Sep 01, 2026
Ecommerce packaging has become a mainstream business issue, but many brands are still treating it as a modified version of retail packaging and that is a problem.
According to the Office for National Statistics, internet sales accounted for 27.8% of total retail sales in Great Britain in Q2 2026, while online spending values rose 3.8% compared with Q1 and 11.7% compared with Q2 2025.
These figures show that ecommerce is not a side channel. It is a major part of the retail model. Yet too much packaging is still designed around a shelf, not a parcel network.
A product moving through a retail supply chain follows a relatively controlled journey. It is packed, palletised, transported, handled by trained teams and placed on shelf. A product sold online enters a different environment. It may move through fulfilment centres, conveyors, sortation systems, cages, vans, doorstep delivery and, in some cases, a return journey back through the network. That changes the packaging brief.
Retail packaging is often designed to sell, display and protect within a store environment. Ecommerce packaging must do that while also protecting the product through a less predictable handling process. It needs to be efficient to pack, strong enough for transit, appropriately sized for the item and straightforward for the customer to open.
The challenge is not that brands have ignored packaging. It is that many are still briefing packaging for one channel and expecting it to perform in another.
The scale of the parcel network shows why this matters. Ofcom reported that people in the UK sent and received a record 4.2 billion parcels in 2024/25, up 7% on the previous year. The same research found that 68% of parcel recipients experienced a delivery issue in the previous six months.
Not every issue is caused by packaging, but packaging has to be designed for the environment it is entering. If a pack is under-specified, damage risk can increase. If it is oversized, products may move during transit. If it is difficult to close, handle or reseal, both the outbound and return journey become harder to manage.
This is where a narrow focus on unit cost can be misleading. A cheaper pack may not be cheaper if it slows fulfilment, increases void fill, raises damage risk or creates a poor delivery experience.
Returns are another reason ecommerce packaging needs its own design logic. Whistl reports that 71% of UK online shoppers return items at varying frequencies. For brands and fulfilment providers, this means packaging may need to perform twice, first on the journey to the customer, then again if the product is sent back.
A pack designed only for presentation may not protect well enough in a parcel network. A pack designed only for the first delivery may not support return handling. A pack that frustrates the customer may damage the brand experience before the product is even used.
The answer is not simply stronger packaging, smaller packaging or more sustainable-looking packaging. It is packaging developed around the channel.
For ecommerce, that means reviewing the product, primary pack, fulfilment process, parcel journey, return requirements and customer experience together. It also means testing assumptions before rollout.
At VPK Packaging, this aligns with our Eight-Step Solution Cycle. Ecommerce packaging needs to be developed around the product and fulfilment model, validated against the conditions it will face, and supported once in use as volumes, channels and customer expectations change. Ecommerce will continue to evolve. Packaging needs to evolve with it.
The brands that solve this challenge will be the ones that stop adapting retail packaging for ecommerce and start designing packaging around the whole parcel journey.
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