Reusable Retail Packaging-Marrying Profits To Ecology

New, book-like package that the customer keeps, rather than trashes, promises value for the manufacturer, retailer, consumer, and the environment.

In the world of retail packaging-if not for most businesses-the quest for profits oftentimes runs counter to what best benefits the environment. Rare is the case when a manufacturer can select the ideal package that induces maximum sales of its product, while concomitantly reducing the package's ecological burden. Yet, the recent introduction of a totally new packaging concept-reusable retail packaging that looks like a book and acts as a permanent storage device for multi-component products-has the potential to add value for everyone: the manufacturer, the retailer, the consumer, and even Earth Day advocates. Already utilized by some early-adopting manufacturers and importers, this new approach to packaging looks to become a de facto standard for big manufacturers and retailers looking to stay competitive in an increasingly environmentally-sensitive market. Even giant retailer Wal-Mart is now taking steps to reduce its solid waste.

Taking the "trash" out of retail packaging
Perhaps the solution of reusable retail packaging to reduce waste would not have arisen except for the shortcomings of what went before.

At the retail level, most small, low-cost consumer products such as toys, novelty items, batteries, cameras, video games and the like have traditionally been packaged within clear blister paks or vacu-formed clamshell packages. Such packaging has survived for so long because it allows a potential customer to visually inspect the item, while also discouraging pilfering. However, to extract the article from the package following purchase, one must cut and tear the plastic clamshell, resulting in the permanent destruction of the package. Since items cannot be put back in for storage purposes, the package goes into the trash and adds to the waste stream.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, paper and plastics account for almost half (46.5%) of the 236 million tons of municipal solid waste generated in the U.S. in 2003, representing a steady rise from 205.2 million tons in 1990, with no letup in sight. The EPA identifies source reduction as a significant management practice to stem this tide.

Taking a big step toward source reduction, a simple innovation in package design promises to reverse the trend of increasing-waste by transforming the retail package into a usable storage device that the consumer refuses to part with. How did this come about, and what makes this book-like package such a keeper?

Reusable retail packaging that "keeps it together"
"It was the day I was playing with my four-year old son, and we tried to find a cassette tape that went along with a reading book. The child had several tapes and books, but matching them became a puzzle since they were scattered about in different places," recalls Moshe Begim, president of contract packaging innovator AVC Corp.-a vertically-integrated retail packaging company housed under one roof in Torrance, California.

"Right there and then I conceived the idea for creating a single package that could act as a permanent album to store matching pieces of a product, like a software program on CD that comes with instructions, what better way to keep things together?" continues Begim. "When I presented the idea to management at Leap Frog, the maker of the book and cartridge, they immediately grasped the value of this packaging for their product, and have since adopted it."

Simply described, this book-style, reusable retail packaging (RRP) achieves its purpose with two sections joined by a spine and folded into a book or album-like structure to house the product components. Since this outside cover is formed by transparent plastic (polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polyethylene or polystyrene), windows can be built into the package so that the products within can be clearly displayed for easy examination by a prospective purchaser. Ample advertising space is available on the exterior and interior surfaces on a layer of printed matter.

While the reusable book package can include an integral "J" hook for peg displays, it further distinguishes itself from the blister-pak design by virtue of its flat surface on the bottom that allows the package to stand upright for shelf displays.

Since the book is secured shut with tamper-resistant tape that can't be removed by a prying fingernail, this package combines the appearance of a blister pak with the security of a vacuumformed clamshell package. Except that, since it only takes a quick slice with a knife to open it at home, and the book covers re-close to repeatedly house the contents, the customer hangs onto this package and reuses it indefinitely.

This kind of utility and convenience appears especially apropos to products that have multiple components that need to kept together such as compact disks, books, audiotape cassettes, tapes, digital photo disks, pen and pencil sets, etc., or products that have manuals or other literature that will be referred to at a later date.

This new type of packaging goes one step further in terms of convenience, as its design can incorporate extra storage space for other, similarly sized items. In other words, a manufacturer of digital photo memory cards can build into its packaging extra indentations to hold future memory card acquisitions. What this does for the consumer is to turn the package into a handy "library" of sorts, where like items can be logically stored in one single, reusable package.

Since this reusable packaging concept is patented by Begim, his company, AVC, is currently the only provider. As such, AVC is able to provide all design and pre-press functions as well as tooling, thermoforming, vacuum forming, media replication (such as CDs) and printing for this product and others, such as the Rotating Interactive Package that showcases all sides of a product via a see-through, 3-D rotating capsule centered within a two dimensional plastic frame that houses the graphic insert card.

Considering all of the above, the reusable retail packaging designapparently offers several advantages. But can manufacturers and retailers cash in on this design, and will customers perceive the inherent value?

