Similar results were found in the study done at Green Design Institute on electronic products – flash drive. Bulk of the carbon emission of retail stores came from customer’s private transportation, while for e-commerce, carbon emission arises mainly from packaging. It is also important to note that express air shipping method reduces the benefits of online shopping extensively (red box in second figure).

In this analysis, e-commerce seems to be the greener option (regardless of normal or air shipping methods of e-commerce).