For anyone who regularly reads this blog, you know I often review and comment on e-commerce packaging used by a variety of companies. More often than not, the comments are not very flattering because I point out excessive packaging material waste and, in many cases, obviously poor designs. For example, Staples and Amazon have both been the subject of more than one post.
As a Chewy customer, we love the convenience and excellent customer service. I am a HUGE fan of their marketing including the current “peanut butter box” commercial. As a packaging professional and often times packaging critic, I have to admit I have the same high regard for Chewy’s packaging. They do an excellent job of utilizing the right material options and using them correctly, so they can be used minimally.
Here are a few things I am pleased to point out:
- Board grade – The 44ECT they use is perfect. Our regular order is three fifteen-pound bags of dry mix dog food, and 12 cans of wet food so our boxes are not “may be heavy” as their warning states, they are darn heavy. Chewy may want to remember that not all of their customers are young, muscular FedEx drivers. More info on board grades here.
- Minimal paper for void fill – Other companies who use yards of paper for stuffing, in most cases used incorrectly, could learn a lot from Chewy.
- Tray over tray design – Our usual 12 cans of dog food are prepacked in a tray, has a second tray that is placed upside down, over the cans. Ingenious! Don’t worry about the extra board the second tray uses, it is well worth it because it is efficient, the cans are never damaged, and additional protective packaging in shipment can be avoided.
- Single face corrugated material for surface protection – In this case the primary function of the top sheet is to prevent a customer from slicing open a bag of dry food or other product, when they try to cut the box sealing tape with a knife. That protection could probably be accomplished with a small redesign on the shipping box but considering the variety of products and orders Chewy ships, this might be the best solution all around.
- Engineered blocking material – There is a difference between void fill and blocking material. Most often wadded paper is misapplied and used to block a product in place. Chewy uses the correct material solution that immobilizes the variety of contents and prevents product to product damage.
- Eco-friendly materials – Since the box we receive is always very large, I always like seeing the SFI logo on the bottom of the box. Most corrugated boxes are now at least 60% recycled content, but it is good to know the other 40% comes from a good place.
Congratulations Chewy, your DTC pick and pack packaging is excellent. Almost on a daily basis we “fix” other company’s work but I did not see anything requiring correction or attention. You have done a great job. Keep the funny commercials coming!
For others in need of DTC packaging
Call us at 630-551-1700 or contact us through this blog post. We will gladly review your existing packaging in search of an opportunity to reduce the cost and/or make it more environmentally friendly. Or perhaps you have a new product or project coming up and would like to avoid the cost and headaches of a redesign later on?
We would love to hear from you.
Related posts:
https://www.salazarpackaging.com/bullbourne-bison-selects-salazar-packaging-for-their-new-dtc-boxes/
https://www.salazarpackaging.com/packaging-design-is-not-a-diy-project/
https://www.salazarpackaging.com/e-commerce-box-designing-the-six-most-common-mistakes/
