Sustainable Container/Bottle Designs for eCommerce

Problem statement:

Our traditional packaging formats have not radically changed in the last 50-100 years, and our main 6 pack and 12 pack formats make up the majority of our sales units (SKUs). These have been developed and optimised for the bulk shipping of product around the globe primarily in bulk palletised loads transported in shipping containers.

Challenge:

To improve the overall suitability of our bottle packaging formats to optimize the sustainability of our retail units for all channels, particularly our growing e-commerce sales channels.  We are searching for solutions to optimise our glass bottles & other container formats with the associated packaging for shipping.

Potential solutions could include but are not limited to:
 

• Circular e-commerce business models – reusable containers, shippers etc.
• Design for ecommerce channels* – e.g. route to consumer and characteristics of the channel – e.g. value/price and large/ bulk sizes.
• Design that is suitable for own consumption and gifting experiences.
• Design that provides opportunity for marketing to be transformed e.g. completely digital – QR codes.
• Minimising primary/secondary/tertiary packaging whilst protecting product integrity.
• Pack designs/ formats  specifically for online ecommerce customers*– optimising packaging within b2b supply chains.
• Additional Authenticity/anticounterfeit assurance – how do we ‘seal’ bottles to be opened only at end point for consumption?
• Gamification of returns – leverage digital space/thinking to drive customer experience and improve returns etc.

*Additional Context for consideration: 

We want to become 'sustainable by design' to suit e-commerce standards and existing subchannels, across our range of products.

Sub channels of e-commerce include:

• E-Grocery, e.g. Tesco.com - order fulfilment from a warehouse/store
• Online Marketplaces - often pure players (digital/online only) e.g.ebay, amazon - likely single item delivered to door
• On Demand e.g. deliveroo, weezy - fulfilled from convenience store / dark urban warehouse
• Direct To Consumer  e.g. thebar.com - fulfilled from warehouse by Diageo / or Diageo 3rd party