E-Commerce Packaging: A Complete Guide

E-commerce packaging: the perfect packaging solution for the digital age. It also refers to the shipping boxes that most businesses use to ship their products around the globe to provide an exceptional unboxing experience.

Combining functionality and style, these boxes protect your products during transit while serving as a canvas for your brand’s message. With endless customization options and eco-friendly materials, these boxes are ideal for your business to offer a memorable unboxing experience.

Why is E-commerce Packaging Important?

Ecommerce packaging plays a crucial role in the success of an online business. Here are some of the key reasons why it is so important:

Unboxing experience

The unboxing experience is the first physical interaction customers have with a brand, and it can leave a lasting impression. Well-designed ecommerce packaging can create a positive and memorable unboxing experience that can lead to customer loyalty and increased word-of-mouth referrals.

Branding

Customized packaging with a brand’s logo, color scheme, and messaging can help businesses to increase awareness and help customers recognize and remember a brand.

Protection

Using high-quality materials and appropriate packaging designs for your e-commerce packaging can help ensure that products arrive at their destination in good condition, which can reduce returns and exchanges and increase customer satisfaction.

Materials Used for E-commerce Packaging 

Choosing the right material is an essential part of any packaging manufacturing process, as it is the core of the entire process. And when it comes to e-commerce packaging then, using corrugated cardboard material is the one, one should go with.

Corrugated cardboard is made with the help of two layers of cardstock with an inner layer of the flute. Corrugated Flutes make the material more rigid and sturdy and help your product packaging withstand any mechanical shock they counter during transit.

Here are the most common flutes that are being used in e-commerce boxes:

E-Flute – Among the most commonly used corrugated boxes, it has 90 flutes per foot, is available in retail packaging, and can be used to package cosmetics and ceramics

B-Flute – Used for food/retail/customized print packaging, 49 flutes per foot, used for food goods and POP displays in e-commerce business.

Box Style that Suits Perfect E-commerce

Most people confuse e-commerce boxes for ordinary shipping boxes, but in actuality, they are very different from them as they come in various styles, and some of them are as below:

Mailer Boxes – Made from high-quality corrugated material, perfect for storing your fragile item, with custom inserts and crinkle papers to provide a luxurious look, and printed with various colors.

Corrugated boxes – Made with brown Kraft and corrugated cardboard material to provide a subtle look to your products and to ship two or more products with customized logos to enhance brand integrity.

Subscription Boxes– Perfect for promoting your brand and products. Can be used to ship multiple products for promotional purposes.

Tuck Top Boxes – Double wall structured to add extra strength to avert product damage with eye-appealing aesthetics on the outside.

Custom Inserts & Crinkle Paper For A Better Protection

One of the main factors that make e-commerce packaging perfect for shipping is that they provide an aesthetic factor and are also perfect for holding products and helping them counter any harm they get during transit.

And using custom inserts and crinkle papers confirms that your products stay intact and well protected. This helps to ensure that your customers receive the product in its original condition.

Custom Inserts

Not only do custom inserts provide a higher level of protection, but it also helps to create a more branded and personal experience for your customers. Custom inserts can also provide additional information about the product, such as usage instructions or special offers.

Crinkle Papers

Crinkle papers act as a cushion to prevent damage to the product during transit. This helps maintain the product’s quality, leading to increased customer satisfaction. In addition, it also reduces returns and customer complaints.

Suitable Printing Methods

There are a lot of printing techniques that are being used in the market to manufacturer, but the most common ones and that suits best to these boxes are as following:

Offset/Lithography Printing:

Offset/Lithography Printing uses plates to transfer an image onto a rubber blanket and then onto the material.

Digital Printing: 

Digital Printing is a direct-to-media printing process that involves printing directly from digital files onto the material.

Artwork Designs 

Those days are long gone when plain packaging used to entice people, today’s packaging needs exquisite designs to appeal to more people.

Creating artwork Listed below are two important factors to include in your packaging artwork.

Branded Logos Designs 

Combining branded logos and colors can help make a product more appealing to potential customers. It can also help convey the right product message and create a lasting impression.

Pop Infused Colors

Colors can evoke certain emotions which can help your brand stand out. Utilizing pop art style with bright, vibrant colors can help make your artwork memorable. It can also be an effective way to capture the attention of your target audience.

Easy to Assemble & Ready to Ship

You can easily assemble these ecommerce boxes by simply snapping them open, folding them, and you’re good to go.

Plus, assembling them isn’t much of a hassle, so they’re easy to handle. As such, these boxes provide added convenience for the user, quickly and effortlessly ready for shipment.