Meeting Market Demand Through Innovation
When the PackIt Fresh Innovations team commenced development on our commercial refrigeration system for online grocery order fulfillment back in 2018, we were eager to bring innovation to a then nascent yet estimated $20 Billion marketplace. That figure represented roughly 2.5% of the then $1 Trillion food and beverage retail market. Our team was excited about this new market opportunity and felt confident that our proven track record of innovation in direct-to-consumer, on-the-go cooling technologies could be leveled up and modified to meet the growing demands of a commercial enterprise.
– Melissa Kieling, President and Founder
Image Credit: Blue Book Services
Not unlike the impetus for our core PackIt line of products 13 years ago, the inspiration for PackIt Fresh started in my home. This time, identifying a need combined with a desire to “do it better” started in my garage instead of on my kitchen counter. As a busy mom, I was unpacking meals from online food delivery services at least once per week and the water bottles, ice-packs, plastic bags and corrugated boxes were piling up. I couldn’t help but wonder where all of this packaging would end up. This time, there simply had to be a better way.
The advent of online grocery ordering excited all of us right out of the gate. It really felt like a no-brainer to us. After a decade of developing our expertise in thermal engineering, and the development of new patented PackIt technologies in thermal performance it was obvious that we could revolutionize the way the grocery industry thinks about cold chain. Even more exciting was expanding our relationships with retail. Many of our PackIt grocer partners took us behind-the-scenes and shared their pain-points as they scrambled to meet increasing online orders. This resulted in numerous brainstorm sessions. It was staggering for all of us to see how the streamlining of their final mile fulfillment processes would result in mind-blowing cost-savings. Put simply, the customizable, collapsible, reusable design we now know as the PackIt Fresh EcoFreeze refrigeration system delivers efficiencies that ultimately result in profitability. New partners will see that our standard sizing options are compatible with many of their existing, in store carts and bins. With direct insights from warehouse and store workers, we achieved our goal of being a cost-effective plug-in solution for any online grocery order fulfillment strategy.
As we commence 2022, we are very much looking forward to rolling out across even more retail locations for our new and existing partners. In addition, we are seeing PackIt Fresh on the back of more bikes as more and more zero-emission, “instant” food delivery services like URB-E choose our EcoFreeze totes.
As market demands continue to grow and evolve, we’re now eager to serve a market that’s expected to reach nearly $150 Billion or 10% of the food and beverage retail market. PackIt and PackIt Fresh will continue to innovate to deliver fresh and cold every time.