Packaging: past, present & future. Part 3

By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative director, etc / LMMiami.com

• The way we package, ship and display goods will be disrupted dramatically in the coming years.
• If your job depends on the good old tried & true ways of selling CPGs to the masses, well, get ready for some upheaval.
• Some more upheaval, that is.
• The good news: shopping is not going anywhere.
• Shopping is freedom.
• Shopping is therapy.
• Shopping is our God-given right.
• We shop on impulse.
• We shop just in case.
• We shop because we can.
• We shop because we breathe.
• We shop to fill the void of our existential tedium.
• We live to shop and we shop to live.
• We shop, therefore we are.
• We shop cuz we don’t even have to go shopping anymore: we can do it from our mobile devices and the swag is delivered to our doorsteps overnight.
• Or in minutes, if we choose same day delivery.
• Ergo, IMHO the future of packaging will demand to make it easier for the buyer to return stuff purchased remotely.
• Have you ever tried to re-package an item to ship it back and get your refund?
• It is close to impossible.
• You might’ve heard the marketing urban myth claiming that seating at QSRs (Quick Service Restaurants, to use proper industry parlance) are deliberately unergonomic to discourage customers from lingering after their meals.
• Well, I believe that packaging is deliberately designed to be rendered useless once the item is unboxed.
• To prevent tampering, of course.
• And to discourage returns too (that’s the conspiracy theorist in me talking).
• Therefore, I strongly believe too that in a day an age in which we increasingly shop remotely those retailers who make it easier for customers to return merchandise will enjoy de favor of the shopping masses.
• Did you know that when those darned Millennials order stuff online from, say, Zappos or Forever21, they buy three different sizes of an item just in case?
• I kid you not.
• They try it at home and return the two sizes that did not fit.
• And you thought Millennials were oh-so concerned about their carbon footprint, right?
• Think again.
• At Home Depot you can return anything.
• ANYTHING.
• I seen it with my own eyes.
• They don’t even check what’s in the box, why bother?
• It’s the manufacturer’s problem.
• Plus, it’s the marginal cost of loyalty & repeat business.
• To be continued.