transporting air

For every product I look at, I see opportunities to increase logistical efficiency.

Try this test: open a cardboard toothpaste package. Look inside. You'll see the tube with the folder, but you'll also see a lot of empty space. This means that there was a lot of air transport when the product was distributed to stores.

Transporting air is a waste of money, wasting diesel to move empty spaces. In addition to the cost of excessive raw material, the pollution of the planet with unnecessary burning of fuel and the unnecessary production of packaging that will be discarded.

This happens with cosmetics, cleaning products, medicines, food, toys, shoes…

The good news is that companies have been working on this topic for some time, trying to eliminate inefficiencies in packaging and products. But there's still a lot to do.

Marketing people might argue that sales could decrease with packaging reduction. And truth. But let's think together. It is the role of companies to change the mind sets of its consumers, if this is to bring benefit to all: customers, companies and the planet. The marketing team's challenge is to work on communicating with consumers, who are used to thinking that a larger package has more product, even if it doesn't.

An example of a company that carried out modifications was Kimberly-Clark, maker of Neve toilet paper. According to the company, US$ 6,5 million was invested in the development of compact Neve paper, whose packaging takes up 18% less space in the truck.

Unilever is another example. The company spent millions to publicize the first package of Confort concentrate in 2009 and compact deodorant in 2015. But the challenge will be greater in 2016, as the company has already announced budget cuts and a “zero-based” budget for Marketing (which requires executives start from scratch and justify the investments they intend to make).

In addition, many consumers are still not satisfied with compact packaging, see the large number of complaints that still occur regarding concentrated products.

But one thing is certain, the path to be followed involves reducing packaging, until we no longer need them...