Iconic laundry detergent brand Rides the rising e-commerce Tide
Canadian Packaging
Design & Innovation General Design P&G’s Fabric Care Procter & Gamble Tide Eco-BoxThe Tide Eco-Box is designed to keep the convenience of online shopping for the consumer
With e-commerce widely hailed as the next big frontier of packaging innovation, global consumer packaged goods powerhouse Procter & Gamble is wasting little time establishing itself at the forefront of new packaging development for omnichannel shopping—using one of its best-known brand to set the pace.
Launched last month, the new Tide Eco-Box has reimagined the iconic liquid detergent brand with a new ultra-concentrated formula packaged in a sealed, ship-safe cardboard box containing a sealed bag of the ultracompacted Tide liquid detergent. The pack also contains a dosing cup and a specially-designed ‘no drip’ twist tap that pops out after consumer peels off a perforated cardboard flap on the front panel of the Eco-Box package.
To make dosing simpler on flat surfaces, the box includes a pull-out stand to raise the height of the box so the cup fits easily beneath the tap.
“We know that the ‘last mile’ remains the biggest challenge both economically and ecologically in e-commerce,” says Isaac Hellemn, brand manager for e-commerce innovation at P&G’s Fabric Care group.
“The Tide Eco-Box is designed to keep the convenience of online shopping for the consumer, but also reduce the overall impact of that convenience on our environment,” says Hellemn, adding the Eco-Box name was chosen as a nod to both e-commerce and the lighter shipping footprint these packages are designed to drive.
According to P&G, the new Tide Eco-Box:
- Contains less packaging, 60 per cent less plastic, and 30 per cent less water than the current 150-ounce Tide press-tap assembly:
- Doesn’t require any secondary re-boxing or bubble-wrap;
- Is lighter because of its ultra-compacted formula;
- Takes up less space because of its boxed design, which means more loads of laundry can fit on fewer delivery trucks.
“For the first time, we have designed a package ‘eComm-Back,’ beginning with the unique challenges and opportunities the e-commerce environment presents,” says Sundar Raman, vice-president of P&G’s North America Fabric Care business. “This is a fundamentally different approach than we’ve taken in the past and represents our relentless obsession with delighting consumers—wherever they want to purchase our brands.”
According to Hellemn, consumers will see many more such innovations in coming months as P&G continues to accelerate its efforts in adapting the company’s popular product offerings for omnichannel retailing.
“We have some pretty exciting e-commerce projects we’re working on, and that shouldn’t be surprising,” Hellemn states. “The fact is that e-commerce isn’t a trend anymore, it’s a reality, and we’re excited to keep innovating for it.”
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