Traditionally, ecommerce packaging was thought of as nothing more than a corrugated box. However, the market for ecommerce products has evolved drastically since then; today, customers expect their products to be packed in custom packages. The demand for good packaging is so high that the ecommerce packaging market is expected to reach a whopping USD 61.55 billion by 2026! It raises the question of the importance of good packaging in the ecommerce industry.
Even though product packaging was previously only used as a means to protect products during transit, focusing solely on item protection keeps you from benefiting from custom packaging. Think of it this way – as an ecommerce business, your direct and first touch point with a customer is your package. So, doesn’t it make sense to put maximum effort into ensuring the package impresses your customers?
After all, it presents you with an excellent marketing opportunity. When crafted effectively, a suitable packaging and unboxing experience can create a memorable ecommerce experience for your customer, increasing the likelihood of repeat business. Who wouldn’t want that?
So, without any further ado, let’s dive into the meaning and importance of good packaging!
What Is Ecommerce Packaging?
Ecommerce packaging essentially means packaging that online businesses use to ship their products to customers after they make online purchases. Product packaging entails creating a box or container for your products.
Ecommerce packaging typically includes an outer box, infill or filler material, inside box, and other custom inserts. Many ecommerce businesses use branded product packaging to satisfy their customers and boost their brand’s profitability.
It involves using carefully selected, high-quality shipping supplies to create your package. Bespoke branded packaging could include a corrugated box, branded stickers, packing fillers, a thank you note, and a handpicked gift or discount coupon. Its purpose is to offer additional value to your consumer and create a positive buzz for your business.
Types of Product Packaging
Before you ship your products, you must use premium packaging supplies to pack them for safe shipping. Unless you are shipping exceptionally durable materials, your products will require a box that is slightly bigger than them for safe transport. You will also need product cushioning materials and packing tape.
Here are some popular ecommerce packaging supplies you might need to ship your product range:
Corrugated Boxes
Most online retailers use corrugated boxes to ship their products. They are durable, lightweight, and recyclable. If you’re looking for ultra-durable corrugated boxes, you can use double-walled, heavy-duty ones to provide additional durability for items that weigh more.
Padded Mailers
You can use various types of padded mailers, including:
These high-quality product packages work well for flat, smaller, and delicate items, such as books, handcrafted goods, and jewelry. You can use bubble wrap or recyclable paper for added protection.
Poly Bags
If you sell incredibly lightweight but durable products, you can use self-sealing poly bags to ship your products. They are lightweight, durable, easy to store, and self-sealing, which makes shipping them easier from a smaller space. You can also customize them to suit your brand and invest in poly bags with suffocation warning signs. Moreover, you can get bubble-wrapped poly bags for slightly less durable items.
Customized Product Packaging
Lastly, brands use bespoke online business packaging that gives them the opportunity to offer their customers a unique unboxing experience. It works wonderfully for PR packages brands can send to social media influencers.
You can also create custom packages for regular customers to promote brand recognition and customer retention. Bespoke ecommerce packaging includes customized boxes, gift-wrapped items, printed fonts, handwritten thank-you notes, brand stickers, gifts, branded packing slips, and more.
What Is the Importance of Good Packaging?
The importance of good packaging lies in the success of a business. Often, a brand’s product packaging is the first physical interaction a customer has with that brand. 72% of American customers say product packaging design influences their buying decisions.
Most individuals are likely to buy from a brand again if its packaging exceeds their expectations. It’s why well-thought-out packaging can significantly impact your brand’s success. It helps reduce the number and cost of returns, fosters customer loyalty, and raises brand recognition. Your package might even end up in an online unboxing video with thousands of views.
So, even though product packaging needs to fulfill its obvious goals – getting your items to the consumers safely and cos-effectively – it also offers undeniable additional benefits.
Here are some factors and benefits that highlight the importance of good packaging:
Packaging Can Become an Extension of Your Online Business
If you use premium packaging supplies, you can make ecommerce packaging an extension of your brand. Think of it this way – online stores already have fewer customer touchpoints than physical retail stores.
The benefits of online shopping, primarily the sheer efficiency and convenience of shopping from home, come at the cost of having a hands-on experience with the product before buying it. However, that does not have to stop your brand from offering your customers everything in your capacity. The few touchpoints you get to share with the customer should be on point.
The first of these touch points is the product packaging, which should be a memorable brand experience for your consumers. The best way to ensure that is to think of packaging as an extension of your online business. It should be a significant part of conveying what your business is about and why people should purchase your products. The packaging should be as dependable and aesthetically appealing as your product. It should also match your brand values and position within the industry.
If you’re worried about the budget, think of cost-effective and creative ways to use packaging that will impress your customers while suiting your brand ideology. For instance, if you are a brand that believes in sustainable practices, you can look into eco-friendly packaging to appeal to your eco-conscious buyers.
First Impressions Matter – Good Packaging Ensures Customer Satisfaction
Picture this: a potential customer visits your online store, browses your products, finds something they like, and places an order. None of these steps involve the individual having a direct, physical interaction with your brand. However, they will eventually be physically introduced to your brand. This first impression will be through your packaging.
If your customer receives a damaged, poorly packed box at their doorsteps after days of their waiting for their package to arrive, it will give a terrible first impression. Just like you wouldn’t dream of handing a battered package to a customer who comes to your shop in person, put time and effort into ensuring your online customers don’t receive such packages.
