Reusable packaging experiment
eCommerce produces a tremendous amount of packaging waste. And frankly, recycling just isn’t enough to fully tackle the problem. If done right, reusable packaging has the opportunity to reduce waste, water and energy usage, and CO2 emissions.
The critical question to answer is: “how will we get the packaging back?” Circular business models, like monthly subscriptions or rentals, are perfectly set up for reusables. In fact, many companies are finding it can be dramatically cheaper to switch to reusables, as evidenced by many of Returnity’s happy clients.
But for the classic eCommerce models with one-way shipping, and with only certain percentage coming back via product returns, it’s not so easy. Here, we need to rely on people to send the packaging back. And human behaviour can be a fickle thing…
Our test
To start, we just wanted to see where we stood in terms of getting a decent return rate. We recruited a local business who was already using Repack - a reusable parcel startup in Finland. At the time, their packaging return rate was around 65%. Well, it’s not a terrible rate, but it’s also not great. Could we do better?
bpost is locally recognised. And we suspected customers were wary of sending an empty envelope all the way back to Finland for reuse. How could that possibly be sustainable? (It is actually, but we’re talking about consumer perception and motivation here…).
We ordered some simple document envelopes and made our own stickers to help customers know how to return the packaging. We didn’t use any branding, but consumers were perceptive enough to equate the red bags with bpost red. For 2 months, our partner packed and sent the orders themselves, and we tracked the returns.
Instructions sticker.
Results
85% of the bags were returned! Okay, okay, 100% would be better. But it’s a big improvement over the Repack rate, simply by localising the service (perception of sustainability), and pumping up the instructions a bit.
By optimising the packaging (weight, materials), the fulfilment process, and focusing on customer education, there’s a very good chance this could become a more sustainable (and possibly cheaper) way to ship consumer orders.
Next steps?
Well, I’d love to! My time at bpost has ended, but if you’re interested in trying out a reusable packaging service with me, let me know! I spent 18 months studying this business model, and I have a big network of resources.