Businesses thrive on trust and reliability. And if you own a business that requires you to ship your orders regularly, reliable shipping boxes are necessary for your items to reach safely.
However, packaging every item in high-quality shipping boxes can become an economic challenge for small businesses. Still, certain standard shipping supplies are necessary even for small businesses to establish goodwill with your customers.
So, if you own a small business, you need to think smart to cut your expenses while successfully shipping your merchandise to your clients and earning their trust. Moreover, with a little effort, you can even use your shipping boxes in a way to make your business stand out.
There are several efficient tricks down the sleeves that small businesses can effectively employ to have both—low shipping expense, high delivery impression. And this article aims at introducing you to those secret tricks.
These tips are crucial for every small business that wants to save money while ensuring that its customers enjoy the best shipping experience.
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Shipping Boxes for Small Business: How to Choose?
Shipping can be expensive if it’s not done correctly. The first and foremost concern for perfect shipping is choosing the right type of shipping box your business needs.
A wide variety of shipping boxes are available in the market, depending on their shape, size, and configuration. Your work is to choose the one specific to your business and reflect your goodwill while saving you from any high expenses.
Here are a few popular kinds to choose from:
Poly Mailers
Poly Mailers are lightweight plastic bags perfect for non-fragile items, cushions, books, etc. This inexpensive shipping material is very effective for saving money at places where the weight of the parcel determines its shipping costs.
Corrugated Cardboard Boxes
Cardboard Boxes are the most efficient when it comes to shipping fragile products. Its sturdiness and availability in different shapes (square, rectangle, triangle, tube, etc.) make it the most popular option. And if you can order them in bulk, you can save a little money as well.
Custom and Branded Boxes
Custom-made boxes that reflect your brand and its logo certainly make a good first impression. The customers will remember their unboxing experience if you add your special touch to the boxes. It might be a little costly, but it sets the standard for your business.
Specialized Moving Boxes
Specialized moving boxes are designed for particular products with particular specifications. For instance, glass items might need boxes fitted with slotted inserts, or certain items like TVs need boxes with specific requirements.
Collapsible Boxes
Packaging for laptops and other electronics can be made easier and cheaper with collapsible boxes that eliminate the need for storage space.
Insulated Shipping Boxes
Combining cardboard with Styrofoam or polyurethane inner container, insulated shipping boxes works perfectly for shipping food or medical supplies.
Weigh all your options and make your choice depending on the products shipped and the trademark of your business.
Finding Cheap but Quality Shipping Boxes
The next step to achieve the perfect shipping goal is to find cheap but quality shipping boxes. Several places offer cheap shipping boxes without compromising their quality.
Here are a few popular ones:
Amazon
Amazon has all kinds of shipping supplies and tons of shipping boxes to choose from as per your budget and business needs. Plus, you can select any vendor of your choice, check the customers’ reviews and even get a discount on bulk purchases.
Uline
Another site where you can find a range of cheap shipping boxes is Uline. It also offers a good discount on bulk purchases and provides one-day deliveries.
Walmart
Walmart, too, offers shipping boxes at a very cheap rate. Bulk discounts, home delivery, and free shipping are also available.
Target
Target offers shipping boxes with an affordable price range and a good shopping experience.
eBay
eBay is another online site that comes with a range of shipping supplies at an affordable price and with bulk discounts.
Packagingsupplies.com
This is the e-commerce site that specializes in shipping supplies and that too at wholesale prices. High-volume shippers can even earn special discounts while shopping at this site.
Staples
Staples earns its distinct reputation by combining its shipping supplies with excellent expert advice regarding your shipping goals and the customization of shipping boxes. It also rewards the members with free shipping and fast delivery.
U-Haul
This is the one-stop for branded quality products most suited for moving and storage rather than shipping.
You can choose any option from the above list to have a cheap supply of quality products. However, even the cheapest of all shipping supplies cost at least something. Hence, it is always beneficial to have free shipping boxes from the companies that offer them.
Three courier companies providing free shipping supplies are USPS, UPS, DHL, and FedEx. If you decide to hand over your shipments to these companies, they won’t charge you for the shipping boxes.
You can order the boxes as per your requirement from their online website, and they will deliver them for free, provided you use their services to ship your products.
How to Use Shipping Boxes to Make Your Small Business Stand Out?
Now comes the best part: you can use shipping boxes to make your small business stand out. The finest way to do this is custom packaging.
In this era of competition, customization is something that every small and large business must harness to make a purchase memorable for their customers.
Here are a few reasons why you should consider customizing:
Hence, even if you find custom packaging a little too expensive for your small business, the advantages that come with it are sure to pay off at the end of the day.
Customized shipping boxes for small businesses play a major role in letting the customers keep your brand at the top of their minds regarding future purchases or recommendations.
So, if you want your small business to stand out, custom packaging is your key.
Conclusion:
You must always have the smartest investment plans to get to the top of the game in the business world. Shipping boxes for small businesses sure play a major role in determining the economic balance of your business.
So, you must weigh all your packaging options before choosing the one that fits your business budget and provides maximum customer satisfaction.
