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Amazon’s new sustainable packaging program puts the customer first

Amazon encourages vendors to optimize their e-commerce packaging to reduce waste, decrease cost, and eliminate damage, and most important, enhance the customer experience.

Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging Program is made up of three tiers.
Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging Program is made up of three tiers.

On Sept. 18, 2018, just two months shy of the 11th anniversary of the launch of Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging Program, Amazon notified thousands of its North American vendors by letter of a new incentive program designed to drive more sustainable packaging that reduces waste and damage and “delights” customers. The new program urges vendors to design their packaging to meet Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging Program Certification Guidelines, offering an early-adopter monetary incentive to assist in the transition or the option to face a chargeback per unit beginning Aug. 1, 2019.

On Oct. 31, 2018, Amazon expanded its Vendor Incentive Program to vendors in five European countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. The deadline for FFP certification for these countries is Oct. 1, 2019.

Brent Nelson, Senior Manager, Customer Packaging Experience - Sustainability, for Amazon, explains that the new Vendor Packaging Initiative is not a mandate; rather it presents vendors with an opportunity to rethink and redesign their packaging for e-commerce to reduce much of the packaging currently used for the brick-and-mortar retail channel.

First and foremost, Amazon’s goal is to improve the customer’s experience. This includes minimizing the environmental impact of packaging, which entails reducing the amount of packaging, and lowering the cost of delivering goods to assist in maintaining low prices for customers.

Since 2008, Amazon has worked with brand owners such as Hasbro, Philips, Fisher Price, and Hill’s Pet Nutrition, among hundreds of others, to redesign their packaging per FFP program guidelines—achieving significant success in packaging material reduction and ease of opening. On the 10th anniversary of the FFP Program, Amazon announced it had helped eliminate 244,000 tons of packaging and 500 million boxes since the program’s inception.

While these stats were notable, Nelson says Amazon felt it was time to expand the program, and about a year ago, the global Customer Packaging Experience Team began collaborating with Amazon’s retail teams to bring about the Vendor Incentive Program. “We’re listening to our customers intently like we always do regarding how to reduce packaging materials. Customers expect us to lead in this space,” he says. “We’re maturing to the point where we believe the right thing to do is actually develop packaging that’s ready to ship, where we don’t have to use another Amazon overbox and void fill inside the package. The role of packaging in online retail is different than brick and mortar, which enables the opportunity to reduce the amount of packaging we deliver to customers.

“I often get the question from vendors or others in the industry, ‘Amazon, why can’t you just put a right size-fitting overbox around every product?’ We sell millions of different products. To have a right-sized package for every single product is a significant challenge. We do the best we can in putting items the customer orders in the best-fitting overbox possible, but the solution here is actually having ready-to-ship packaging that doesn’t require additional prep or additional overpackaging.”

 

Tiers 1 and 2 are first targets

Amazon’s FFP Program is made up of three certification tiers. Tier 1 is Frustration-Free Packaging, comprising packaging that ships in its own vendor-supplied packaging with no overbox required, is easy-to-open, and is made from 100% curbside-recyclable materials. Nelson explains the ready-to-ship concept: “What we buy from vendors is received into inventory, and then ultimately ordered by a customer is fulfilled in that vendor-supplied packaging.” Easy-to-open involves the elimination of plastic binds, wire ties, and clamshell casings.

Tier 2, Ships In Own Container (SIOC), has the same requirement as FFP, but does not necessarily need to be made from 100% curbside-recyclable materials. An example of a Tier 2 SIOC would be a highly fragile item, such as a television. For these types of products, Amazon recognizes that protective packaging such as cushioning materials may be required to prevent damage. Ultimately, delivering products to customers intact on the first delivery is the expected scenario from a sustainability standpoint.

Tier 3 is Prep-Free Packaging (PFP). This tier addresses the catalogue of items fulfilled by Amazon that are too small to qualify as shipping in their own container—the minimum dimension for SIOC is 9 x 6 x 0.375 in. Examples include a tube of toothpaste or a bottle of laundry detergent. Here, Prep-Free Packaging certification means that no additional prep work, such as bubble wrap or bagging to prevent spills or leaks, is required. Products in this tier are shipped in an Amazon overbox.

For the Vendor Incentive Program, Amazon is tackling Tiers 1 and 2 first, “going after bigger items that have a larger opportunity to address customer concerns around packaging waste,” Nelson explains. These include ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) items with package dimensions of 18 x 14 x 8 in. or greater or 20 lb or more. Excluded are ASINs with any Hazmat classifications or ASINs in Prime Pantry or Amazon Fresh.

To be certified for Tier 1 or 2, packages must pass the ISTA6 Amazon SIOC test—developed and vetted with the International Safe Transit Assn.—which involves free-fall drop testing and vibration testing intended to simulate the conditions an item is likely to be subjected to during normal distribution and carrier supply chain processes.

“We’ve seen excellent results in the real world, where an item certified as either Tier 1 or Tier 2 does a great job in terms of performance and preventing damage,” says Nelson.

 

Incentives and benefits

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