Most online crafters don’t need to be told what branding is. They know it intuitively. They framed their branding as they developed their products. They put it in writing when they got a logo and a business card.
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But what about a product’s shipping box and packaging? If you’re an online crafter, you probably already get that this is another aspect of branding. It’s not just a fulfillment cost. The packaging you use is the first real life experience your customers have with your brand.
What is that experience going to be?
You want to make an impression, obviously. But you’re also in business. So while it might be fun to make every package into a work of art, that’s not realistic. Your time and money are limited.
You need to deliver a package that is:
Durable
There’s no worse branding experience than receiving a package that’s been pummeled in the mail.
Attractive
Our expectations frame our experiences. If your packaging is appealing, your customers will have a pre-set expectation that your products will be appealing, too. This can reduce returns, increase loyalty, and even result in better product reviews.
Memorable
There's no shortage of competition, even for handmade goods. You want first time customers to remember your products and your packaging enough to buy again.
Efficient
Time is money. You can’t spend hours preparing each package. I’d guesstimate that any more than ten minutes simply isn’t feasible. Five minutes per package is probably the absolute max.
Affordable
It might be awesome to wrap your work in gold leaf… but you can’t. So how much is reasonable to spend on each package? 3-7% of your product cost is what most companies aim for, but 10% is not uncommon. And 10% is probably the number that most small-scale crafters should aim to beat. Limited budgets and small operations often mean you can’t buy in bulk. Also, because you’re a crafter, there’s an expectation that your shipping should be more distinctive than if you were shipping, say, batteries.
Here’s how those different percentages might break out for a $50 order:
Let’s say you decide on 7%. That’s $3.50 of budget to package a $50 order. Impossible? Not at all. You can definitely keep the outside box to $1.50 or so. Judicious use of stickers and a custom stamp can turn a “boring” brown box into something reasonable cool and memorable, but also tough enough to survive even an abusive postal worker.
That leaves you $2.00 per package.
So what can you do with that? Quite a lot, actually. Take a look at what these three small online crafters have done with their packaging.
Packages literally tie things together. So do themes.
Here’s how Love Bud Photography announces its work in the mail.
The party theme used here is an easy way to invoke celebration – and we want our customers to celebrate when they get their packages, right?
But the party theme is also a smart business move. You see, party supplies are easy to find. They’re inexpensive. And they come in hundreds of colors and variations. The hardest part about picking what to use will be to winnow down your options.
Just a few things to notice in this box:
1. The package filler.
Want to know the single best way to keep stuff from getting damaged in a shipping box? Make sure it can’t move around during transit.
That’s why so many people use box filler. And this particular box filler – the crinkled strips of paper – definitely has a party feel to it. It’s known as crinkle paper, and you can get a 10 lb box of it at Staples for $18, retail. With a third of a pound of that in each shipping box, you’d pay about 60 cents per box.
2. The printed card.
This serves a clever dual purpose. It’s an insert card you can use for loyalty or feedback (ask for an honest review) or another message. But it can also be a thank you card. You can get thank you cards printed up for ten cents or less each. Then write a quick thank you note to customize each package. That personalized touch is exactly the sort of thing people remember and share.
3. The confetti.
Using confetti in shipping packaging is pretty popular right now. But it makes sense. We all have fun associations with confetti, plus it’s colorful and cheap. It’s an easy way to add splash to a box for barely a dime per package.
Want another spin on the confetti idea? Here’s how The Bees Knees ships their honey.
One quick comment on this, though. That glass jar will need protection during shipping. They might want to borrow some of Love Bud’s crinkled paper. Or use honeycomb packaging to expand upon that theme.
How much for that party in a box?
With those three things plus the shipping box, and we’re at $2.30 per box ($1.50 for the outside shipping box, plus 80 cents for the filler, the card, and the confetti).
That still leaves $1.20 of budget per box left. Enough to buy a bit of candy, like Love Bud has done here. Or to include some other small gift like the heart in a tin.
Want another twist on the party theme? How about skipping the crinkled paper and using half-filled balloons instead? They’re the party version of air pillows. You can get packs of 100 balloons for less than $6. You can even get them in a particular color, and nail another branding opportunity.
This is the best secret for small shop packaging. If you can use common materials in a new way, you’ll:
Skip lots of sourcing headaches (because you can get your packing supplies just about anywhere)
My favorite example of this is…
The humble paper bag.
Here’s how the handmade craft company Nestled does theirs:
It’s simple, affordable, and appealing.
Here’s the cost breakout:
"Die cut" refers to the shape of this tag. Notice how it’s not a square? That’s why it’s so expensive. But Megan (Nestled’s owner) saved so much money with her other packaging materials that she can splurge a little on the label.
Total cost for this? 30 cents!
