Over the last few years, we have seen dramatic growth in online sales with more people doing their shopping online. The global pandemic only accelerated this growth and we believe this trend is set to continue for years to come.

There is now a profound requirement for packaging to be optimized for the e-commerce, direct-to-consumer supply chain, ensuring the product arrives as intended and giving consumers the in-store experience without having to actually set foot in a shop.

What are the challenges brought by e-commerce?

Products passing through the e-commerce channel have to withstand more frequent and rigorous handling: statistically, a package is handled on average more than twenty times (four times more than traditional bricks-and-mortar retail) and, anecdotally, it is more likely to be tossed into a van or dropped on a doorstep. If the packaging is insufficiently robust, the costs to the brand owner can be significant. Replacing a destroyed item can cost up to 17 times as much as shipping, but the damage to your reputation can be even greater.

A particularly challenging product category for the small parcel delivery channel is liquid products, which can commonly break and leak during shipping. As consumers become more comfortable with ordering everyday liquid items on online platforms, the need for packaging designed to withstand e-commerce fulfillment increases.

How does Rieke fulfill e-commerce requirements?

As a leading global player in dispensing systems, the challenge of e-commerce fulfillment has been a major R&D focus for Rieke. Our aim has been to deliver innovations that allow liquid products to reach the consumer without damage or leakage – eliminating the need for multiple layers of secondary packaging.

We've also worked directly with Amazon, the world's leading e-commerce platform to create frustration-free packaging solutions.

How do Rieke's e-commerce dispensers benefit Amazon's customers?

After visiting Amazon’s corporate office and labs, we were able to get valuable input from Amazon to develop solutions which would overcome the challenges of shipping liquids. Amazon shared its knowledge of common failure modes in existing trigger sprayers and we worked to fix the issues.

This resulted in the production of less waste, and accordingly, a significant reduction in complaints due to packaging. Fulfillment processing times are also reduced, in addition to costs through the elimination of unnecessary packaging components.

How does Rieke meet the new challenges faced by e-commerce dispensers?

In addition to offering products that do not break or leak when shipped, we also have established our own ISTA-6 test labs in-house to do our own testing. The ISTA-6 tests are Amazon-approved and are a guarantee that Rieke products comply with Amazon's e-commerce requirements.

We were the first company to market with a product range designed to meet the challenges of e-commerce, but we haven't stopped researching and developing new options so that we can continue to improve the experience.

This evolution of our products is a continuous process, and, as standard, all of our new product development will be e-commerce friendly.

Which other Rieke e-commerce dispensers have significantly impacted the market?

We are constantly looking at ways in which we can improve our products further, and because of our tireless work to enhance the options available on the market, we are recognized as a market leader in the field.

Our LDS-2e lotion pump was a Diamond Finalist of the Dow Packaging Awards in 2018. It is Amazon certified as 'frustration-free packaging', guaranteeing a leak-free product, and was the first of its kind.

Other lotion pump dispensers have also had a significant impact on e-commerce, as well as our foamers.

Contact Rieke to find out which of its e-commerce ready dispensers is best for your product.