• Product packaging is essential to the customer's experience with a brand and can significantly impact purchasing decisions.
  There are cost-effective ways to create high-quality packaging that enhance the brand narrative and serves the customer, such as using materials like corrugated fiberboard or folding cartons and utilizing standardized structures.
• To save on packaging costs, minimizing dimensions, choosing cost-effective materials and structures, and considering strategies such as digital printing and reducing the number of components in the design are essential.

In this blog article, we will outline ten very successful strategies that you can use to reduce packaging costs. These tactics, which span a range of methods to improve packaging options and cut costs, have been used by businesses of all kinds. This article will provide firms with a comprehensive perspective on cost-cutting opportunities and stimulate fresh thinking. It is important to remember that occasionally the most significant successful cost savings come from methods that have yet to be considered.

Using five distinct clusters that are intricately linked to the overall costs associated with your packaging, taking a thorough look can help you identify the factors that significantly influence your current packaging prices.

Design

1. Cut costs by reducing your packaging's components

One of the most economical packaging strategies is simply containing what is required. Each component of the package must be carefully examined to ascertain which elements are necessary for the safety and protection of the product. Examine whether any parts that are not necessary for security can be eliminated without harming what the customer expects from the brand. For instance, printed materials created to describe products or improve the unboxing experience can be deemed unnecessary and moved to the company's website or mobile application. As a result, fewer components can be utilized overall, and various product combinations can be accommodated. Essential elements like inserts, spacers, and padding can be designed for modularity and versatility. Businesses can reduce inventory costs and overhead associated with non-essential packaging by minimizing components.

2. Cut costs with designs for ready-to-ship SKUs

As more and more people make their purchasing selections online, the function of e-commerce packaging is shifting towards protection during transit. For example, the transit packaging can be designed to remove the need for additional retail packaging. Reducing packaging decreases expenses and has a positive environmental impact. Amazon has established certifications for Frustration-Free Packaging (FFP) and Ships In its Own Container (SIOC) to promote this movement. It has begun identifying businesses that use non-compliant packaging. By working with manufacturers to design products and primary packaging that meet the transportation needs to the customer's door and eliminate the requirement for additional packaging during the process. Amazon's Customer Packaging Experience team hopes to replace standard retail packaging with transit optimized packaging in the coming years. Such ready-to-ship packaging is designed from the ground up for reduced material use and optimized for a direct-to-consumer experience. 

Manufacturing

3. Cut costs by reducing tertiary packaging

Manufacturing businesses frequently overuse packaging material for their goods, even when there is little chance of damage occurring. This extra packaging, which consists of waste, resources, and volume, may be more expensive than the damaged stock. Even though they do not touch the final consumer directly, some packaging elements in the supply chain, such as plastic and corrugated boxes used to convey rolls of fabric to a factory for clothing, can nonetheless be eliminated. For example plastic material and corrugated boxes used to convey rolls of fabric to a factory for clothing. Opportunities to reduce easily ignored packaging can be found by looking at the total supply chain and tracking products back to their manufacturing facility.

4. Cut costs with a reduction of imports and exports via airway

It is essential to consider the expense and environmental effects of various shipping techniques. Compared to sea freight, which may take longer but is more cost-effective, air freight is much more expensive and utilizes more fuel. One choice is to combine air and sea freight, such as expediting a portion of the order via air freight and the remaining amount via ocean or truck freight. This can aid in balancing the demand for speed with environmental concerns and financial costs.

Customer Experience

‍5. Cut costs by optimizing your packaging toward reusability 

Reusable packaging is composed of more substantial materials and would need an initial investment, but it might result in financial savings over time. It can drastically lower the entire budget for materials and transportation and be employed in applications geared toward consumers and supply chain optimization. Adopting a reusable packaging solution would necessitate marketing efforts, but it can produce exponential packaging savings per customer and foster consumer loyalty. 

‍6. Cut costs by increasing smooth packaging fulfillment operations

Frequently based on the number of picking and packing touchpoints, fulfillment costs can be decreased by streamlining the packing process. Fulfillment can be sped up by techniques including getting rid of extra parts, getting goods ready to ship, and simplifying box construction. Assembly can be sped up and made simpler using mailer-style containers, which require only one strip of tape, and closing choices such as wafer seal stickers. Altering the packaging design may initially cause a delay in delivery but professional services such as those provided by Packmatic can help teams navigate the modifications and guarantee a seamless process.

Packaging Sourcing and Suppliers

7. Cut costs by reducing time spent on supplier sourcing 

It can take a lot of effort to manage a packaging supply chain with numerous factories and relationships since it involves finding suppliers, handling requests for quotes, placing orders, following up on updates, and predicting the amount of inventory that will be required. Enterprise resource planning systems, spreadsheets, and email can all be used to handle these operations. Time can be saved, and a company's ability to concentrate on its core goods increased by consolidating and streamlining these operations.

8. Cut costs with the right manufacturing partner

Different factories may use other tools and procedures even if they can make the same product. For instance, although some companies may only be able to print on one side at a time, needing an additional workforce to flip the boxes over and print on the other side, other factories may have technology that can print on both sides of a box simultaneously. The number of manufacturers that can effectively make packaging using specialty materials, high-fidelity printing, or enormous dimensions may need to be increased. Understanding a factory's capabilities and identifying specific features enable you to negotiate lower pricing and avert production problems that result in subpar output.

Disruptions

9. Cut costs by having a plan b for supply chain disruptions 

Natural catastrophes, pandemics, trade wars, and other unforeseen occurrences can disrupt operations and result in delays and expensive costs. It can be beneficial to have redundant manufacturing alternatives and the capacity for quick adjustments to foster resilience and prevent delays. Preparing a plan B in front of disruptions helps save downtime and time. High redundancy in the dispersed packaging supply chain enables businesses to move production elsewhere in the event of a disruption quickly. This load-balanced manufacturing has the potential to lower freight costs and facilitate temporary output reallocation in a non-disrupted state.

‍10. Cut costs with different packaging options for your products

To strengthen the supply chain for packaging and increase diversity and resilience, consider substitute goods and materials. Let's say a company relies substantially on packaging or materials that cannot be manufactured for a reasonable price in their region or are only produced in a few areas. They might be exposed to supply chain interruptions in that situation. For instance, businesses that depend on plastic packaging made in Asia may encounter bottlenecks or unexpected price rises due to issues like COVID-19, trade conflicts, or port strikes. Additionally, deliveries from across the globe have highly negative environmental impacts. Alternative packaging materials which are produced locally , such as paper goods or alternative plastic packaging, can be helpful to decrease dependency and thereby avoid price fluctuations.

As you have just read, it does make sense to have a closer look into the five different pillars with which your product's packaging is connected. Each strategy gives various opportunities to save spending on packaging, materials, and processes.

Suppose you would like us to help you find ways to cut your packaging costs, book an appointment with our specialists today! We are happy to find a solution that fits your business.