What happens when world-class packaging experts around the globe think together outside the box? A better box, of course.
Organic beauty brand N.A.E. and Amazon are working closely together to enhance customer experience through new and sustainable packaging. The collaboration is part of Amazon’s Frustration Free Packaging (FFP) program, designed to develop solutions that delight customers and eliminate waste, whilst ensuring the products arrive intact.
“As a brand that offers its customers vegan, certified organic product with 99% natural ingredients, it is part of our DNA to think about environmentally friendly packaging,” said Sarah Cirillo, global brand head for N.A.E. at Henkel.
“Now we are proud to offer our customers our new sustainable solids box which contain 3 solid bars and a soap pouch without any additional wrapping,” said Cirillo..
Plastic-free partnership
N.A.E is a brand by Henkel, a global beauty care company based in Düsseldorf, Germany. For Tim Petzinna, corporate vice president at Henkel, the development of the sustainable Solids Box could be the blueprint for further projects.
“The collaboration with Amazon was the right thing to do at the right time,” said Petzinna. “Our retail customers expect us to consistently improve when it comes to sustainability. Our collaboration on this initiative with Amazon will continue as we look at packaging sustainability among our other products.”
Amazon and Henkel designed a packaging that is tailor-made to meet the certification requirements of Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging program and the strict Cosmos Organic standard.
“The N.A.E. solids box hits the mark when it comes to sustainability,” said Brent Nelson, senior manager of Amazon customer packaging experience, who worked directly with the Henkel team.
“The new packaging is certified as FFP, meaning it is fully recyclable and certified to ship without any additional protective packaging,” said Nelson. “If 50,000 people were to switch to our 100% plastic free N.A.E. Solids Box, this would save 34 tons of plastic waste per year, which is the equivalent of almost 16 truckloads”
Skip it and ship it
The solids box skips most parts of a regular wrapping process. Product information is printed on the inside of the box, eradicating the need for further packaging inserts.
“Direct communication with Amazon’s packaging experts really made a difference as they suggested avoiding excessive ‘romance’ packaging, a term used for the elaborate brick and mortar packaging which focuses on captivating the customer,” said Martin Schulte, head of Amazon global vendor management at Henkel. “We have also made the conscious decision to not use any other plastic packaging inside the box.”
Amazon has extensive experience in working together with brands around the globe to develop sustainable packaging through its Frustration-Free Packaging program. This program is designed to guide brands through the development, certification and testing process. This supports the industry to reduce packaging costs, lower waste and ultimately, delight customers.
The N.A.E. solids box is available for purchase in Germany, Italy, and France—available only through Amazon.
Since 2015, we have reduced the weight of outbound packaging by 33% and eliminated more than 900,000 tons of packaging material, the equivalent of 1.6 billion shipping boxes.
Learn more about our sustainable packaging initiatives and learn about how Amazon is helping other companies reduce their packaging waste.