E-Commerce Shipping for Beginners

When starting or running a small business, you're probably not focused on packaging initially. It is completely understandable to sort of put this off until your business is a little further down on "Development Drive". 

72% of Americans agree that packaging significantly influences their purchasing choices. Beyond that however, an additional 49% self report that they are willing to spend more money on products with packaging that appeals to them.

But how to compete with big business? Well, we've got some advice on that.

Brand Design

Brand design and, by extension, brand recognition play as an absolutely massive role in whether a business succeeds or drowns. Hiring a professional designer to help with creating an eye catching logo is a good first step. 

After you've worked out the color schemes and the actual design of the logo, you have to move on to packaging. What kind of materials do you want to use to ship your goods? How do you want the packaging to look? Why do you want it to look that way? For this, you have to consider things like the climate of where you're likely to ship. All the branding in the world won't save your reputation if your goods show up with wear and tear from the elements for instance. 

Social Media Presence

One way businesses can expand their reach is through "unboxing" videos posted to social media. Eye catching unboxing videos help people see first hand what their package will look like, and on a deeper level, shows them exactly what you want them to see. 

Ease of opening will come in to play here. If the unboxing video is 45 minutes long because the packaging was so tough, that won't be very enticing. But if it's easy to open, pleasing to the eye, and hosted by a likeable personality, then you've got a winning combination.

Shipping Efficiency

Now that you've got your design plotted out, we can move on to the actual logistics of getting the product out in the world. 

Inventory management is key in small E-Commerce based businesses. The best thing an owner/operator could do is stay organized. The more organized your shipping center is, the smoother the process of getting the product to the customer's hands. This includes keeping track of your stock levels, knowing which shipments have arrived and which are still en route, and tracking incoming shipments as well. Juggling all these different things at once is difficult, but well worth it.

Standardized and Uniform Shipping

One shortcut you can take is to set uniform shipping standards for all your products. This means having each package or product be relatively uniform in their appearance. By creating an outline of your shipping process, you help to create an uniform standard that you can then apply to any and all products shipped. That uniformity and consistency allows for greater streamlining of your services. Consistency is king when it comes to online shipping.

2021 Shipping And Logistics Trends

2020 can be regarded as a year of disruption for logistics and e-commerce. With things slowly coming back to usual, it is necessary to watch out and identify key trends for 2021.

Stats and observations suggest that the packaging and shipping industry will recalibrate to facilitate e-commerce businesses more than ever. Although demand and supply have been one of the issues in recent months, things will stabilize in the next few months.

With e-commerce rising at a lightning-fast speed, merchants who adapt to resultant changing scenarios will certainly earn huge profits. Not to mention, the key success is the development of a robust shipping strategy.

Demands for affordable global shipping options

Most e-commerce brands and crowd funders working in shipping and logistics have operational costs on top of their minds. That is why they look for the cheapest ways to send products to different locations. With the boom of e-commerce, the demand for cost-effective global shipping will also rise.

When it comes to cost management, it is necessary to find the right carrier. You will need to see which carrier provides cost-effective solutions for your shipping requirements. You will also have to optimize your product packaging by shaving off those extra grams to keep shipping costs under control.

Normalized delivery times

In 2020, shipping and logistics had to endure a spike in the number of product deliveries. In 2021, delivery lead time (DLT) will return to normal. Factors that disrupted supply chains in 2020 included pandemic, Brexit, shipping shortages, and the trade war between the US and China.

Several innovations in shipping and logistics should help normalize delivery times in the future. These innovations include shipping container optimization, commercial drone deliveries, and automation.

With operators adjusting to new systems, DLTs should reach the pre-pandemic times.

It has, therefore, become more necessary than ever for merchants to deploy modernized measures to ensure quick and safe product deliveries to their customers. Another way to prevent the frustration of consumers is to allow them to track the transition process.

Popular carriers in the US

The most popular domestic delivery services in the US are USPS, UPS, and FedEx.

E-commerce merchants have been favoring USPS due to its range of cost-effective shipping options. Those options include First Class and Priority Mail.

UPS and FedEx are quite popular as they continue to offer speed and reliability. They also offer the option to track packages. Although courier rates went wonky last year, they should get back to usual in 2021 and beyond.