While you must prevent this from happening at all costs, you should also focus on other steps instead of just ensuring your product reaches the customer in one piece. To give a memorable first impression, use clever branding, personalization, thank you notes, and more to make your customer feel valued.
A well-designed package will add a sense of excitement to the unboxing. Focusing on the customer and their experience with your brand is where your success lies. It’s why unboxing videos get massive views on social media platforms. Potential customers love seeing brands care about them.
Enhanced Customer Interest & Retention
30% of online businesses state that product packaging improvements lead to significant revenue increases. The improvement in customer engagement results in higher profits for brands. It is tied to the delivery of undamaged, beautifully packaged goods, which helps customers see that the brands they chose to shop from care about them and their experiences.
Improving a product’s packaging could involve working on product security, a brand’s value reflected in the packaging, or offering the customers a custom packaging experience. Whatever it might be, the improved packaging adds to the excitement of receiving an order and results in repeat business. It results in increased customer interest, increasing the likelihood of more business.
Proper Packaging Leads to More Profits
Good packaging can help your business grow through the oldest yet still an effective form of marketing – word of mouth. Customers who receive an aesthetically pleasing package are likelier to share their experience with their family and friends than those who receive an ordinary-looking package. Some customers indefinitely retain the package with the branding because of how wonderful it looks.
Moreover, when customers receive a well-designed, secure package and are impressed with the product inside, they are more likely to post positive online reviews. It will result in more business for your brand. They will also be inclined to purchase more products from your brand and encourage others to do so, increasing your profits.
Increased Customer Loyalty
Customized packaging drives customer loyalty. It’s a simple concept that most ecommerce businesses overlook. You certainly don’t have to blow your budget when investing in customized packaging. You can stick to a small budget and create a bespoke package with handwritten notes and graphic stickers.
Receiving a bespoke package encourages the customer to feel valued. They think of the brand as an entity that cares about its consumers and will listen to what they have to say. It helps develop a sense of loyalty; customers think that if the brand is considerate, they must repay the favor and purchase from the brand again instead of looking elsewhere. It helps you increase your sales and retain your customers.
Appropriate Product Protection
No customer wants to receive a broken, damaged, dented, or scratched product. However, that is exactly what they will receive if you invest in low-quality packaging materials or use the incorrect box size to pack your products. Similarly, not using enough cushioning can result in your product breaking before it even reaches the customer’s door.
It’s where the importance of good packaging enters the picture. Using the rightly-sized box, appropriate cushioning materials, and top-quality packing tape and other packaging materials will keep your product safe during transit. It will preserve the product’s integrity and help you present a positive brand image.
Ace Packaging Reduces Company Costs
Top-quality online business packaging can help you reduce your costs significantly. How so? Appropriate packaging will ensure your product does not get damaged during transit. This way, you will save on the cost incurred when your customer returns the broken or damaged product.
It will save you from costly exchanges and returns, enabling you to avoid the extra reshipping costs. Moreover, it will save your employees’ time that would have gone into appeasing the customer and the cost of sending another product that could have gone to a different customer.
Furthermore, an appropriately-sized box for packaging your products will reduce shipping costs. It’s because the cost of shipping certain items is directly proportional to their size and weight. You can use a box that is slightly bigger than your product instead of using a humongous box to reduce your shipping costs. A proportionately-sized box will also help keep your product in place during transit, keeping it safe till it reaches your customer.
Appropriate Branded Packaging Promotes Brand Value
As I mentioned, your product packaging is an extension of your brand. It’s why it can help you promote your brand value and establish its identity, especially if you have a relatively new business. Proper packaging will cement your brand as a business that cares about its customers and wants to deliver the best experience. A distinctive design, top-quality printing, and premium packaging materials will engage your consumers and quickly differentiate your brands from others in your industry.
You can use your packaging to promote your brand’s values and mission. For instance, you can pack your products in a foldable box with a flap and write your brand’s story or a value that would resonate with the customer on the underside of the flap. It will help your customers learn what your brand is all about. You could also include a note that details where the product the customer chose came from. It will encourage them to know more about you and your products, making them feel invested in your story.
Additionally, appropriate, well-thought-out packaging will help strengthen your reputation. If your packaging is resistant to damage and your customers receive undamaged products each time, people will start trusting your brand. It will cement your status as a valuable, established brand in your industry, which is always a plus in the world of ecommerce.
Proper Packaging Prevents Slow Shipping
Often, valuable delivery time is wasted when a package accidentally tears during shipping. These packages are then checked thoroughly to ensure no product is missing before it is sent to the customer. If a product is missing, it takes even more time and money to deliver, resulting in a dissatisfied customer.
If an order is picked up, safely shipped, and then delivered efficiently, it will keep your customers happy. All you have to do is keep the package from opening or tearing during transit. The best way to do that is to use premium packaging solutions, including top-quality packing tape. It will keep your packages safe during shipping, enabling them to reach your customers as quickly as possible. It will ensure your customers are satisfied with the quick delivery time and the optimal condition of the delivered package.
Invest in Premium Packaging Supplies From The Boxery
Now that you understand the importance of good packaging, you must take time to conduct proper research and find a reliable vendor with premium packaging supplies. The Boxery is a shipping and packaging material supplier with a vast collection of shipping items, including corrugated boxes, packing tape, shipping mailers, poly bags, packing peanuts, and more.
We understand the value of good online business packaging and want to ensure your customers are thoroughly satisfied when they receive a package from your brand. Our packaging supplies will help you deliver a memorable unboxing experience to your customers. So, what are you waiting for? Explore our high-quality shipping supplies here!
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