On Amazon Prime Day, Balancing eCommerce with Sustainability Starts with Avoiding Damage

I think we can all agree that e-commerce is here to stay. 

Last year on Prime Day, more than 300 million products were purchased worldwide.

As consumers have become accustomed to shopping from home and having items arrive within days – or even same day –  efforts around sustainability also have become increasingly complex. 

Changing consumer behavior to expect slower deliveries or consolidating deliveries is one approach, but there’s even lower hanging fruit when it comes to packaging sustainability. 

That’s why retailers need to focus on e-commerce packaging and reducing damage during transit from warehouse to customer doorstep. 

After all, damaged products hurt everyone: consumers have a bad experience and don’t get to use their product, retailers like Amazon have to deal with negative reviews and chargebacks, and ultimately, resellers pay the price. 

Damaged products also end up in landfills and create another e-commerce trip with carbon emissions consequences, which results in another package used. This is estimated to be five to 30 times more than the environmental impact of packaging, depending on the product.

As consumers continue to shift purchasing to online channels, the importance of transportation packaging testing, which ensures items are packaged correctly to survive the fulfillment journey, will continue to increase. 

That's why we're proud to partner with the International Safe Transit Association on ISTA PackSight, powered by Specright. 

ISTA is the leading industry developer of pre-shipment performance testing standards for packaged products and helps thousands of corporations around the world develop more effective packaging to withstand the ever-changing risks of the global distribution environment. ISTA has created standards for packaging testing that involve a series of protocols to simulate environments packages go through during transit, such as vibration and drop testing. 

PackSight enables labs and brands to test their packaging, including the ISTA 6-Amazon.com test, reducing damage and driving sustainability, through an easy-to-use software platform. Previously, tests were performed using pen and paper as people walked through the lab, testing packaging and inputting test results. 

PackSight not only helps users choose the right test for the right package, but also enables seamless data collection and report generation. 

Last year, more than 1,000 Amazon tests were completed on PackSight. 

Running these tests helps resellers package products correctly so their products can survive the vibrations, shocks and drops that come with navigating the supply chain. 

The more these tests are performed, the better Prime Day is for consumers, Amazon and the planet.

You can learn more about ISTA Packsight here, or request a demo here.