Packaging Is All the Rage, and Not in a Good Way

Compared to the traditional versions of the products, frustration-free products have earned on average a 73 percent reduction in negative feedback on the Amazon site.

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
NYT

SEATTLE — Doug Herrington’s office at Amazon.com suggests that he is particularly bad at getting items out of their packages. Along his wall, there is a Philips Norelco shaver still in its plastic clamshell casing, coffee pods in their retail display containers and a bottle of Tide inside a box.

But Mr. Herrington, vice president for consumables at Amazon, is trying to make a point: With a typical online purchase, “you’ve got a ton of packaging and a ton of work ahead of you,” he said.

For nearly two years, Amazon has been trying to get manufacturers to adopt “frustration-free packaging” that gets rid of plastic cases and air-bubble wrap — major irritants for consumers and one of Amazon’s biggest sources of customer complaints.

But the frustration persists. Only about 600 of the millions of products Amazon sells come in frustration-free versions. And other big online retailers, like Walmart.com and Target.com, have not embraced the new packaging, even when manufacturers make it available.

(More here.)

You have read this article with the title Packaging Is All the Rage, and Not in a Good Way. You can bookmark this page URL https://ogbcommunity.blogspot.com/2010/09/packaging-is-all-rage-and-not-in-good.html. Thanks!