Amazon has summoned certain CPG brands to overhaul their product packaging to be more eco-friendly and cheaper to ship. According to Forbes, beginning in August, manufacturers with products identified for the packaging improvement program will be charged an additional surcharge of $1.99 on non-compliant items. Those that upgrade their packaging prior to the deadline will be rewarded with a credit of $1 for each item shipped.
“The idea is to reimburse brands for the cost of fixing their packaging,” Brent Lindberg, founder of packaging consulting company Fuseneo, tells Forbes. “Brands that upgrade their packaging might even make substantial money from the effort before the August deadline, beyond just offsetting the cost of fixing their packaging.”
Previously, Amazon was facing challenges of having similar inventory from various brands that would sit on a retailer shelf. By designing packaging that will stand up in an evolving warehouse setting would differentiate from those that are similar to other products while displayed on a shelf.
Sustainable packaging has become a priority for companies lately, with both Tide and Seventh Generation making headlines for their recent changes. Meanwhile, smaller companies are looking to upgrade their packaging in order to better compete in the e-commerce space. Forbes reports that packaging products better can result in greater savings
