What is your biggest concern regarding ordering packaging from a manufacturer in bulk? If you are just like countless business owners, your biggest concern is cost. With factors such as expensive shipping and labor costs, you need to know how to navigate this particular aspect of maintaining a business to get the most out of every cent you spend on product packaging.
This post discusses the top five tips to help reduce your packaging cost without sacrificing quality. We will first dissect the different factors that contribute to high packaging costs. Then we will go through five tips on how to cut down those expensive costs.
Factors that Contribute to Higher Packaging Costs
Poor and Easily Damaged Materials
The poorer the quality of the materials you use for your packaging, the cheaper they may be. But in the long run, using such materials can cost you more because of how easily damaged they are.
Let’s say you speak with a packaging manufacturer and order a thousand units of a box design. And instead of choosing the high quality and sturdy material for its make, you opt for the cheaper and lower quality ones. For now, you probably saved up a few bucks.
But once the manufacturer finishes your order and ships them to you, you are only disappointed because the boxes arrived at your business doorstep damaged and useless. You have to order replacements, which will cost you more.
Wrong Dimensions for Your Products
Regarding ordering replacements, what if the dimensions you specified to the manufacturer are wrong, and your products can’t fit in the boxes? Again, you will have to order replacements, costing you more. Furthermore, giving the wrong dimensions for your product can add to shipping costs due to the items taking up more space.
Complicated Design
The more complicated the design of your box is, the harder it is to manufacture. A poorly designed box contributes to a more extended manufacturing period and added labor costs. Aside from the actual manufacturing, a poorly designed box structure makes it harder for the worker to pack the product. Your operational or labor costs will soar.
Expensive Shipping Cost
Expensive shipping cost is perhaps the biggest conundrum for most business owners regarding packaging costs. All carriers compute shipping costs by the weight and size of the items (the distance of too, but that does relate to this post). It stands to reason that the smaller and lighter your packaging is, the cheaper the shipping fees will be.
According to FedEx, there is a term for the weight of a package in relation to its dimension; it is called dimensional weight, or DIM. If the dimensional weight of the package exceeds its actual weight, then the dimensional weight becomes the billable factor. For example, if the package is only 3 lbs in weight, but its DIM is 5 lbs, the carrier will charge you based on the 5 lbs figure instead of the 3 lbs figure. Without getting into the specifics, let’s just say that the smaller your package is, the lower its DIM is.
Thankfully, you can take steps to help reduce your packaging cost.
Save Money in Shipping
The most significant factors affecting shipping costs are the weight and the space that items occupy. So, by limiting the weight and size of your packaging, the more affordable shipping rates will be.
An excellent way to limit the size of your packaging is to use a foldable box design for your packaging. These boxes don’t take up too much space because you can fold them and eliminate empty or void spaces.
The second way to save money on shipping is to make the packaging lighter. You can reduce the weight of your packaging box by removing unnecessary parts or choosing lighter materials. Aside from making shipping fees more affordable, reducing the weight of your packaging has other fiscal benefits.
Use Smaller Boxes and Reduce Weight
There are many benefits to using smaller boxes for your product packaging. We already covered the fact that smaller boxes mean cheaper shipping fees. Another way that custom-sized packaging saves you on shipping fees is they allow you to ship more items in one go. Smaller packaging saves up space and will let you squeeze in more boxes in one shipping.
But aside from the shipping cost point of view, optimizing your packaging by using smaller boxes saves you on material costs. Bigger boxes generally need void fillers. Void fillers add to the material costs and make the boxes heavier, which is costly for shipping.
Remove What’s Not Needed – Minimalist Packaging
Print Notes Inside the Box Instead of on a Separate Card
Some brands and businesses like giving their customers a good customer experience by adding a card in the packaging. The card can be a thank-you note or something that provides a little insight into the brand. There’s nothing wrong with that (it’s a good business practice, in fact).
But most of these businesses sacrifice packaging costs. We have another way to provide their customers more value where they don’t have to pay more. Instead of printing the note on a separate card, why not print it on the box itself? This tiny adjustment saves you on material, shipping, and operational costs.
Cut Down Void Filler Usage Like Padding and Stuffing
You should optimize your packaging space by removing any unnecessary padding and stuffing. These void fillers increase material, shipping, and operational costs. An excellent principle to live by when manufacturing packaging is to use only what you need.
Lower Assembly and Packing Time
Simplify packaging structure for easier assembly. The more simplified the structure of your packaging is, the easier it is to build. And the easier it is to assemble your packaging, the faster the manufacturer can do it. The more simple your box structure is, the more you save on labor or operational costs.
Additionally, simple box designs generally require fewer materials. So you would also be saving on material costs.
Choose a Reliable Packaging Manufacturer
How does choosing a reliable packaging manufacturer help you reduce your packaging cost?
Innovative Packaging Structure
A reliable packaging manufacturer will help you optimize your box design to create the most innovative packaging structure. Creative packaging solutions can help you cut down shipping and storage costs. Foldable box designs are just one example of an innovative packaging structure.
Innovative box styles reflect the professionalism of the packaging manufacturer. And any business owner knows that doing business with professionals is a worthy investment.
Good Quality Material
A reliable packaging manufacturer will also know which materials are best to use to suit your business. You won’t have to concern yourself about low-quality materials that will arrive on your doorstep damaged and useless. By suggesting which materials are best, the manufacturer assures you that the money you spend on your packaging will be worth it.
Reasonable Pricing
The last but not the least reason a reliable packaging manufacturer helps you reduce your packaging cost is that the manufacturer offers reasonable pricing. With a reliable packaging manufacturer, you know each cent you pay goes toward the perfection of your packaging.
Final Word
Manufacturing product packaging may be expensive. But it is a good investment for your business. You get the most out of this investment as long as you know how to reduce your packaging cost without sacrificing quality.