Anna Rátkai On Ethical E-Commerce: Beyond the Buy Button

The digital marketplace has exploded, offering unparalleled convenience and choice. Yet, lurking beneath the surface of seamless transactions and targeted ads is a growing concern: the ethical implications of e-commerce. From manipulative design tactics that encourage overconsumption to the environmental impact of returns and fast fashion, the industry faces a reckoning. How can we navigate the world of online shopping with a clear conscience?

We believe the answer lies in mindful design and a re-evaluation of our relationship with “need.” And so, we sat down with Anna Rátkai, a UX researcher and passionate advocate for sustainable design, to explore the critical intersection of ethics and e-commerce – ethical e-commerce. Anna’s work challenges the very foundation of impulsive online shopping, urging both designers and consumers to embrace a more responsible approach.

Join us as we delve into Anna’s insights on redefining “need,” the role of UX designers in promoting ethical consumption, and how companies can balance profit with purpose. Through a candid Q&A, we’ll uncover practical strategies for creating a more sustainable and ethical e-commerce landscape.

Tell us a bit more about your passion for sustainable design and ethical e-commerce

I first encountered the concept of sustainability when we watched the True Cost
documentary about the horrifying impact of fast fashion in one of my classes, more than a decade ago.

That documentary not only opened my eyes to the environmental and social impact of overconsumption but also got me interested in consumer psychology. I immersed myself in behavior economics and psychology to understand the whys behind our unreasonably excessive consumption.

Years later I discovered UX and I immediately knew that I wanted to work with design. For several years I was learning UX from different online resources. It was in 2022 when I first connected UX and overconsumption and wrote my Master’s thesis about persuasive design in e-commerce.

There are various aspects of sustainable design I have worked with in the past couple of years, but the niche of mindful consumption by design has been my passion all along. The more I work with this topic the more fascinating it gets.

In your view, how can we redefine the concept of “need” in the context of e-commerce to promote mindful consumption rather than impulsive buying?

It is thought, because the feeling that we “need” something usually starts way before we arrive at the e-commerce site. Products are constantly marketed to us, sometimes obviously in ads, and sometimes sneakily, in our social media feeds presented as “must haves” by influencers.

Thanks to this extensive marketing, users might arrive at the shopping site with high desire and purchase intent. Today, e-commerce sites are designed to take advantage of this sudden feeling of “need”, and rush users through the checkout to make a purchase. For example, the one-click buy button was invented to cut out multiple steps in the purchase process to leave less time for users to think through their decisions. This kind of design leads to many unnecessary impulse purchases.

Design can help users make more mindful decisions by slowing down the process. We can give users space to stop for a few seconds or even minutes to think through their purchase. To allow them to ask themselves: “Do I really need this? Can I even afford this?”. To avoid any misunderstanding I need to emphasize that I’m not advocating for intentionally designing bad shopping experiences. I don’t want designers to purposefully make it difficult to buy things. I believe it is possible to create a great e-commerce experience, help the users find what they are looking for while organically introducing these “reflection points” without blocking users from completing a checkout. For example instead of increasingly forcing the one-click buy button as the primary button we can return to the add-to-cart checkout flow. Reviewing the cart before paying introduces that organic friction that can help the user reflect on their purchase.If the user decides not to buy something after a little bit of reflection, did they really “need” that product to start with? Probably not. By slowing down through design we are helping our users make more intentional, mindful purchase decisions.

You’ve highlighted the responsibility of UX designers to avoid exploitative design practices and discourage excessive consumption. However, many designers are not key decision-makers; often, business owners prioritize profits and sales.

What are your thoughts on this dynamic? How crucial is it for decision makers to be aware of ethical considerations compared to UX designers?

As you said, most designers are not key decision makers, they rather execute a vision and business goals coming from leadership. So yes, leadership must understand the ethical and environmental consequences of their products and business models to make more sustainable decisions.

I think the problem is usually not a lack of awareness among leadership about their impact but a lack of incentive to operate sustainability. Companies are still rewarded for profit maximization at the expense of people and the planet. We can and should continue to educate decision-makers about sustainability issues, but creating that pressure through legislation or market demand is equally important.

Building on this, how important do you think consumer education is in the context of ethical e-commerce, and what role does UX design play in facilitating that education?

Customer education is crucial to build that market demand for sustainable products and businesses. Customers need to be able to recognize and say no to unsustainable practices and take their money where their values are.

E-commerce can be part of consumer education, however, we must be careful with the execution.

For example, I recently saw an example where H&M integrated “education” right in the checkout flow and it kind of backfired. When the user had multiple sizes of the same item in their cart, H&M prompted a message: “SHOPPING BAG HAS MULTIPLE SIZES. Returns have an environmental impact. Checking our sizing guide and product details is a helpful alternative to buying several sizes of the same item.” While H&M slipped in an educational moment, mentioning that returns have an environmental impact, they did it in a kind of user-shaming tone. H&M hasn’t managed to design their shopping flow in a way that allows or encourages users to select the right size in the first place so this message feels like H&M is shaming users for something that is a deeper e-commerce design problem.

