Progress Update No. 02 - Packaging Disasters

UPDATE: the new packaging is now live.

What Went Wrong

Let me just show you. The product in question is Mushroom Coffee which *should* be a powder.
As you can see, it is...not.
Instead it looks like I got a lump of coal for Christmas.

The powder has sadly clumped together like crazy which is what happens when too much moisture gets into it.
This isn't an issue with the coffee itself. Quite the opposite - it's meant to do this. The powder has to react with water to turn into a smooth drink once you stir it in (in the biz suppliers will refer to this as being 'hygroscopic').

The problem lies with the packaging.

The Packaging Problem

I designed the packaging to be in a tube format. It ticks a lot of boxes as it can be stored easily, is pretty robust (won't break like glass) and looks good in people's homes.
The last point is important because if your customer likes the packaging enough to display it in their homes, that gives a constant lift to your word of mouth. It becomes a more natural talking point for any visitors compared to if it was hidden away in the cupboard.

One drawback is that a lot of tubes for powders are not actually recyclable. You need a strong barrier to protect the powder, which means most tubes are composed of several layers of plastics, metals or other materials. This means that even if individual layers are recyclable/compostable, the overall mix isn't.
Companies will sometimes fudge this a bit by saying their tubes are "partially recyclable" but this often means that only the lid is - the main body has to go in the bin.

My Failed Attempt to Improve It

I had an idea to fix this by keeping the layers separate.
If the powder went into a recyclable pouch, and then the pouch was packed into a purely cardboard tube, then they could be recycled.

The customer would just have to open the pouch and slot it back into the tube as shown below. A bit unnatural maybe, but I bet customers could get used to it and it meant the best of everything. Better environmentally and still looks just as good aesthetically.

And no one else was doing it so it'd be a good point of differentiation too.

Sadly, no one was doing it for a reason. Once the pouch is opened, the combo isn't very good at protecting the powder anymore so it spoils a lot faster.
When I tested it myself it seemed fine. But humidity varies a lot depending on people's homes, where in the country they are, the time of year etc.
So for many customers, it was pretty bad.

How Bad Is "Bad"

It meant that customers had to power through the Mushroom Coffee pronto, otherwise it'd clump and eventually turn into a rock.
For the most regular users, they didn't notice so there was  repeat purchase from them.
But for the low-to-mid drinkers, theirs went in rock mode so understandably they generally didn't repurchase (this was revealed by calling up customers and asking them for feedback).
For these types of low average-order-value DTC products, repeats are essential to pay back your marketing costs and go into profit. Without repeats, you end up eating a loss (not sure why I'm saying 'you' here... it's me suffering the losses!)

How I'm Fixing It

With a heavy heart, I'm ditching the tubes. They look good but if they don't protect the product, what's the point.

I've lined up a metal tin + pouch combo.

In future, customers will get an empty reusable metal display tin with their first purchase.
Then all the Mushroom Coffee is packed into stand-up pouches.

The new pouches have more barrier protection and a zip lock seal, so even those alone do a better job.
But the idea is that customers treat the pouches as refill packs and decant the powder into the metal tins.
The tins do the job of being displayable and they do a great job of keeping out moisture with their screw-top lids.

The Unspoken Downsides of Environmentally-Friendly Packaging

There's quite a lot of fanfare around eco creds.
Maybe it's died down a bit recently but between 2019-2021 it felt like everything had to be eco. Or vegan. Ideally both! 

Annoyingly, from a purely practical perspective, plastics are pretty much perfect for the job of packaging.
The inconvenient reality is eco options will bring some kind of trade-off: higher cost, more breakage, poorer shelf life.

It's good to go for environmentally friendly options - and I believe consumer companies should do all they can in this regard - but you have to ensure you can handle the inevitable drawbacks.

Hopefully the packaging industry catches up to provide eco solutions on par with plastics, but it's not there yet.

Eco Penalty

This means there's an unfortunate dynamic at play where startup brands who are the most well-meaning will suffer the largest setbacks.
And those who don't give a shit have no problems, enjoy cheap costs and have bountiful packaging choices.

Consumers are voting more with their purchases which is great, but from what I can see this is marginal and most would prefer the lower prices and better shelf lives of traditional packaging.

Recommendations For Those Starting Out

Looking back it was foolish to try something different when starting.
There are already so many risks and unknowns with a product launch, so adding this to the list (and having it be the one that ruined things) was unnecessary.

Even if you have strong intentions to be eco-friendly, I'd recommend that unless you have a lot of bank to burn that it's better to minimise your risks and get a foothold first. Once you're established you can work on packaging tweaks. And you can afford to pay for experts to do it properly!

I put pressure on myself for my first version to come out the gate with all this figured out. I don't think customers would have minded too much. So if you're agonising over eco packaging right now, let me be the voice to say "don't worry about it!"

Luckily this didn't sink me. I can draw a line under it and go again with a new version. But it certainly didn't help!

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