There’s no doubt that ecommerce continues to grow with every passing year as consumers all over the world discover the convenience of online shopping. For the manufacturers and sellers, packaging can be difficult, and that’s evident with some of the information below. By learning more about common packaging issues in ecommerce, you can make better decisions for your own online business.

The Biggest Problem with Packaging in eCommerce

Packaging, for the most part, is designed to present products to consumers in such a way that they feel compelled to buy. When it comes to ecommerce, though, this is actually rather wasteful in a few very surprising ways. Think about the following common packaging traits and how they apply to ecommerce.

• Expensive printed cardboard. Most of today’s packages intended for retail are covered in graphics that the average online shopper doesn’t need to make a buying decision. That’s a lot of wasted money.
• Most products destined for retail shelves contain a great deal of headspace for many reasons. This space protects the product, serves to create the ideal packaging shape, and more. This is simply not necessary in ecommerce.
• Blister packs. Blister packs are great in retail settings since they can help to prevent theft, but since the product goes from a warehouse straight to the consumer in ecommerce, it’s wasteful and unnecessary.

These things are not only completely unnecessary in ecommerce, but they also cost the average ecommerce shop owner quite a bit of money. Buyer Frustration Buyers are also subject to frustrations caused by the use of retail packaging in ecommerce settings. Once the package arrives, the end user must fight through the outer packaging, remove bubble wrap, popcorn, or air-filled bags, open the internal packaging, etc. Once they remove this packaging, they must then dispose of it, and this can eat up a great deal of space. Buyers recognize the fact that ecommerce packaging needs to be redesigned, and a quick scouring of packaging reviews on giants like Amazon serves as proof.

Saving Money in eCommerce Packaging

If you are interested in saving money when it comes to packaging options for your ecommerce-based business, it’s important to utilize packaging designed for ecommerce that negates some of the downfalls listed above. Below are some ways in which you can save money right away.

• Use less material. Packaging designed specifically for ecommerce is cheaper because there’s less material involved. What’s more, because consumers don’t need fancy outer packaging, you can even save money on print.
• Standardized SKUs. You can even simplify the process with standardized SKUs across your packaging, and this ensures a higher average number of orders with fewer SKUs overall. This not only makes things simpler for you and your shipping department, but it also enhances speed and makes customers happy.
• Smaller supply chain. Because ecommerce packaging is typically smaller, the entire supply chain is influenced. More packages can fit on trucks, labor costs are reduced, you can store more package in the same amount of space, and you can even reduce overall losses to damage during delivery.

As you can see, there’s a significant need for ecommerce sellers to move away from traditional retail packaging. Fortunately, there are some packaging companies that take ecommerce seriously and offer numerous options designed to save you money and make your customers happier.