How to Reduce Packaging Costs
When it comes to your business’s bottom line, it’s important to take steps to optimize your processes and reduce costs where you can. Having wasteful or ineffective packaging can damage your brand’s reputation and end up costing you thousands of dollars.
From your packaging’s materials to its shape, many factors contribute to your costs. Your product’s packaging is integral to its success and there are a few ways you can make the most of it while minimizing unnecessary spending.
Learn more about ways to reduce packaging costs.
What Goes Into Packaging Costs?
To better understand the ways to reduce your business’s packaging costs, it can be helpful to understand what factors typically contribute to these expenses:
Packaging Materials
The materials you use for your packaging will impact your overall costs. If you choose to utilize recycled materials, this will alter your prices. Most businesses utilize plastic or cardboard to package and protect their products.
Additionally, the following three variables will also have an impact on your packaging costs:
- Size: The size of your packaging directly affects your costs. Its dimensions will change how much product can fit into shelf and storage space. The smaller your packaging dimensions are, the better. Packaging size will also influence the weight, impacting your product’s shipping costs.
- Shape: You should also consider the shape of your packaging when considering the price. How you will be able to organize and fill storage space will depend on your package’s unique form. The shape also dictates the number of products that can fit within the packaging.
- Weight: Something business owners often overlook when considering packaging price is the influence of weight. The number of products you fit within your packaging will impact its heaviness, and so will the materials you choose to utilize.
Storage and Logistics
Another consideration for the cost of your packaging is storage and logistics. These factors will impact your bottom line, so you should think about how your design influences how many products you can configure in storage or in container space.
Your packaging’s fragility and the amount of room each box takes up will affect how you can store and transport your products, impacting your total costs.
Inserts and Extras
Other factors to consider regarding costs are inserts and extras. What your business uses to fill the empty space or protect your products inside your packaging will impact expenses.
Inserts and extras can contribute to the size and weight of your packaging, which then affects your shipping costs.
Design and Labor
The cost of packaging is also dependent on design and labor expenses. Whether you hire a professional to design your packaging or you do it yourself, you’ll likely need to pay for prototypes.
You should consider the labor costs for designing and manufacturing your packaging.
Shipping and Delivery
When looking at your overall packaging costs, you should also consider the expenses associated with shipping and delivery.
If your products need special handling due to their fragility or because they incorporate hazardous materials, this may impact your shipping and costs expenses. The distance your packages need to travel will also influence costs.
How to Reduce Packaging Costs
Every business can benefit from finding ways to lessen expenses and improve its bottom line. Check out these simple and effective ways to save on packaging costs:
Optimize Packaging Sizes and Shapes
About 93% of consumers say they’ve recently received a package that had ample wasted packaging space. To reduce your packaging costs, consider how you can optimize your sizes and shapes to accommodate your products better and minimize wasted room.
Test out new ways to organize your products within your boxes. The goal is to fit the most products in the least space while ensuring they are both securely positioned and protected by the packaging.
Minimize Unnecessary Parts
Another way you can trim down your packaging costs is by minimizing unnecessary parts. This may include components such as:
- Packing peanuts
- Void filler
- Bubblewrap
- Paper
Consider opting for an insert that keeps your products in place and offers an aesthetic touch for your customers. Inserts can help you make the most of your space without including wasteful materials that ultimately impact your packaging’s size and costs.
Utilize Sustainable Materials
Your business can cut down on packaging costs by utilizing sustainable materials such as recycled cardboard. Using repurposed and recycled materials are often more cost-effective than virgin materials. You can also reduce spending by incorporating packaging that reduces waste and is easy to recycle.
Plus, being eco-friendly is important for many shoppers. Almost 90% of Gen X consumers today say they are willing to pay 10% more for products that are sustainable.
Reduce Packaging Waste
In addition to utilizing sustainable materials, it can also be helpful in minimizing packaging waste. This can cut costs and benefit the environment. Again, you can save money by avoiding unnecessary fillers and optimizing the size and shape of your product packaging.
Research Your Options
When looking for the most cost-effective packaging solutions, make sure to do your research and find the best options for your business. There are so many different options for product packaging, and there are always new innovations to learn about.
A little research can go a long way when looking into factors such as:
- Cost of materials
- Level of protection
- Ease of handling
It is also important to determine what parts of your packaging are necessary and what can change. Research can help you find the right packaging options that won’t hurt your wallet.
Team up With a Customized Provider
Opting to work with a customized packaging provider is another way you could save costs. Instead of spending time and money on finding the right boxes for your business, you can hand over some of the responsibility to a provider. They can help you find the right sizes and shapes to optimize your packaging and get the most bang for your buck.
You’ll also want to ensure your design is eye-catching and sets your products apart from your competition. Customized providers often help with professional design and marketing elements. This is especially important because 72% of consumers say packaging design influences their purchasing decisions.
Turn to BuyBoxes for Your Packaging Needs
BuyBoxes understands how to make impactful packaging. We provide the freedom to customize your business’s packaging with our proprietary online application, BuyBoxes Studio. It is easy to use and makes the design process exciting and fun. You can choose from six different styles of customizable packaging.
We prioritize a hands-on approach to help you with all your packaging needs. Our orders usually ship within 10 days, and we have no minimums or tooling costs!
Are you interested in learning more about how BuyBoxes can help your business? Contact us today!