Discussion Post
Context
I arrived home recently to find a huge 2 ft. by 1.5 ft. by 1 ft. box sitting in my foyer. At first I found myself flashing back to my Christmas memories as a kid, big box means there is something good inside. Then the reality of being older started to take over! What did my wife or kids order? It looks expensive! After reading the label, I realized the box was for me. Did I order something accidentally? I don't remember any big purchases. I opened the box excited to see what I would find inside. As I opened the top of the box and looked in, I realized I knew exactly what was inside - two rubber keyboard covers for my and my son's new MacBook Pros. I had ordered them from apple.com and was expecting them to arrive at my house, but I wasn't expecting them to arrive in such a large box! This experience reminded me a an article that I had recently read in the New York Times: E-Commerce: Convenience Built on a Mountain of Cardboard. (Links to an external site.)
The article talked about one of the underappreciated consequences of society's move away from brick and mortar shopping to Internet shopping. As more and more of our shopping is done online, more and more boxes are moving across our logistics systems in route to our doorsteps. The question that emerges is how will our environment handle the gotta-have-it-now gratification that permeates consumption in today's world. Whether it is an increasing use of cardboard boxes or emissions from an increasing personalized logistics delivery system - a thoughtful consideration of the environmental impacts of our changing logistics activities needs to be undertaken. In addition, marketers at ecommerce firms who continue to stress faster and faster speed of delivery for their products as a differentiator, an appreciation of the logistical consequences is in order.
Discussion Instructions
After reading the articles above and watching the video, answer the question:
What memorable experiences have you had related to the packaging of products you have either purchased in a store or online? What are the logistics and marketing implications of packaging strategies?