Save money with affordable packaging supplies
If you’re running an ecommerce store, your choice of packaging will say a lot about your priorities and brand. When you ship items to your customers, you’ll need to package them so that they arrive in perfect condition and give buyers a great unboxing experience. At the same time, like any business owner, you need to keep an eye on costs – and that includes looking for affordable packaging supplies.
Image courtesy of Tiger Lily. Published on: May 25th, 2020, 2021. Source: Pexel.com
Use just enough packaging
Excessive packaging costs money, and creates problems throughout the supply chain. It means you have to purchase more materials, and, if it makes packages larger or heavier, it will bump up your shipping costs. These additional costs will either have to be passed onto your customers (making you less competitive), or be absorbed by your business. Using too much packaging will also give your customers a dilemma – what to do with it. From a customer’s point of view, the ideal packaging materials should be secure, yet easy to open once they have been received. This is what is often known as ‘fuss-free packaging’ or FFP. Packaging is something you need to get just right – inadequate packaging can result in damaged items, and a damaged reputation.
Scale your packaging
The size of your online business will play a major role in determining what counts as affordable packaging supplies. As you grow, you can afford to buy packaging in bulk, which means cost savings. You’ll also be able to spread the costs of your packaging across many more orders, making your prices more attractive.
At the other end of the scale, if you’re only selling a handful of items (and especially if each one is unique), you may need to purchase packaging materials per order, and this is something you’ll have to factor in when setting prices for your listed items on Bob Shop and other platforms. One way to save on packaging supplies is to reuse packaging from items that you’ve received yourself, or repurpose other materials that you already have, such as newspaper or bubble wrap.
Stronger, lighter, cheaper
Affordability in packaging supplies touches on every aspect of the journey, from buying materials, to their contribution to the cost of shipping, and even their ecological cost. Reusable and recyclable materials can address this last point, while looking at newer materials such as corrugated or honeycomb cardboard, and packaging materials made from (for example) mielie fibres can also prove to be more affordable.
Upgrading your packaging
Equally, if you’re looking to build a premium ecommerce brand, it may be worth spending more on your packaging. This could include bespoke designs that perfectly fit the items you are selling, or printing you brand and marketing messages on boxes and other materials. Again, these seemingly expensive options can become more affordable when you purchase them in bulk.
As with all the other supplies your ecommerce business needs, affordable packaging supplies becomes a question of buying the right materials, in the appropriate quantities, and using them in optimum ways. For more information on how you can streamline your ecommerce business, cut costs and still delight your customers, visit https://my.bobgo.co.za/register today.
