Why is Kroger Bullish on Loop’s Reusable Packaging?

Loop — the global ecommerce platform that launched in early 2019 and is centered around branded products in reusable packaging — has just expanded from ecommerce-only to ecommerce plus in-store. Nine retail partners across the world will now sell Loop products in their stores and manage the returns of the reusable packages. Retail partners in the US are Burger King, Walgreens, and Kroger.

Packaging Digest brings you the inside story of this development. In this 30-minute video interview, we talk with Tom Szaky, Founder & CEO, of TerraCycle, the parent company of Loop; and Denise Osterhues, Kroger’s Senior Director of Sustainability and Social Impact.

Among the questions they answer are:

• Since its launch in 2019, Loop has seen extremely rapid growth as a result of massive consumer demand. What is driving this consumer demand? And what does “massive” mean?
• Also, since its 2019 launch, Loop has been able to scale up incredibly quickly, even during a pandemic. How?
• How do you think this in-store expansion will impact Loop’s ecommerce sales?
• What is the level of participation from Kroger? Will Loop products be in all your stores in the US?
• Why did Kroger decide to do this?
• How will Kroger handle the returns of empty packages?
• Why have a special section in stores for Loop products? Why not just have the packages side-by-side with other products in their categories?
• What’s the next step for Loop?

Related:Reusable Packaging Scales Up Despite 2020 Challenges