A comparative study of environment impact in distribution via E-Commerce and traditional business model

This study intends to make a comparison between traditional business model and E-Commerce model of garment industry in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission during the distribution process. Specifically, the industry in the Wuhan area is selected as an example. Based on a mathematical model proposed, we analyze these two different business models. To further illustrate and testify our model, a case study has been conducted quantitatively that investigates the distribution network of a domestic large-scale B2C garment company in the Wuhan area. Traditional model and E-Commerce model consume respectively 0.04 MJ and 2.5 MJ of energy per garment on average, and emit 0.08 kg and 0.39 kg carbon dioxide. The results indicate that traditional model is more environmental friendly in terms of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission.