Free shipping is quietly changing the design of your favorite products
Press
How will designers play a role in determining the future of how products are packaged, designed, and shipped?
The rise of e-commerce has rewritten the rules of shipping and delivery. In “Free shipping is quietly changing the design of your favorite products” on Fast Company, Jasper Dekker, Senior Interaction Designer, discusses how e-commerce’s focus has shifted away from designing products that stand out from the competition on the shelves to optimizing for smaller and cheaper packaging.
hipping economics has incentivized decreasing the volume and weight of goods manufacturers ship. Companies and brands are adjusting by minimizing the amount of water in packages—by encouraging consumers to add water to their products at home—and by reducing redundant packaging. How will designers play a role in determining the future of industries that have not yet optimized their products and packaging for weight, volume, and sustainable shipping constraints?
“Products and their packaging have been adapted for home delivery by the consumer-packaged goods industries because they managed to design their way around the problem of weight and volume, driven by the incentive of spending less money on shipping. Other industries have not adapted yet, but they'll have to if they want to sustainably exist in a market where home delivery is becoming inevitable. Designers will play a crucial role in determining that future.”