That leaves enough left over to possibly add another layer of protection for the jewelry inside. Add a sticker and a stamp and you’ve got a custom-printed package. Oops… getting ahead of myself.
Yes – custom printing can be expensive. And yes – your budget is small. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do any custom printing. You just have to do it strategically.
One example of this? Custom tape.
A lot of cool little craft companies are using custom tape. No surprise, really. You have to use tape anyway to seal the box – might as well make it into a branding statement.
There’s two types of tape being used these days: Packaging tape (sometimes known as “Carton sealing tape”) for outside the shipping box and “Kraft” tape, which is suitable for lighter uses.
Rolls typically come in 55 or 100 yards. If you buy about 25 or fewer rolls, you’ll pay roughly $10 per roll. Buy more and the cost per roll goes down.
If you use one yard of tape per package, that’s about 10 cents of custom tape per package. Not bad, given how much of a statement it could make.
But you could go even cheaper. Here’s plain tape made marvelous with a custom stamp. It’s not suitable for packaging tape, but it would keep interior boxes and envelopes closed. And it makes for a very cool return address label.
Custom stamps bring up a ton of other possibilities. They basically make you into your own print shop. Here’s how one coffee roaster packs their coffee:
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And there’s another paper bag…
Custom stickers, of course, work great too. They’re similar to stamps, but stickers can seal boxes (like custom tape does), which makes them dual use. And stickers can go on the outside of shipping boxes, too.
With all those options, you can save enough to be able to splurge on some custom printing. And it doesn’t always have to be a custom box, either. Custom printed poly mailers (aka “poly bags”) work well, too.
There’s absolutely no reason to give up on having cool packaging. Even if you’re on a shoestring budget. Especially if you're on a shoestring budget, actually.
Just be sure that whatever you use will hold up during shipping. And keep your package prep time to a minimum. That’s one area many handmade companies don’t estimate for properly. For instance, if you earn $20 an hour, and you spend 15 minutes prepping each package, you’ve just put $5 of your time into that package. Those hours add up and can throw off your spend per package… which is why a little custom printing can quickly pay for itself.
There are countless ways to delight your customers and grow your brand using stickers and other custom printed products. Check out more ways Sticker Mule can help your business grow.
In this comprehensive guide, you will learn effective strategies to significantly reduce your packaging costs without compromising the quality or integrity of your products. You’ll gain insight into cost-saving measures from improving materials storage and automating packing time to optimizing your packaging operations model and staying updated on industry innovations.
Key Takeaways:
There’s a saying that, “The packaging sells the product the first time, but what’s inside sells the product a second time”. Business owners can reduce packaging costs while maintaining the integrity and brand identity of their products. Packaging solutions and strategies exist to reduce the amount of time and money that goes into the packaging process.
So what does this mean? In the long run, businesses spend a fortune filling boxes with bubble wrap to protect goods. They also spend money on package design to build their brand and create memorable “unboxing” experiences for customers.
Food for thought: waste in your product packaging turns into waste elsewhere. Fast Company estimates that around 165 million packages are shipped each year. The world is already struggling with its waste and recycling issues.
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Materials costs aren’t the only contributing factor to packaging expenses. In fact, there are several factors that increase packing costs.
By taking a holistic approach to cost savings, your business will identify ways to improve the packaging process without compromising on quality.
As your business grows, it’s natural that the number of packaging materials you use will increase too. There is a wide variety of packaging materials available and variations within each category.
Packaging Materials Examples CardboardConsider the layout of your warehouse. Are packing items stored in an organized fashion? Is there a way to streamline your layout and speed up your overall packaging process? If you’d like to improve your existing operations, try the following steps:
You want to reduce several packing lines into a few, highly optimized packing lines. Rather than a dispersed, decentralized process, your facility will reduce labor costs by minimizing waste movement and accomplish more by speeding up the packaging process.
You’ll also reduce costs by minimizing the amount of warehouse space you use and the costs associated with it, such as lighting and heating.
Will cutting your unit costs drastically compromise your packaging quality? The good news is that there is another effective method for reducing costs: boosting productivity by cutting down on packing times.
Your workforce could be spending valuable time on the following, time-consuming tasks in the packaging process:
In fact, one of the most time-consuming steps of the packaging process is taping and sealing, likely because the stakes are rather high. A poorly sealed product has a higher chance of damage or spoilage.
Oftentimes, long sealing times are due to old, malfunctioning sealing equipment or a highly manual packaging line.
Do your machines regularly break down, costing your team time?
Similarly, do your sealing machines often malfunction, leading to tape jams or miscuts that slow down your entire workflow?
Such an environment slows down your team, leads to redundant work, and increases the number of manual inspections your workers must perform.
On the other hand, malfunctioning machinery may not be your problem because you don’t have machines to malfunction in the first place. You may be using manual packing processes that could easily be automated.
