How Amazon Sellers Can Delight Customers, One Smaller Package at a Time By right-sizing packages, the e-commerce company aims to reduce waste while enabling sellers to save money and deliver an improved customer experience.

When it comes to e-commerce, Amazon is renowned for its speed and scale. And it's only getting faster. Last year, the company achieved its quickest Prime delivery speeds yet. More than 5 billion items from Amazon arrived the same day or the next day across the globe—an increase of more than 30% year-over-year¹.

And just think, each item shipped required packaging to get to the customer's doorstep.

Meanwhile, as the convenience and speed of home delivery grows, so do consumers' worries about sustainability. A recent study found that more than 80% of shoppers are concerned about plastic and packaging waste². Instead, they favor recyclable, lower-waste options. In another survey, 78% of respondents said they have a more positive view of companies that use paper-based packaging³.

How can businesses meet rising demand for more sustainable options while improving the customer experience?

One way is to redesign packaging to reduce size and the materials used to ship to customers. Right-sized packages allow more items to fit in delivery vehicles, potentially cutting shipping costs, emissions and much more.

Reducing waste: It's a package deal for Amazon

Recognizing this, Amazon is leading the charge with its Ships in Product Packaging program (SIPP), aiming to help e-commerce entrepreneurs reduce waste, save on costs, and boost brand visibility. Through initiatives like SIPP and other decarbonization efforts, Amazon is continuously innovating for more sustainable packaging and shipping.

"Amazon strives daily to be and do better for the planet, its partners and customers," says Kayla Fenton, Senior Manager of Sustainable Packaging at Amazon. "We constantly work to prevent and reduce waste across our businesses, including packaging."

Using an innovative approach that blends machine learning, lab testing, and materials science, Fenton says Amazon is continually working to reinvent packaging to be smaller and to "avoid unnecessary packaging altogether."

The initiative identifies, tests, and certifies products that can safely ship to customers using the product's own custom-branded original packaging — without any Amazon-added material. Items ship in the original packaging with only an address label added.

A better brand experience, signed, sealed and more sustainably delivered

The benefits go beyond sustainability. Sellers who enroll products in SIPP can benefit from Amazon fulfillment fee discounts and can minimize the size and weight of packages. This in turn can move products to a lower fee tier, resulting in further savings.

Better still, participating SIPP sellers can also deliver an elevated shopping experience, with customers receiving their goods in clearly branded packaging, promoting brand awareness and, ideally, repeat sales.

"Selling partners who re-engineer their packages to meet SIPP standards and enroll their products in the program will be able to better manage the unboxing experience for their customers," Fenton says. "They have the opportunity to put their brand front and center by incorporating their own branding elements and QR codes. This helps their customers learn more about their brand and product."

Amazon sellers can easily test and enroll their products in the program themselves. Many may find their products already meet the requirements, or might only need simple adjustments, such as securing the product packaging with a piece of tape, to become certified. Products in categories like home goods can often adopt compliant packaging with low risk of damage. Plus, these items often have multiple color or size variations, making it easier to scale solutions across several Amazon Standard Identification Numbers (ASINs).

Since packaging certified through SIPP is rigorously tested to ensure it can withstand the fulfillment process, participating sellers can also ensure their products are protected during storage and in transit. This can lead to fewer damaged products and more happy customers.

"We want Amazon to be a place where entrepreneurs starting new businesses and those with well-established brands can thrive," Fenton says. "Through SIPP, along with the range of tools, programs and services Amazon offers, we want to help our selling partners scale and grow while supporting sustainability initiatives."

It's a win-win: By using their own packages and shrinking package size, online sellers can elevate their brand, show their commitment to the environment and deliver a better customer experience.

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^{1 Amazon is delivering at its fastest speeds ever for Prime members in the U.S. and globally (Amazon)
2 The Future Is Bright for American Recycling (Consumer Brands Association)
3 Brookmark Research, Paper and Packaging Board, May 2023 Attitudes and Usage Tracking}