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CINCINNATI — Procter & Gamble Co.’s Tide brand has reimagined its classic liquid detergent with a new Eco-Box package containing an ultra-concentrated formula designed for e-commerce.
The company said the Tide Eco-Box arrives on a shopper’s doorstep in a sealed, shipping-safe cardboard box. Inside the box is a sealed bag of ultra-compacted Tide liquid laundry detergent. To use, a perforated cardboard flap is peeled off to reveal a dosing cup and a new “no-drip” twist tap. 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.
The name “Eco-Box” is a nod both to e-commerce and the lighter shipping footprint these packages are designed to drive. Products sold online typically need to be packaged with a second or third layer of packaging like cardboard boxing and bubble wrap that’s then discarded by the consumer. To address this, P&G said it designed the Tide Eco-Box to ship as efficiently as possible from a manufacturing site to a retailer’s warehouse to a consumer’s front door.
“We know that the ‘last mile’ remains the biggest challenge both economically and ecologically in e-commerce,” said Isaac Hellemn, brand manager for e-commerce innovation in P&G’s fabric care group. “The Tide Eco-Box is designed to keep the convenience of online shopping for the consumer but reduce the overall impact of that convenience on our environment.”
The new Tide Eco-Box:
- Contains less packaging, 60% less plastic and 30% less water than the current 150-ounce Tide press-tap.
- 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.
The Tide Eco-Box is the first product launch from P&G fabric care’s e-commerce innovation group. “For the first time, we have designed a package ‘eComm-Back,’ beginning with the unique challenges and opportunities the e-commerce environment presents,” said 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.”
P&G said it will continue to innovate in the e-commerce space as it adapts its product offerings for the channels its consumers are shopping. “We have some pretty exciting e-commerce projects we’re working on, and that shouldn’t be surprising,” said Hellemn. “E-commerce isn’t a trend anymore, it’s a reality, and we’re excited to keep innovating for it.”
