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How do you know the omnichannel when you see it? An interview with Brent Lindberg, design consultant and Amazon expert

Q and A about the current state of affairs in the rapidly-changing e-commerce space. Lindberg will speak Oct. 2-3 in Chicago for ISTA Omnichannel Packaging Strategies Conference.

Brent Lindberg
Brent Lindberg

Q: A colleague recently told me he thought omnichannel meant a universal package that works everywhere. I think it means you investigate every way your product is marketed and sold, and you may end up with different packages depending on distribution. But the brand integrity must be maintained.

Recent PMMI Business Intelligence on omnichannel really focused on connectivity and automation offering transparency into the supply chain—whatever the channel.

At this stage, and I know it’s a moving target, what is your definition of omnichannel?

Lindberg: We typically refer to omni-channel packaging as packaging that works across all channels, like your colleague mentioned. There are different flavors of this, though, such as minor variation or late-stage differentiation packaging. Packaging that's wholly-different is a very channel-specific approach. In either case, brand consistency is important. Omni-channel supply chain and fulfillment is more about how the supply chain and distribution is managed. Many brands are handling them as almost separate businesses currently, which is not ideal.

Q: Initial research showed the majority of CPGs were making changes to secondary packaging to try to alleviate the high returns due to damage during shipping. Now we are starting to hear about changing the primary package to BE the shipping container. Are you seeing this too? Do you have any examples of Fuseneo customers doing this?

Lindberg: For a lot of durable goods brands, this is the case. They are trying to avoid the extra labor and expense of secondary whenever possible. The Amazon certification process has definitely encouraged brands in this regard. This is not nearly as common with CPG brands.

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