Whether it is colourful, plain, tied up with string and bows of every kind or simply made of good cardboard, packaging has a power: it creates a feeling of joy and surprise nothing else matches. For some people, though, it has moved a long way from the magic of the festive season and much closer to a logistics nightmare. Delivery is booming, and it is dragging packaging costs up with it. Every business now has one thing on its mind: cutting packaging costs without much effort. But how do you keep riding the delivery wave when those costs keep pulling you under? Paying through the nose for packaging is not inevitable. You can reduce your packaging costs and still keep all the crucial jobs packaging does. Wishful thinking, you say? Adopt made-to-measure, high-quality, printed packaging and the progress the industry is making will surprise you.
Packaging, at the heart of logistics
Packaging has become impossible to ignore. It expresses a brand’s identity, but above all it protects. As deliveries have grown, protecting a product so it reaches the recipient’s hands undamaged has never mattered more. Its many roles are beyond dispute, but it has a cost, and not a small one. For businesses, the wish to cut packaging costs is often outweighed by the fear of putting the goods at risk. Yet you can have both. By optimising the logistics processes you already have, you can turn the packaging nightmare into real savings.
So how do you actually cut packaging costs?
1. Choose made-to-measure packaging to optimise your costs
Do you use standard-sized boxes too? Plenty of businesses make that choice, and the reason is simple: they are produced in bulk and always available on the market. That avoids the risk of running out of packaging, and the cost of designing your own. As a rule the approach is not a bad one, but it can be expensive. The risk of wasting those boxes, which do not fit the different sizes of order, is high. On top of the extra shipping charges they can trigger, there is the cost of void fill. Goods rattling around inside a box are liable to break in transit, so void fill becomes essential to keep your products safe.
Remove the cost of void fill
Cardboard cases, boxes or any other packing material have to fit the goods you are delivering exactly if you want to optimise your costs. With packaging matched to the volume of your orders, the space inside pays for itself. Made-to-measure dimensions stop your products moving around inside their container, so they reach your customer without a scratch. That cuts your void fill costs and means you are not paying to deliver air alongside your products.
An optimised packing process
On top of the immediate saving you make by not buying void fill, the process speeds up. Products dropped straight into packaging that fits them need no extra labour, which cuts your costs again. You gain speed and productivity simply by moving to made-to-measure packaging.
A win for customer experience and environmental impact
How do you dispose of all that void fill properly? With made-to-measure packaging, your customers never have to ask. Environmental impact matters more and more to consumers, and delivering a parcel far bigger than the product inside it can damage how they see your brand. Packaging that fits, on the other hand, leaves customers with a good feeling. So customer satisfaction runs through the absence of void fill too.
2. Bet on high-quality packaging to minimise the risk
The quality of the packaging you choose is essential to avoiding breakages in transit. Quality has a price, of course, and wanting to save money up front by going for lower-quality packaging is understandable. But that lack of quality can be expensive, in money and in customer satisfaction. When it goes wrong, what you saved on the packaging never covers the damage of a problem or an unhappy customer. Your goods are valuable and deserve quality transport. Whether it is your transfers between shops, moving your stock or delivering straight to your customers, good packaging plays a considerable part. If the customer receives their order in a poor-quality cardboard box, the message is not a positive one. The fear that the long-awaited product inside is broken or damaged takes hold fast. Which raises a question: will that customer order again, knowing what state the parcel arrived in? For the sender as much as for the recipient, safety comes first. High-quality packaging is a mark of trust in your brand. You provide a quality service, and that shapes customer experience and satisfaction. The more you improve that satisfaction, the more you build loyalty. Size and quality are the watchwords of packaging.
3. Print your own packaging and spread your brand for free
Shipping goods in plain cardboard packaging can look like the safe, cost-cutting choice. Printing your packaging does cost money, undeniably, and plenty of businesses see it as a luxury. But it can be a missed opportunity for a lot of brands. What if the effect on cost is not what you think? If you are an online retailer selling mostly online and straight to the end customer, your packaging is an advertising space you already own. Beyond their first job of keeping goods safe, boxes also shape your brand image. Made-to-measure, high-quality, printed packaging not only signals quality to the consumer, it also builds your brand’s reputation. The gain in brand image over the long run is worth weighing up.
4. Choose cardboard to cut both packaging costs and your environmental footprint
Plenty of businesses think that combining sustainability with packaging is idealistic. Yet plastic is out of favour and greener alternatives exist. Corrugated cardboard in particular is a real step forward in reconciling packaging with the environment. As well as being recyclable, corrugated cardboard can go round up to seven times before its packaging quality starts to fall away. Its sturdy fibres can protect a product several times over before they break down, so this material cuts waste sharply. As well as being recyclable, corrugated boxes are fully biodegradable, so they cause no problem once they are thrown away. Environmentally friendly packaging is usually thought of as expensive, but corrugated cardboard breaks the rule. Generally cheap, it can replace foam, plastic and wooden packaging. Switching to cardboard in place of those materials can bring your packaging costs down considerably.
5. Follow innovation in the packaging industry
Faster delivery is bringing a wave of modernity and speed to logistics. Packaging is bound up with the sector, so it sits at the centre of those developments too. Keeping an ear open for packaging advances, particularly in your own sector, can pay off in what you spend on packaging next. Whether it is food packaging, cosmetics or pharmaceuticals, the race for the best technology is fierce. Connected packaging is emerging, while the war on plastic and the search for alternatives sit at the heart of research. Industry is looking for packaging that is ever more effective, lighter, safer, greener and in line with what consumers expect. Those advances have a direct impact on your costs:
- Durable packaging minimises the risk of damage during delivery.
- Lighter, less bulky packaging reduces transport charges.
So it is essential to keep an eye on the sector’s trends and new arrivals.
Shippr and same-day delivery: the ultimate way to cut packaging costs
One of the best ways to avoid excess packaging is to go for same-day delivery. Shippr has made it its cause and struck sorting centres from its vocabulary. Once you know the risk of breakage and loss your parcels face in sorting centres, layer upon layer of packaging starts to look like a shield.Yet a trip through a sorting centre is not inevitable. With same-day delivery, your goods pass from your hands straight to those of the recipient. The Shippr professional carrier is the only intermediary. No more breakages, no more losses, no more astronomical packaging bills. And with the range of delivery services Shippr runs, our couriers are used to carrying every type of parcel and packaging. Food, bottles, flowers, handling fragile goods and temperature-controlled transport are all part of their day. Our solutions avoid over-packaging and, above all, save you money.
Packaging costs: one obstacle less
Whether you are a small business or a large one, there are ways to cut packaging costs and they are within reach. Take the time to put these changes into your supply chain. Then watch what they do to your packaging costs. Discover what Shippr offers on same-day delivery. Stop letting your logistics hold you back.
