Who would have ever thought that corrugated display boxes and other products like cardboard mailer boxes would have such a big impact on the success of your company? It turns out, however, that simply producing a popular product is not the only key to making a business successful. Just because you have produced one of the most popular reusable water bottles designs in years does not guarantee success. If, for instance, you spend 10% of your profits paying for custom corrugated boxes to safely ship your product, you have a real distribution issue.
Though not everyone is aware of its use, corrugated packaging is currently the largest segment of the custom packaging industry. In fact, more than 1,500 box plants are in operation in North America, and corrugated products are a major product of theirs. Employing more than 70,000 Americans, the corrugated industry constantly needs to upgrade. Whether these boxing companies are start-ups new to the industry, or 100 year old factories, they face some of the same challenges.
Cardboard packaging companies, for example, are in a constant battle to provide the most sturdy materials available, but they must also think about the sustainability of the products they use and the products they create. When 91% of the cardboard produced in the U.S. was recovered and recycled by the year 2012, for instance, the margin for improvement in this area continues to shrink. The other sustainability opportunities become more inventive and exact for companies that want to compete with the packaging industry as a whole.
As flexible packaging continues to decrease the weight and compactibility of their product, the cardboard industry must continue to look for ways to make its products like cardboard mailer boxes more affordable to purchase and to ship. In addition, retail packaging design continues to seek options that can match other printed materials that the company may use. With the new push for branding, as an example, every boxing customer may be looking for options that can be both affordable and unique.
Whether you are the manufacturer of a hot new water bottle design, or trying to roll out samples of a new headphone design, the packaging needed for your product may be nearly as important as the product design itself. If a company pays close attention to production costs of their newest product, but fails to evaluate and improve the cost of the packaging, the distribution costs may seriously cut into the profits.
Even if a company is in the beginning stage of product development, it is good to have a vision of the final distribution and what shipping details, like the height, weight and cost of cardboard mailer boxes, will have on the end profit.