The US as the world’s largest consumer economy

Although China has made some advancements, the US continues to remain the largest consumer economy in the world.

The reason for the US’s dominance is the geographic location that allows it to remain a primary conduit for cross-border shipping. It also hosts many shipping channels to other countries and regions. It means that cross-border shipping prices should remain relatively stable for US-based merchants in the coming years.

Greener shipping

You may be well-aware of the concept of greener packaging. The upcoming era may bring forward the concept of greener shipping as well. Brands committed to benefit the environment through eco-friendly methods of packaging and shipping will be valued more by the consumers.

 

Don't Let Amazon Rule Your Trash

Being the 2nd year of the pandemic now we are seeing the world still stuck in the online shopping trend.  We are now forsaking brick-and-mortar stores.  This has led to a change in the way we shop in general.  Our economy has moved from a just-in-time brick-and-mortar delivery to eCommerce.  It is really incredible to see this happening and now I am personally seeing consequences that I never thought would happen.  I simply found that my garage was getting filled with boxes.  It started to drive me crazy and my wife was going nuts.  Our garage was stuffed so full with boxes that it no longer worked for cars.  Only tons and tons of trash. 

You may say, why would you be driving anywhere?  Well, we still need to drive to get food and winter is almost here and we needed to clean out the garage of all these eCommerce boxes. The thought was that we should make sure to get rid of them the proper way. I didn't want to do anything but recycle all of these boxes.  I saw that I was creating up to 10 times more trash than normal per week and that was driving me nuts.  It was my duty to make sure these were disposed of properly and not just dropped in a landfill like all the other packaging supplies. 

Just throwing these in the trash was not a wise option to get rid of all the packaging supplies So, I decided to make sure we recycled them properly. For our home, this meant that we were able to use one trashcan in green each week.  That is not a whole lot of space.  But it is the only amount that our local trash company allows and we knew that it was the correct thing to do.  We at first just threw the boxes in but after 3 no more would ever fit.  This was a problem because we ended up using up to thirty boxes a week. No one could have thought this was a normal thing that would stick around.

This meant that we had to tear them all down and get them into a size that we could fit in the can. This seems so easy, but I was using my hands and it simply was too much work.  My hands were getting these huge paper cuts and still, I didn't get many boxes in the trashcan.  So I decided to break out the scissors because that makes the most sense.  Well, it turns out that the task was not going to work.  I had to stop after simply a few boxes because my hands hurt so bad.  It did make the boxes fit perfectly in the trashcan though.  The search for the best way was still yet to be found.

But luckily I am an avid outdoorsman and went old school with these boxes and used a big knife.  Well, the knife was not big, but it was a fixed bladed knife with a nice comfortable handle.  I knew that if it was a thin knife it wouldn't be comfortable either.  So I decided to slowly and safely cut the boxes into the correct shapes to fit the trashcan perfectly.  It was a great idea and it even worked.  I was able to cut them all down and fit them in each week. Each week I set out an hour to do the right thing and feel pretty manly doing it.

Packaging For E-Commerce Products

The COVID-19 situation has resulted in a lot of challenges for customers and businesses. During this time, e-commerce has come forward as a more prominent industry. The unprecedented growth in e-commerce is driven by the rise in demands as people had to remain at home and order online for products they needed. According to an estimate, online ordering has increased by 50%, meaning that the number of people getting products at their doorsteps is the highest one at the moment.

Now, you may wonder what all this means from the perspective of product packaging. Most companies use containers for retail products. Traditional retail distribution involves several steps, from preparation at the production line to palletizing to transportation before the product reaches a retail store. At the retail store, employees place these products on shelves, from where customers pick them up and move towards the checkout.

An e-commerce journey, on the other hand, is quite a rigorous one. Whether you are shipping beverage bottles, household products, or food items, you will have to make sure that your products are ready to endure the harshness that they may be subjected to during transit. You will need to stay away from the use of packaging materials that are vulnerable to damage during the journey. For instance, not covering aluminum cans can result in dents on them and glass bottles are prone to breakage.

Another mighty challenge is the potential chargeback by companies such as eBay and Amazon. If you have to use bubble wrap to secure your product for the shipping process, Amazon will charge back the cost to you. Sometimes, those additional charges can end up wiping out profits.

