Olive: Sustainable E-commerce by Jet Co-founder Nate Faust

A New Approach to E-commerce Sustainability with Olive

Nate Faust, a veteran of the e-commerce sector, brings extensive experience from roles at Quidsi (Diapers.com and Soap.com), Jet (later acquired by Walmart for $3.3 billion), and Walmart as a senior vice president.

He observed that, despite 25 years of industry growth, e-commerce continues to heavily rely on “single-use, one-way packaging.” This presents both a consumer inconvenience and a significant environmental concern. Faust notes that a retailer attempting to address this independently would face substantial cost increases associated with more sustainable packaging and reverse logistics.

Introducing Olive: Consolidated and Reusable Deliveries

To address this challenge, Faust founded Olive, a startup designed to consolidate a customer’s online purchases into a single, weekly delivery utilizing reusable packaging.

Olive collaborates with a diverse range of apparel brands and retailers, including names like Adidas, Anthropologie, Everlane, Hugo Boss, Outdoor Voices, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Users can integrate Olive into their shopping experience by installing the Olive iOS app and/or a Chrome browser extension.

According to Faust, “You shop directly on the retailer and brand sites you normally would, and Olive assists you in that checkout process and automatically enters your Olive details.”

Purchased items are transported to an Olive consolidation center. Here, they are combined into a single weekly shipment for the customer. While the original packaging from retailers is still utilized, the consumer is relieved of the responsibility of disposal.

Faust envisions future collaborations with retailers to further reduce or eliminate this initial packaging altogether.

Reducing Carbon Footprint Through Consolidation

Currently, the primary environmental benefit stems from “the consolidation of deliveries into fewer last-mile stops.” Olive estimates that increasing the number of items per delivery by 50% results in a 30% reduction in the carbon footprint per item.

Weekly deliveries are handled by standard mail carriers in most areas of the U.S., with local couriers utilized in densely populated urban centers. Shipments arrive in reusable containers constructed from recyclable materials.

Returns are simplified through the Olive app; customers select items for return, place them back in the shipper, and utilize the pre-paid return label.

Convenience as a Key Driver

Faust believes the ease of the return process – eliminating the need to print labels or visit shipping stores – will appeal to customers even if they aren’t primarily motivated by environmental concerns.

He emphasizes, “In order to have the largest environmental impact, the selling point can’t be the environmental impact.”

Olive’s service is offered to consumers at no additional cost; shoppers pay the standard shipping fees charged by retailers.

A Counterpoint to Expedited Shipping

Faust acknowledges that Olive’s model contrasts with the current trend of Amazon and other e-commerce platforms prioritizing rapid delivery speeds. However, consumer surveys conducted by the startup indicate a willingness to accept slightly longer delivery times in exchange for the benefits Olive provides.

The initial focus on apparel is strategic. “There’s not that same expectation of speed” in this category compared to others, and the higher price point of apparel items ensures the delivery economics remain viable even with smaller order volumes.