JKR

Yes, we’ve heard it all before, and enjoyed the hubris of famous failures like Boo.com, but online retail’s having a big week. Ocado’s being floated, Amazon’s about to start selling groceries in the UK, and M&S declare a 49% rise in home shopping compared to ’09.

For me, Ocado is the model which promises a game-changing creative and business opportunity. Because while Tesco et al stock their vans from the same shed that feeds their shelves, Ocado has one über-warehouse (with another planned) from which it processes massive distribution exclusively for online orders.

So it’s arguably big enough to warrant and organise bespoke packaging for famous brands – packs which don’t need to be designed for shelf standout, or appetite appeal, or invasive hard sell promotional flashes, because you don’t physically see these packs when you buy them (and on screen they can still shout as loudly as they ever did).

Unfettered from the usual clutter and pragmatic requirements, imagine a box of Persil or Pepsi which is designed to grace a kitchen as a thing of beauty rather than as a hard working brand billboard. If it complements and contributes to our home environment, it will promote loyalty.

At the other end of the scale, packs could become truly basic, more sustainable, re-usable and utilitarian, treated perhaps as refill containers that feed permanent branded storage in the home.  Fewer boxes to crush and recycle in this scenario.

Whilst the jury is out on the future scale of online clothes shopping, despite some notable successes, food (especially predictable, reliable, branded food) is thought by many experts to be the likely major player in the online world. As scale of distribution opens up the door for bespoke branding, perhaps now’s the time for super-brands to consider how design could transform their packs if the rule book were thrown in the bin.

When you no longer have to stand out, you are liberated to stand for something in a much more nuanced but powerful way.