Furthermore, retails receiving your products will want your product packages to pass rigorous tests. Such tests could include drop and edge crush. They will give the product package a passing grade if it is successful at protecting the product inside. It will undoubtedly mean you will need to add more materials to your product packaging to make it secure for harsh environments.

Another challenge of e-commerce packaging is the need to maintain an exceptional unboxing experience. With e-commerce, you get only the product delivery as an opportunity to let your customers look and touch your product. This touch point cannot go wrong, or you will have a lost consumer. To make sure that your product can convince your consumer about your brand, you will need to take help from several branded packaging supplies that not only deliver the brand message but also instill positive emotions into your consumers about your product and brand. This aspect of e-commerce packaging is as crucial as package durability.

So, if you want your e-commerce product to be successful in the industry, you will need to stick to the packaging best practices. A balanced approach towards making the product packaging secure and branded is the bare minimum you have to achieve.

If you are struggling with finding the right e-commerce packaging solution, you may need to discuss your requirements with a qualified packaging consultant. Such a person or service will give you details about the best materials and how to use those materials for your branding advantage.

Holiday Packaging Trends

Packaging has come into the spotlight, thanks to the rise of e-commerce. In this article, we will discuss some tips and trends to achieve marketing success through product packaging.

No matter which holiday season it is, you may have a lot of activities to do. Since customers want to entertain their families and friends through designs and value, high-end brands seem busier than ever. It could mean using highly attractive product packaging designs to attract consumers interesting in buying gifts for their loved ones.

Having that said, let’s now discuss some packaging trends.

E-commerce will continue to rise

E-commerce grew steadily before COVID-19, and it has grown drastically in the pandemic-hit world. Now, e-commerce sales are expected to gather a greater share of total retail sales around the world. The reason this e-commerce has trended that much is that it has allowed customers to stay socially distant while purchasing products they required.

According to a forecast by Deloitte, e-commerce holiday sales will grow up to 30% by the end of 2021. In total, e-commerce holiday sales will generate between $182 and $196 billion.

This demand will bring a shift in purchasing habits, which may also necessitate secondary packaging. Americans will not only purchase gifts but also ship them to their friends and family. Many of these senders and recipients may not even see each other due to the pandemic.

An optimal unboxing experience is key in the e-commerce business. That is where those businesses may need to use gift packaging designs to amuse their customers. The best thing about this shift is that it makes customers feel more valued by a brand.

Automation will be more prevalent

Automation proves to be the best option that businesses can use during the pandemic to ensure the health safety of most people. According to a survey by Ernst and Young, about 41% of managers in 45 countries are investing in business automation to prepare to fulfill business requirements in the post-pandemic era.

We all know that holiday seasons bring an influx in e-commerce demands. That is where speed and efficiency become more crucial than ever. In such a scenario, using automation options that enhance labor instead of replacing it can be quite beneficial. They can help analyze and improve consumable costs, adjust for seasonal volume peaks, reduce costs, and optimize freight.

Another benefit of automation is that it reduces warehouse space. Retailers usually have to either upgrade their warehouses or make the packaging process more efficient to meet demands. The most crucial requirement is the efficiency of packaging operations.

Companies will ditch plastic

Sustainability is a never-ending subject. According to Nielsen, the US sustainability market will reach $150 billion by the end of 2021. According to another research, 66% of consumers said that they were more than willing to pay more for sustainable products. About 84% of consumers look for responsibly packaged products.

A sustainable product comes in sustainable packaging. It means that there is an immense opportunity for the use of recyclable materials. All previous years had seen the worse of plastic due to the packaging wastes it produces. Only 9% of the plastic disposed of between 1950 and 2015.

The current scenario, however, is quite different. People are more aware of the disasters of packaging wastes. That is why companies and brands are pushing limits to become more sustainable than ever.

 

Change your viewpoint with boxes

Ecommerce is now the king of the industry.  It is what most people are getting into because that is how we are now all shopping.  The sad truth is that most of these stores were brick-and-mortar companies that have had to pivot to stay alive.  The regulations of their state have forced foot traffic to their stores to behalf at the very best and none at the worst.  In many cases, they have had to close off their main store and are only allowed to work online.  That means that they have shifted the way that they work. What they have found is that there are small ways to make big savings and sometimes a simple box is a way to do it. Now it is much more than just a box, it is the process of shopping and negotiating for the best price that can end up saving tons of money and crushing the competition.

