It is also interesting that the label works without polybags, since the goods are already unpacked by the production facility individually and also stored in this way. How does it work? “Our transport routes are short. We told the manufacturing company that the goods, simply as they are, put in the box and that works well. If at all, a little dust from the box on a black sweater can be seen, but that’s all, ”reports Reinold.
The label also does not have polybags in the warehouse, as it is a small, renovated area. “We also use good documents so that nothing can come from below,” reveals Reinold.
Return management
Tobias Röding from the EHI Retail Institute presented the new study “Trendreport Trade Logistics 2025”, and referred to results on return management or the investigation “Shipping and return management in e-commerce 2024”. A topic that retail has been dealing intensively for years. The areas of fashion and accessories as well as sports and leisure in Germany have to deal with high return rates in Germany, with costs between 5 and 20 euros per article. There is a large part of the costs on the check and viewing of articles, followed by transport costs, loss of value (if a resale is not possible), preparation and repair as well as the recovery.
The 146 companies surveyed mentioned detailed product information and meaningful photos and descriptions, as well as secure packaging, high product quality, the follow -up of the reasons for complaints/returns and especially with textiles to collect further reasons.
As far as the packaging is concerned, a large part of the respondents (94 percent) uses disposable packaging and only one fifth reusable packaging. The main challenge when using reusable shipping packaging was mentioned first, the non-returning of the packaging, the coordination effort and when opening damaged packaging.
In his lecture, Röding also named preventive return management, such as the mention of environmental costs, to reduce multiple selection orders (an article is ordered in different colors and sizes), as well as an indication of them before paying. A bonus-malus system works in combination, i.e. the reward for avoiding returns or a cost factor for returns.
Return management as potential
Alena Schneck started in her lecture on the unused potential of return management. Your start-up toern, founded in 2023, helps companies to make them potential from the “Pain Point” in Customer Journey or to make dissatisfied customers: inside to fans. How can this succeed? Toern offers optimization for online shops that can be easily inserted into typical shop systems.
What is striking in Germany is the high return volume associated with costs and emissions. Schneck also noticed that while large shops have digitized their return process, small and medium-sized companies still use a lot of paper forms or DHL return reports, so the process is still very analogous.
To use returns, it is important to win additional feedback from customers: exactly why an article was sent back. The willingness to do this is motivated by three reasons: Customers: Inside, they want to share their experiences, out of ties to the brand or because they did not find the experience good.
The knowledge gained in this way can provide important impulses, for example in the design process of the next collection, if, for example, an article does not fit in certain places (Schneck provided the example of a swimsuit that was developed too closely in the chest area and therefore did not fit customers with larger overalls). But also when creating product images that should map colors and patterns precisely.
When asked whether this means that you have to read all the reasons for return manually, Schneck could say soothingly: “We automate everything you can automate.”
The digital delivery note
Another area of logistics that is (still) paper -heavy is the delivery note – the food retail alone uses 20 million analogous delivery notes per year. Here Aljoscha Rix from GS1 Germany GmbH presented the digital delivery note, which has been live since November 2, 2022 and which 137 companies already use in Germany, including DHL, DM, Lidl and Rewe.
It works without the driver: Download an app inside, which is an advantage in the face of language barriers and different digitization affinities. You only need a smartphone with which you scan the delivery note at the pick -up location and at the destination. This is then available on your cell phone via an electronic wallet – where you can show it, for example, for a police check.
The digital delivery note is stored by industrial partners: inside the cloud; Goods output employees and drivers: Digital acknowledgment inside, for example on a tablet. The link to the document in the cloud receives the latter from a QR code, which you scan with your smartphone before starting your journey. Once at the retail company, the QR code is then scanned by the smartphone. This gives employees access to the link in the cloud in the entrance to the goods. Any quantity or quality deviations can also be recorded digitally. The acknowledged delivery note is now available digitally for all members of the supply chain.
Green logistics in retail
Finally, Sarah Großkopf from the Mittelstand-Digital Center dealt with the question of how to use the resources in trade logistics better and more ecological and identified three starting points for green logistics in retail: the goods transport, online shipping and packaging.
Freight transport
In freight traffic, particularly long supply chains and long transport routes cost the multitude of deliveries by air freight (think of D2C providers such as Temu, Shein and Co.). Here a combination of rail for larger routes and roads could apply for destinations outside the rail network. Continuous inventory management, the consolidation of orders, reward systems for trips with lower emissions and computer -aided route optimization would also be a starting point in addition to local sourcing and shorter delivery routes.
Online trade
Free and comfortable return options promote increased order behavior in online trading. A high transport volume increases the emissions and shipping packaging contribute to waste and resource consumption. Climate-friendly shipping options could be offered here, as well as compensation options and the use of e-mobility and bicycle courses on the last mile.
Communication with customers is also important: for example, various delivery methods and their environmental impact should be presented, as well as a reference to multiple orders of the same article in different sizes and colors and paid returns. The delivery could be free if it goes to a central collection point or branch.
Shipment
During shipping, more environmentally friendly alternatives such as the Mailing Bags from Wildplastic and the reusing pockets and bags from Reuse.me have already been discussed. Other providers such as Boomerang, the post and plastic -free shipping bags from Otto are also in use.
Another area that would reduce emissions in inpatient retail is the changeover of customers: inside from their own car to public transport, since the journey to the shop is 30 percent of CO2 emissions used. Bicycle parking spaces could make it easier to use this means of transport.