Optimising your packaging for Christmas deliveries

Packaging can affect the way customers perceive your brand, especially at festive times such as Christmas.

Online retailer Amazon was accused of “ruining Christmas surprises” last year after sending products in their original packaging. Unhappy customers expressed their disappointment on social media, complaining that intended recipients saw, or were close to seeing, their festive gifts upon delivery.

The company said they were trying to put a stop to excess packaging, which appears to be one of the key challenges faced by online retailers today. Almost a quarter of respondents (24%) in our recent unboxing research thought that the packaging was too big for the contents.

Overpacking leads to yet another issue… bulky parcels are less likely to fit through a letterbox, meaning your customers will return home to dreaded “sorry, we missed you” cards. This can be so frustrating, especially if smaller packaging was used, the parcels would have been delivered the first time.

There are a few things you can do to prevent this.

If you use a single box size to ship all your goods, consider expanding your box selection to accommodate different items in your product range. Packaging that is a good fit for your product will prevent movement inside the pack during handing and transportation, and will help ensure you only use as much filling material as it is necessary.

Lighter, optimised packages will help you reduce transport costs, as you will be able to fit more parcels on a pallet, and they will also look smarter, enhancing customer experience.

Make sure your packaging complies with Royal Mail Pricing in Proportion (PIP) sizes that relate to the weight, length, width and thickness of your package. This will help reduce your shipping costs while giving you a good indication of whether your parcels will fit through customer’s letterbox.

Investing in packaging automation is yet another way to ensure you use just the right amount of packaging to protect your products, and it can also help make savings in other areas of your packaging operation. To find out more, read our previous blog post – Reduce operational costs with packaging automation.

At Macfarlane Packaging, we can help you find the right packaging to protect your products, your brand and your business.

Contact us today to book a free, non-obligation packaging review.