Any business, whether small or large, is always looking for ways to maximise investments and improve their bottom line. While packaging can be expensive in general, it’s actually a powerful area where smart design can deliver a significant return on investment. Packaging ROI is maximised through thoughtful choices in materials, structure, and functionality, and can lead to substantial cost savings, improved efficiency, and even enhanced customer satisfaction.
There are various ways to focus on intelligent packaging design in order to translate to real financial benefits for your business – let’s dive in!
Reducing Material Costs Through Smart Design
One of the most direct ways smart packaging design impacts your packaging ROI is by minimising the amount of material required. In order to ensure your packaging is at the optimal size for your brand, make sure you pay attention to:
- Precise Fit – overly large packaging not only uses more material but also increases shipping costs due to dimensional weight. Designing packaging that precisely fits your product eliminates unnecessary void space. This reduces the amount of cardboard, void fill, and tape needed, directly lowering your material expenses
- Optimising Material Choice – exploring alternative, your equally protective, materials can lead to significant savings. For examples switching to a lighter grade or flute of corrugated board can lead to lower costs. You can also utilise recycled materials (or partly recycled materials) to bring down the per-unit material cost without compromising product safety
- Multi-Functional Packaging – designing packaging that serves multiple purposes can also reduce material usage. For instance, a cleverly folded carton might eliminate the need for separate internal dividers or cushioning elements
By focusing on efficient material usage, you can directly improve you packaging ROI and contribute to a more sustainable operation.
Lowering Shipping Costs with Intelligent Packaging
Shipping expenses can be a significant overhead, particularly for e-commerce businesses. Smart packaging design, therefore, plays a crucial role in reducing these costs. As mentioned in a previous blog post, carriers often calculate shipping fees based on dimensional weight, which considers the package’s size, not just its actual weight. Designing compact packaging directly minimises this dimensional weight, leading to lower shipping charges per unit.
Furthermore, packaging with consistent dimensions and structural integrity allows for more efficient stacking in warehouses and during transit. This can lead to reduced storage costs and potentially better shipping rates due to optimised space utilisation in transport vehicles.
Finally, selecting lighter packaging materials directly decreases the actual weight of your shipments, results in lower transportation costs, especially shipping in bulk or internationally.
Minimising Product Damage and Returns to Maximise Packaging ROI
Product damage during shipping and handling results in costly returns, replacements, and dissatisfied customers. Thoughtful packaging design that prioritises protection directly contributes to a positive packaging ROI.
- Enhanced Product Protection – design robust internal structures, use appropriate cushioning, and select durable outer materials. This significantly reduces the likelihood of damage during transit. It minimises the costs associated with returns, refunds and reshipping
- Tamper-Evident Features – incorporate tamper-evident seals or designs to reduce product tampering, theft, and associated losses. This builds crucial customer trust and protects your brand’s reputation
- Clear Handling Instructions – include concise handling instructions on your packaging. This guides handlers and minimises mishandling that could lead to damage. Examples include “fragile” or “this side up” indicators/stickers
By investing in protective packaging design, you safeguard your products. This directly improves your packaging ROI by reducing losses and maintaining high customer satisfaction.
Streamlining Fulfilment and Labour Costs
Smart packaging design also leads to efficiencies in your fulfilment process. Although it may not seem obvious, your packaging ROI is also impacted here as smart packaging can help to reuse labour costs. Components that are designed for quick and intuitive assembly reduces the time and effort your team needs to pack orders. For instance, using self-locking designs, pre-taped flaps, or fewer components in general may simplify the entire process. This means that staff will be able to prepare more packages in less time, directly lowering labour costs per shipment and accelerating fulfilment times. A well-designed package effectively streamlines the entire operation.
If you plan to forgo manual labour and utilise automated packaging equipment, designing your packaging to work seamlessly with these systems becomes crucial for efficiency and cost savings. This involves precise dimensions, consistent material properties, and specific features that machines can easily handle. By eliminating manual steps or reducing machine jams, automated systems can operate at peak performance, significantly reducing labour needs and increasing output.
Finally, clear product identification on your packaging plays a vital role in reducing errors during the picking and packing stages. When product names, SKUs, or barcodes are easily visible and scannable, fulfilment teams can quickly identify the correct items. This minimises mistakes, reduces the need for re-picks, and ultimately saves valuable time and money in your warehouse operations.
Maximise Packaging ROI with LeKAC
Smart packaging design is not just about aesthetics (but wouldn’t that be amazing?!) – it’s a strategic investment. It yields substantial returns for your business. By focusing on material optimisation, shipping efficiency, product protection, and streamlined fulfilment, you unlock significant cost savings.
Ready to experience the tangible financial benefits of intelligent packaging design? At LeKAC, we specialise in creating custom packaging solutions that fit your needs. Our designs are not only visually appealing but also engineered for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Let us help you design packaging that works smarty, saves you money, and enhances your brand.