And if we want to implement a truly educational moment, then let’s teach users what “Returns have an environmental impact.” really means. It means that a big portion of the returned items go straight to landfill because that is cheaper than restocking the returned item. I bet it would be a major eye-opener for many customers.

Another way to educate on e-commerce sites is to have a separate section discussing sustainability issues. For example, Patagonia has a Sustainability page on its website that customers can browse when and if they want to learn more about the topic.

I think these two ways of user education should co-exist in e-commerce, and always to raise awareness and help the user make mindful decisions, not to lecture or blame them. Getting the tone and place right for an educational moment is key.

In addition to raising awareness about the impact of the products themselves, I would like to see more customer education about the negative impact of pushy e-commerce design. Customers need to understand how e-commerce exploits their psychology and cognitive biases, for example with urgency messages, social proof, and gamification, to get them to buy more than they need. They need to learn to connect pushy e-commerce design and their lived consequences like overspending, getting into credit card debt, and collecting clutter in their homes.

When it comes to influencing decision-makers at companies, how do you think we can find a balance between business objectives and ethical design principles? What alternative strategies do you propose that can still drive sales while promoting sustainability?

Reframing sustainability problems as business benefits. The problem of returns is a good example.

We talked a bit about how frictionless e-commerce rushes users to make impulse purchases that they quickly regret. The other side of the coin is that companies have to deal with a huge amount of returned goods. And from the H&M example we know, that returns are costly and companies want to avoid them.

Reducing returns is a sustainability win. The fewer returns, the fewer items sent to landfills, and the less CO2 emission from reverse transportation.

But we can frame reduced returns as a business benefit. The fewer returned items, the less money wasted on reverse transportation and sending products in perfect condition to landfills.

Companies can reduce returns by helping users find the right products, find the right size, or prevent users from making impulse purchases that they will quickly regret. This is where UX design plays a major role.

What surprising insights have you discovered about user behavior when it comes to sustainable purchasing? How can these insights inform better UX design?

I’m always surprised by how big the attitude-behavior gap is when it comes to mindful consumption. Many consumers say that they care about sustainability, and want to support value-led businesses. And a second later they turn to Shein and Temu to order a bunch of unnecessary stuff.

It is clear that a substantial chunk of users want to care about sustainability, they have the right attitude. But when social media is filled with marketing messages and when everything can be bought with one click, it makes it very difficult to take sustainable actions.

That is why designing e-commerce to help users make those sustainable decisions is key. For example by designing a bit of friction in the checkout process or designing calm experiences without urgency and aggressive social proof.

Can you highlight a brand or project that exemplifies successful sustainable e-commerce design? What lessons can other designers learn from it?

There are many sustainable brands, that are explicitly against overconsumption. Patagonia, Asket, and Filippa K are just a few examples. If you put these websites next to their polar opposite like Temu and Shein, you will see a stark difference in design.

Sustainable brands generally have a more “calm” vibe while the others are “shouting” at your face with blinking banners, deals, flash sales, lottery spins, etc.

Recently we launched a resource called Sustainable E-commerce Pattern Library, where we collected many examples from sustainable brands about how they make e-commerce sustainable. We clustered these examples into 13 patterns.

Helping users find the right size and fit is one pattern we highlighted. Another pattern is transparency about the supply chain or the material that helps customers make informed decisions.

We created this resource to be a source of inspiration for designers who want to create sustainable e-commerce experiences. We got super positive feedback on it so far, and we are planning to expand the library and add more case studies and other tools.

Finally, how do you envision the role of UX designers evolving as society shifts towards more sustainable practices? What skills or mindsets do you believe will be essential for future designers?

I want to see a future where the role of the designer is to safeguard the people who use their products, the wider society, and of course the environment. And contributing to business goals is a side effect of helping people and the planet. A lot needs to change to make this happen. For example, companies need to give their designers time and space to reflect on the impact of the products they are putting out in the world and allow them to bring issues to the business table.

Another crucial aspect is rethinking design and UX education. The future generation of designers not only needs to learn Figma but also the responsibility that comes with taking on the role of a designer. I want to see a future, where juniors leave the school with a strong moral compass, and equipped with the skills and the confidence to say no to unethical practices.

Any final words for the designers reading this article?

Yes! Wherever you are in your professional journey, there is always something you can do to advance sustainable design. Even if your current role doesn’t allow you to bring sustainability into your work, you can read and share articles, discuss topics with your UXer friends and colleagues, and engage in sustainable design communities. Whatever small action you can do today, do it! Even if it feels pointless, because you don’t see change at scale immediately, I promise it’s not. Because all our seemingly small, individual actions are the building blocks of big changes.