Packaging Tips to Protect Your Products During Shipping
When you have a product worth buying, customers can come from far and wide. Nowadays, customers are able to purchase products from anywhere in the world. Whether your business is shipping locally, to the other side of the country, or even internationally, making sure your products arrive at the customer’s door safely is essential.
We have put together a list of tips that should keep your products safe and your customers happy.
Tips to Keep Your Products Safe During Shipping
1. Use Quality Packaging Materials
Quality products deserve quality packaging. Every business should make an effort to minimize shipping costs to help their bottom line. However, settling for less-expensive materials can often do more harm than good.
With roughly 1 in 10 products damaged during shipping, quality packaging materials can minimize returns, costly product replacements, and dings to your reputation.
Finding a reputable supplier of high-quality packaging, cushioning, and loose-fill materials will make it easier to keep your products safe. You, your products, and your customers are worth it.
2. Package Your Products Effectively
Having high-quality packaging materials is good, but using those materials effectively is the key to keeping your products safe. It’s essential that you use the correct sized package for your products. A package that is too big will need extra cushioning materials inside to prevent products from being damaged. However, packages need enough space to effectively use cushioning or filler materials, so using a package that barely fits may not work well, either.
Keep in mind that some products will need more cushioning or filler material than others. For example, a set of wine glasses will certainly need much more bubble wrap and loosefill material than a hardcover book. And if you’re shipping several small objects in the same package, dividers or inserts can ensure they don’t roll around inside the package. Effectively packaging your products will make sure they are protected from any bumps, drops, and shocks that might happen during shipping.
3. Test Your Packaging Solutions
Different products need different packaging solutions to guarantee they arrive safely. One of the best ways to determine that your current packaging solutions are up to the task is by testing your packaging. There is a myriad of tests available to simulate all sorts of factors, including:
- Drop Tests use accelerometers to evaluate how packages perform from varying drop heights (1m, 2m, etc.), whether it is a free-fall straight down, dropping the package on its corner/edge, or even rolling/tumbling.
- Vibration Tests evaluate how well packages protect their products at varying frequency ranges (25Hz, 200Hz, etc.) to simulate shaking and vibrations during shipping.
- Inclined and Horizontal Impact Tests evaluate how much protection packaging provides at varying impact velocities (1 m/s or 4m/s, for example), which simulates boxes sliding around or being hit from the side.
- Compression Tests evaluate how much force packages can withstand before being crushed (measured in Newtons/Kilonewtons), such as when having several packages stacked on top of it.
- Moisture and Temperature Tests can ensure that products are not damaged due to humidity, rain, or extreme temperatures.
Working with a package and shipping company to test your packaging will ensure that it can protect your products.
4. … Or Design Your Own
When it comes to packaging, sometimes one-size-fits-all isn’t the best fit. Depending on the type of product you’re shipping, it may be necessary to create your own packaging. Engineering and design software can be utilized to develop customized packaging to fit any type of product. Designing your own packaging also means that you can test it throughout the developing process which will ensure the best possible results. Whether it is custom-made inserts, cut-outs, or package reinforcing, packaging tailored to your needs will ensure that your products can be delivered safely, create an elegant package design, and make a memorable unboxing experience for your customers.
Looking to Guarantee Your Products Arrive Safely?
Preferred Packaging is Here to Help.
Since our founding in 1985, we have become the preferred packaging supplier for hundreds of companies along the Front Range. We owe our 35 years of success to taking the time to really listen to our customers and come up with effective solutions for their packaging and shipping needs. We are fully equipped and able to design and manufacture packaging products, as well as provide generic packaging products, equipment automation, kitting & assembly, and warehouse & distribution services.
To see what packaging and shipping solutions we can provide for you, call us at (303) 444-4774 or get in touch with us online today.