Industry wants to improve the packaging for e-commerce

São Paulo-with expansion of sales through the internet, the paper manufacturers seek alternatives to reduce material waste used in deliveries of e-commerce companies.
The issue is new in Brazil, but is already being debated around the world. Even with the popularity and the increase in sales, maximizing the size of the boxes for the shipment of the goods and the return of these packaging itself for recycling is still a challenge in the country.
"Packagings intended for e-commerce are still undeveloped," says the President of the Brazilian Association of Commerce (ABComm), Mauricio Salvador.
By the side of the industry, one of the largest paper in the world also wants to develop alternatives to reduce these losses in Brazil. In an interview with the DCI, the President of Klabin, Cristiano Teixeira, explains that the company has been discussing with online retail representatives the possibility of standardizing the demand for packaging.
"Companies have a kind of box, scaled, in large part, by the greater size, even if it is for the sale of smaller items. So if Complete with [plastic] ", he says. According to him, with the demand growth of e-commerce also came an increase in the need for fiber, which is the raw material for the packaging of corrugated cardboard, which have increased and pushed the prices.
"When the sale happens in retail [physical], the shops are already prepared for all that packaging is aimed at aparistas, which return the cardboard for recycling. Already on sale online, these wind up getting stops in the homes of customers, except for cases where the collection is more centered, "says Teixeira.
Klabin Executive reinforces that there is a dynamic, currently, over the top and you should think in different sizes to suit the new moment of consumption. "The client [e-commerce] usually buy one, two or three items, sizes and different dimensions. It is necessary to standardize the size of the boxes ".
However, the Chief Executive of the National Association of Aparistas (Anap), Pedro Vilas Boas, points out a difficulty in standardizing the packaging. "A wine retailer to purchase a packaging for the sale of six bottles will use the same box if you sell three wines".
Vilas Boas also notes that the channel variation undermines the quality of the raw material collected for recycling, the packaging comes with a lower quality compared to the captured directly from physical retail. "This change of channel [to sell] brings an even bigger turnaround time, which is impacting on the volume," says, designing, for the second half, a lower availability of scrap for recycling, by the growth of orders for end-of-year sales, driven by Christmas, which should return only from January to aparistas.
"In these times of increased demand begins to exist at high prices", explains the Director of Anap.
The Economic Studies Manager of Pöyry consulting, Manoel Neves, still the difficulty of recovery of cartons, sold on the internet, not to leave the great magazines, which already have a circle of recycling established teams. "Many times the disposal at home is not the most appropriate, as in traditional retail, for the delay in return", he observes.
Expansion
The fact is that sales through the internet are a consolidated reality and ways must be found to improve the raw material for the manufacture of new packaging. According to the e-commerce consulting Ebit, the volume of orders through the internet jumped to 53.7 million in 2011 to 106.3 million last year, which represented an expansion of almost 98%. In billing, however, the expansion in the period was even greater, from 137.4 percent, reaching in total R $44.4 2016 1 billion sold.
According to the President of Ebit, Pedro Guasti, the prospect of increased sales of e-commerce contrasts with the physical retail, which was more impacted by the political and economic crisis. Currently, he says, the slice of e-commerce on the consolidated trade sale is 4.5%. "It can still be considered a small slice, but as traditional retailers come falling back, it makes room for a greater presence of online sale on the consolidated total" comments.
The Executive of Ebit adds that missing in Brazil as examples from Amazon, which has a default for each delivery type. "When a company has few items for sale is easier to tell with most appropriate packaging, but when the retailer has multiple categories that becomes a problem," he says.
To Salvador, the ABComm, there is no standardization in Brazil, mainly by a lack of planning. "The stores do not have a strategy of buying packages," says he, stating that the virtual retailer cares only with the cost. As Savior, that difficulty affects mainly the smaller retailers. "The great still manage a trading improvement, obtaining greater varieties of size. The already small and medium is restricted to two or three sizes. Then search a larger amount with less variety of sizes, "he says. He says, however, that there are ways to avoid wasting, as occurs in Europe. There, says Salvador, the composition of packaging has been developed through large sheets of cardboard with multiple folds, which can be folded and cut in a variety of ways, increasing the use of packaging in various products.
The attendance of small retailers is a concern of Klabin, says Teixeira. "The problem for them is exactly excess, as in need of smaller print runs. So, for a small print run, they need to join smaller companies packaging solutions, like the cartoner, getting no access to major manufacturers for the sake of drawing, "he says. Teixeira points out that the company has been discussing alternatives. One of the possibilities under discussion is the fingerprint, which can be used for smaller amounts, compared to the traditional method. "In this format we can work with smaller quantities, bringing a greater momentum."