When you are launching a new product or product line, or perhaps upgrading, and refreshing an existing product, we recommend you resist the temptation to make it a DIY project.
We’ve been doing this a long time, seventeen years to be exact, making millions of boxes for thousands of customers. The only customers who live to regret and are unhappy with the finished packaging, made one or more key mistakes:
- They rushed through the art and layout approval process we require.
- They opted to redesign the style, or dimensions we created for them.
- They chose to do the graphic or structural design work “in house”.
This post will focus on the structural portion of #3 above because we firmly believe you can’t start creating your painting until you know the size of the canvas. On more than one occasion we have been asked to create a box, based on an early rendering of the graphic design. We can tell you that does not work very well; I often compare that to an attempt to knit a pair of socks without knowing the size of the foot going into them. A properly designed box fits the product, and the graphics fit the box; not the other way around.
The benefits of utilizing an experienced professional.
There are several benefits to working with an experienced, capable structural design partner. A good design produces savings, and that can come in a variety of ways.
- Shipping cost savings resulting from proper sizing
Of course, assuming identical artwork, a smaller box is always going to be less expensive than a larger box. In addition, we remind people to consider and weigh inbound and outbound shipping costs. Inbound freight cost (from our plant to you), usually an LTL carrier, is minimized if we are able to stack more boxes per pallet. Outbound is the cost of shipping your product to your customers. A good structural designer understands dimensional (DIM) weight and he understands how even adding one unnecessary inch to any dimension can add as much as $2.00 shipping cost per package.
- Storage cost savings
We can accomplish this a couple of different ways. As mentioned above, a good, and minimal dimensional footprint, allows for more boxes to be placed on a pallet. This is really important because unless we are shipping your boxes to your own facility, you are probably utilizing a co-packer, or a fulfillment operation like a 3PL. As you probably know, they will charge you for storing your products as well as your packaging. Per pallet, per month can really add up so the fewer pallets you ask them to store, the lower the overall cost.
- A better look, less damage and happier customers
Product placement within a shipping container is part science, and part art. We are of course always concerned about the esthetic and understand the desired “wow factor” better than most companies who create DTC packaging. Even though terms like wow factor and “unboxing experience” come and go, the goal is always the same which is to impress the recipient customer the 
moment they open the box. That begins with how easy the box is to open, to how the product being shipped is presented within the outer, shipper box. Equally important is how well the product is secured and protected during shipment. Product damage is not the type of first impression anyone wants. Product return, credit and/or replacement is extremely costly.
Here is the best part of using Salazar Packaging as your structural design partner – working with us is free. In most cases, there is no charge, because we know how to do it effectively and quickly. Not to rush through any part of the process, but using the decades of experience we have earned, to help you save money, and precious time.
Give us a call at 630-551-1700 or contact us through this web site. We have branded packaging advisors, standing by, waiting to help you. Take a quick tour of our gallery to see a small sampling of the packaging we have created for others.
Related posts:
https://www.salazarpackaging.com/new-e-commerce-packaging-projects-wanted/
https://www.salazarpackaging.com/e-commerce-packaging-structural-versus-graphic-design/
https://www.salazarpackaging.com/free-packaging-services-why-were-unique/
https://www.salazarpackaging.com/e-commerce-packaging-drivers-wanted/