My company works for eCommerce companies and if we can help in any way we will. Sometimes our experience in past jobs has been a big help to these companies and we are giving tips left and right to keep them on track. One area that seems to be an issue is the transition to e-commerce from a shipping perspective.  These companies need to not only have a presence online but from the warehouse, they need to be able to store more products and not spend money doing it.  Cutting down on warehouse costs is huge and can have massive impacts.

Huge companies like target use super-crappy backends.  Ya, their employees suffer, but it is cheap.  Most use a simple ABC numbering system and that was it.  They organized billions of dollars of goods that way and it was the most financially responsible way for them to do it.  I have worked at smaller companies that spent tons of money on expensive shelving systems that did the exact same thing but only were less flexible as the cardboard box system.  So this has been our advice to companies.  If they are expanding a warehouse to use this cheap system in order to cut down on costs and put that money where it matters.  It has been a big help and we have led them to packaging supplies companies that can fulfill those box orders and get the bins for the shelves organize for a low price. This has changed the world for some of these companies.

Some people cut their salesroom down.  They turned the trafficked floor into a warehouse section. They blocked off the area with a temporary wall which was something they did not even have to get a permit for in their location and then they made shelving and started to store more.  They had lost all their foot traffic so it was not a loss to sales only again on the back end.  Yet again, they used packaging supplies stores to fill the shelves with organizational bins and boxes and they were off and running. Innovation is key and doing what it takes to win is the answer. So find what works best for your company and go out there and crush it.  If you have to benchmark to survive then do it and learn fast! It is worth it to still have employees!

Packaging for the Sharing Economy, Reusable and Modular in Design

 Did you know that some packaging providers are now making their packaging sharable. Think of Airbnb hosts, and gear rentals, or even peer-to-peer lending platforms that offer different ways to share and use the items. When building an economy to share, you want to make the packaging reusable in their own way, and also modular too. By doing such, you’re able to make the items easy to give and use with others, and also, will help to keep track of the items as well. 

Here, we’ll go over how this shareable packaging works, and considerations to have when putting together such items. 

The Requirements 

With shareable packaging, you want to make sure that it’s strong.   You want it to not break down after one use, but you can get multiple mileage out of this.

Lockable is another. Lockable items are good for helping you with keeping the items safe and secure, improving the overall security of such items so nobody steals them when you borrow them.

Then of course, you want it to be easy for you to clean up when someone’s down, and also if you need to reset it for the next person, as in the case of Airbnb. 

There’s a lot to consider, but it’s not all that hard.   Let’s look at a few examples of this. 

Examples 

Some examples of this involve different items that you might have people share with others, or use and put back. 

Tool cases for example, needed to be put in a good place. A wrench or screwdriver set that you’re letting someone borrow needs to be orderly. You can create foldable cases, with real-time tracking. When made with a strong material, they won’t break down over time, but will stay strong for many uses.

Then of course, we can look at water jugs, coolers, or other rentable receptacles.   When you refill these for the next person, they get used.   You don’t know what type of person is truly boring to you, so making these refillable containers secure is important. 

Smart Features of This 

Barcode tracking is an example of this. with a barcode, you can scan it in, and then, if not returned and scanned, you can take the appropriate measures as needed. 

Compartments that are resettable with locks and whatnot, are one example of this.   you’ll definitely want to consider this.

Finally, feedback loops for packaging will help to give back feedback on who’s using this, along with real-time considerations for such packaging. When sharing, adding and adjusting smart features is important.

Possibilities 

A lot of packaging for the shared economy is changing. You want something safe and secure, but some might wonder what else you can do with this.   Some offer subscription rentals, where when one pays a price, they can use it for a period of time. This is good if you have a specific group that’s going to be using these again and again, so they don’t have to go through the same protocol every time.

There’s also rotating ownership, which means that different owners rotate around, offering you a variety of different models for you to improve your packaging. Again, with sharing economy packaging, you want to create models that are easy to ship and use around, and when you do this, not only is it reusable by design, it’s also effective, especially for putting forth designs that will stand out, and improve as well. 

Consider all of these when building such models, for your overall success and wellness of your item-sharing capabilities.