Don't get left behind because of a box

Mooresville NC

13 October, 2020

10:31 AM

Description

The economic structure of the United States has made some pretty big changes this year. We have seen companies move from a completely brick and mortar based store to a more eCommerce store in the blink of an eye. The truth is if you still want to have a company in 2020 you may have to partially sell online if you are working with products. The region in which you live may not allow foot traffic to visit you as often or be willing to even go out. So being able to pivot to selling online is key. What this means is that you are also going to have to stay competitive when it comes to shipping now. This is a whole area that can be rather scary because the costs of shipping can be really high when you factor in all the products that go along with it. The truth is that you need to be able to source all of your packaging supplies from the best location and know exactly what you need to purchase. It is true that having the right source or supplier can make or break your company. If you are losing a percentage on each purchase and your competitor is gaining it on each one then you will always be fighting an uphill battle. Yes, that can mean that the cost of tape or packages is actually destroying your business. It is a real issue and if you are using the wrong products say a type of tape for a type of box that is too heavy then you may be costing yourself more than just extra tape costs. See we ran into this issue with our cardboard boxes and products. We were using up to 10 strips of tape per package. This was because we had many issues where the box failed or the tape did not hold and the product ended up being returned to us damaged. This cost was huge, so we ended up just adding extra tape to make up for the possibility of it happening again. What we found out later is that we were using regular packing tape. Most people think this is normal but since we were new to the shipping game, we did not know that there were different thicknesses of tape. The thicker you go the more weight it holds and you need fewer strips. What we ended up learning was that we could buy a more expensive tape, but only use one strip per side of the box. This meant 6 fewer strips overall used per package. Now our cardboard boxes were safe and secure and ended up cutting 30% of the cost even with the more expensive tape. The same issue came up for our packaging as well. We were using packages that did not hold the weight well and ended up damaging our products. So we saved money by purchasing a better package. We learned this buy calling up a shipping supply store and asking about all of these issues and learning from a professional what we should do. This actually earned our business from the company and we have had a great relationship since. I hope these tips help you on your eCommerce journey.