Where "green" means money and environmental-consciousness
"Any extra cost, minimal as it may be, is quickly eclipsed by the intangible benefits we received from the buying staff at Sam's Club, for example, who was thoroughly impressed with the classy appearance of the reusable-book packaging of our product," exclaims Peter Vos, principal partner of Forrester & Vos, a Long Beach, California-based supplier of reading glasses, magnifying protective eyewear, hand held magnifiers and fashion mirrors. "So if it costs us 15 cents more to package our product, but we get a buck back in good will and respect, we'll take that deal every time."

In the case of Forrester & Vos, one of their main products is a set of reading glasses of similar ocular strength but in different colors, four to a package. This gives the wearer an opportunity to match the glasses to their outfit.

"We were pioneers with these multi-pack reading glasses, back when we first started selling to Costco," continues Vos, "but the typical blister packaging didn't stand up well on a shelf, and just got lost in the warehouse club environment because everybody does it. Besides, we know that our customers get frustrated when trying to open a clamshell package, and then they'd lose track of the glasses once the package was tossed."

Introduced to AVC's book-album style reusable retail package by Begim, himself, Vos immediately recognized the appeal.

"The book-style has a high level of sophistication and a 'freshness' about it," continues Vos. "It is reusable in a way that you can store the glasses there. There is more print room for writing about the reasons why you might need our glasses. It stands up by itself. And everybody understands that it works like a book. The fact that this reusable packaging is environmentally-friendly also helps gives us a marketing edge. We're now shipping our glasses to all the Sam's Clubs as a new product, and replacing the old packaging."

Reusable packaging perpetuates the message and "cross sell" opportunities
Perhaps one of the biggest allures of this new reusable packaging concept is the fact that since the manufacturer's promotional material, logo, and other marketing text and graphics are built into the album/book package, that this material stays in front of the consumer as long as they keep the package, which is to say, a long time.

For the same lengthy duration, the manufacturer's message of cross-sell products and services pops out at the customer every time they access the original product. In other words, the package acts as a long-lasting advertising billboard that resides right within the consumer's home.

"We've been in business since 1990 developing educational software products, but one of our most recent products is a complete kit that teaches how-to buy, bid, and sell on eBay," relates Robert A. Rositano, CEO of ePower and Profits and managing partner of Latitude Venture Partners, LLC-a high tech venture capitalist company located in the "Silicon Valley" area of California.

Rositano's kit, called the ePower and Profits System, contains everything needed to start selling on eBay: a quick-start video; an instructive, interactive CD-ROM; a popular tradebook; and a two-disc reference library on CD-ROM.

"We asked, how can we package all this so that someone just doesn't just rip open up a clamshell and then have to deal with having a CD over here and a video over there and a workbook somewhere else?" recalls Rositano. "We needed a nice package that the consumer could put in their office on a shelf and reuse."

"I didn't see anything else like it out there that was so attractive and user friendly. continues Rositano. "The package's windows displayed specific verbiage for the consumer, even on the inside, so that when they pull the CD out there can be wording, such as instructions, behind the clear plastic. Plus the book form was perfect for permanently storing the many components of our kit."

Particularly appropriate for Latitude Venture Partners' purposes, the reusable-book type packaging allowed the continuous cross-selling of several of the company's services that bundle well with the ePower and Profits product.

"We support the purchaser with a whole network of Web-based services intended to get them up and running as an eBay seller," explains Rositano. "For example, we provide a 'back-end' to host of all the seller's images. We also offer an ISP arrangement, along with access to wholesale products that users can sell on their site at retail. We let the consumer know that these services are available within the AVC packaging. Since it's reusable, the cross-selling message stays in front of the customer for a long time. For all these reasons, the reusable packaging is more cost effective than the old blister paks."

Packaging with consumer appeal
As pointed out on the U.S. EPA's Web site: As consumers demand more environmentally sound products, manufacturers will continue to meet that demand by producing high-quality recycled products.

Reusable retail packaging that provides added value to the consumer by way of acting as a storage device, while also being environmentally-sensitive, helps up the "perceived value" of the product within the package.

"I wish something like that was available when I raised my two kids," exclaimed Lorie Hentges of Fullerton, California, when introduced to the reusable retail package concept. "When they were young, small toy parts would end up all over the place. If available, I would have definitely wanted a package that would store everything together. The fact that it's good for the environment would be a bonus."

A "green" future for all
Can a new packaging concept help achieve seemingly diverse interests such as increasing sales, upping customer satisfaction, and reducing solid waste? From the initial acceptance of the reusable retail packaging concept pioneered and offered by AVC-the answer is yes.

When asked if he thought reusable retail packaging is a trend of the future, Latitude Venture Partners' Rositano responds: "Absolutely! I don't think I could ever take a step back now."

SOURCE: AVC Corp.