An automated packaging line will improve your operations in the following ways:
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To reduce packaging costs, you’ll need to think about reducing shipping costs as well.
Prior to 2015, UPS and FedEx used weight to price shipments. In theory, this made sense, but in practice, it cost these carriers money. Customers used large boxes to ship relatively small products, eating up space within a carrier’s truck – space which could have gone to another paying customer.
To remedy this, UPS and FedEx introduced dimensional pricing. This works by weighing the product to get the “normal weighted rate” and by calculating the volume to find the “dimensional weight”. The customer (you) pays the higher of the two.
When you’re shipping relatively small products in large boxes, you’re missing out on an easy cost saving opportunity. Consider the following strategies to optimize packaging and reduce shipping costs:
Product damage costs your business in a painful way. When a customer returns a damaged product, manufacturing, packaging, shipping, and returning it are all sunk costs. Moreover, you’ve jeopardized your relationship with a customer who may not buy from you again or worse, will share their negative experience with friends, family, and their online social networks.
There are two leading causes of product damage: poor packaging and transit damage. While the former is easier to address, the latter sounds difficult to manage. How can you control something that is literally outside of your warehouse space?
What Qualifies as Transit Damage?
First, understand the causes of transit damage. Oftentimes, it occurs when there’s a sudden impact or prolonged vibration during transportation. Sometimes, it’s wear and tear caused by repetitive handling and transportation which is known as storage fatigue.
Another possible transit damage cause is poor load stability. If a carrier doesn’t properly stack its loads or stacks its pallets too high, products can get damaged.
Some causes, like prolonged vibration, are hard to avoid. In these cases, investing in durable packaging like heavy-duty boxes or protective stuffing materials is important.
Poor load stability, while the carrier’s fault, is harder to prove. A recommended approach is to use multiple carriers and determine which carrier manages your highest volume of damaged and returned products.
If you identify such a carrier, you can either bring it up with your account manager or use a different, more reliable carrier altogether.
5. Rethink Your Packaging Operations Model
Manufacturers have embraced Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing. This model enables them to drastically reduce inventory, freeing up capital and warehouse space. Nevertheless, they use a math-based approach to calculating their needs to avoid stockouts and disappointed customers.
You can apply this model to your packaging. The packaging materials discussed earlier take up a lot of warehouse space. You may struggle to find room for the large amounts of corrugated cardboard, paper, and plastic you use to package and ship materials.
How can you adopt a Just-in-Time packing model? By employing a packaging WMS system. Better yet, work with a packaging supplier that offers this service. Instead of shipping all of your corrugated cardboard and paper orders directly to you, your provider houses these products and releases them on an as-needed basis.
You might be concerned about cutting it too close and not having the packing you need in time. If that’s the case, look for a supplier like Packaging Technologies Inc, who offers pre-scheduled or automated releases of packing materials based on your company’s historical data.
Keep your ear to the ground for changes in the packaging industry. Particularly for changes related to your sector, whether it’s food, cosmetics, or pharmaceuticals. The packaging industry invests in research and development to design products that are more durable, lightweight, secure, and environmentally friendly.
All of these add up to cost savings. More durable packages reduce the probability of transit damage. Lightweight packaging limits the amount of space you take up in carrier trucks. Secure packaging reduces the probability of spoilage and damage. Not to mention, your brand reputation benefits from environment-friendly products.
Staying ahead of the curve also keeps you ahead of the competition. Keep an eye on the following trends in the packaging industry and assess how they could impact your business:
Cutting unit costs at the expense of product safety is never a good idea. That said, sometimes product packing is costly due to style, not substance. Consider redesigning your current packaging to optimize it for space. Moreover, you can eliminate pricey add-ons like labels by printing graphics or logos directly onto the packaging.
Rather than committing to a new type of packing materials, buy a small quantity and evaluate how it holds up under different conditions. For example, you may find materials that withstand transport damage better, limiting the amount of money you lose on returns and replacing products.
On the flip side, if the materials don’t perform as expected, you don’t have a large quantity to burn through. The last thing you need is a surplus of unsuitable packing materials.
Not all of your products require maximum attention. Some products are more durable. Others will need to be more visually pleasing. Divide your products into the following packaging categories:
The journey to reduce packaging costs is a holistic process that requires thorough assessment and strategic implementation. From improving warehouse operations and automation to adopting smart shipping practices, each step taken can lead to significant savings.
Exploring packaging innovations and redesigning packaging to optimize resource use are also key strategies. Businesses have the opportunity to enhance their profitability without compromising on product integrity or branding. Ready to take your packaging strategy to the next level?
Discover the extensive benefits of Logiwa WMS. Contact us today to understand how we can help you streamline your operations and reduce packaging costs. With our effective warehouse solutions, you’ll be able to unlock significant cost savings and propel your business towards greater success.
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