A box equals a product (And a whole lot of air.)

Combination Box for Norton Internet Security and Norton Anti-Theft

At one point in the deep, dark, distant past, software came with manuals in large linen-wrapped binders and a handful of 5.25" discs. But times have changed. The 5.25" disc was replaced by the dual-size disc package and then the 3.5" disc on its own. It has been more than 10 years since any software publisher released its product on magnetic media, preferring the large capacity and low cost of the CD and the ease of on-disc help files and on-line documentation.

But if a software package is offered through the retail channel, shelf presence is a necessity. This means that although the actual contents of this box take up less space than a slim paperback book (7.25" x 4.75" x 0.25"), the box is 10.5" x 7.5" x 1.25". If something takes up the full space on the shelf, it must be a valuable product. (Or at the very least, more likely to be seen by a passing shopper.)

But that means that firms such as Symantec end up shipping a lot of useless air around the world.

The craziest thing is that I was a returning customer and previously had Norton 360 installed on my computer. Why didn't I just renew that subscription? Because it was much cheaper to buy a new product. This is the challenge of trying to keep the partner in the channel happy by not undercutting their retail price.