17 Dec Know Omnichannel
Aptar Beauty Ready Showcases Omnichannel Packaging Solutions & Approach
The scale and importance of e-commerce has been felt worldwide especially during the current pandemic and is here to stay. It has been the fastest-growing channel as consumers shop online, on their smartphones and through social media. All have come to expect a seamless shopping experience, the omnichannel approach, across multiplatforms from brick and mortar (click & collect) to online.
“At Aptar Beauty we are READY to deliver our strategy by focusing on our enablers – sustainability, digitalization and transformation. Offering sustainable and ecommerce capable solutions is critical today. Packaging is the first interaction a customer has with our clients’ products. How it arrives, how it is disposed, and the overall customer experience is what our team is working on every day.” shares Marc Prieur, President, Aptar Beauty.
For Aptar Beauty, our e-commerce roadmap and omnichannel approach is anchored on 3 pillars:
1.Adapting the existing product range for specific requirements such as adding clips, increased robustness and retention force for
e-commerce resilient solutions.
2.Integrating e-commerce features in the initial design of the packaging (leveraging locking and tamper evident features etc.).
3.Completely rethinking omnichannel to deliver superior technical design, optimize customer experience across all channels, minimize environmental impact and create packaging at the lowest delivered cost.
As an official participant in the Amazon Packaging Support and Supplier Network (APASS), we have been certifying our products with the Ista 6-Amazon compliance.
Amazon is the only e-commerce retailer, for now, with clearly defined quality standards for product packaging. ISTA 6-Amazon has a certified package program that addresses a number of concerns related to the Amazon distribution channel. These concerns include: damage throughout the supply chain to the customer’s door; elimination of “wrap rage” which is the frustration of trying to open a package; reduction in packaging material and increased use of recycled packaging components,which reduces waste and environmental footprint.
The only other large retailer to follow suit is China’s JD.com, which is currently developing detailed standards for packaging design and hopes to set China’s universal standards for e-commerce. Other large Asian retailers including Alibaba have not yet developed packaging standards for e-commerce.
“Today, Aptar Beauty has more than 40 e-commerce capable solutions across all Aptar product categories from dispensing closures to spray and lotion pumps,aerosol accessories and airless packaging – and for multiple market fields from skin care to personal and home care. New designs and technologies are being developed and tested to offer our customers solutions for omnichannel distribution. We can now deliver on our three primary goals: superior customer experience, minimize environmental impact and cost efficiency” shares Luigi Garofalo, Global Business Development Personal and Home Care.
At Aptar Beauty, we understand how important it is that products arrive safely to consumers. True to our mission, we provide unique packaging experiences with innovative responsible solutions.
Stay tuned for upcoming news and articles on our e-commerce capable solutions, omnichannel trends and innovations.
Know Omnichannel
As consumer behavior and preference rapidly progress towards online shopping, retailers aren’t the only ones adapting to change. Brands are dealing with their own growing pains as they evaluate the often rigorous journey their products take from fulfillment centers to the consumers’ home.
As important as it is for CPG’s to continue to optimize their online and mobile user experience, it is equally important to ensure consumers have a positive experience when products arrive at their doorsteps.
Most CPG packaging was designed for brick and mortar retail. It’s neatly packed with identical products on pallets and kept in backrooms and store shelves before use. What worked well for traditional retail, however, may not hold up to the tumultuous trips products take along the e-commerce supply chain.
Neglecting the need for e-commerce capable package designs means some brands are losing money as e-tailers are implementing chargebacks for the addition of protective tertiary packaging for goods that get damaged during transportation.
Amazon is at the top of the list of considerations for many brands and for good reason. According to research from eMarketer, Amazon will make up 49.1 percent of online sales in the U.S. this year, including five percent of all retail sales. For comparison, eMarketer says Walmart’s online sales will account for 3.7 percent of U.S. e-commerce in 2018. Amazon has also stated it plans to be a top five grocery retailer by 2025. Recent acquisitions and new service lines have the company well on its way.
In much the same way Walmart’s decisions regarding packaging influence brick and mortar retail standards, it is expected that Amazon will lead the way in e-commerce packaging requirements.
Ultimately, a strategy that works for both traditional and e-commerce supply chains is necessary.
The good news is that packaging suppliers are developing innovative solutions to address current packaging challenges as well as designs that will take brands into the future. In addition, the
International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) has introduced a protocol known as ISTA 6 to conduct packaging testing to many requirements for its “Transit Tested” certification. At the same time,
Amazon launched a network of reliable experts (APASS) to help CPGs evaluate how well primary packaging will survive this new supply chain.
In 2016, Amazon and the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) released a set of testing protocols intended to guide brands and suppliers towards designing e-commerce capable primary packaging. Amazon also launched a certification program based on the protocols as well as the Amazon Packaging Support and Supplier Network (APASS).
Packaging suppliers that participate in the APASS Network, provide exclusive services to vendors, sellers, or manufacturers related to package design and testing that complies with Amazon’s guidelines and approved certification methods.
APASS participants assist vendors, sellers, and manufacturers in achieving certification in one of three levels of e-commerce capable packaging: Prep-Free Packaging (PFP), Ships in Own Container (SIOC), and Frustration-Free Packaging (FFP).
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