If you run an ecommerce venture, your goal is, naturally enough, to grow. In fact, one of the biggest problems with many new startups is that they either do not know how to encourage growth or they don’t know how to actualize growth when the time for it is right. There are many reasons for this bizarre hesitancy to grow, but perhaps foremost among them is the fact that running a small ecommerce venture can become comfortable – a relatively easy-going cottage industry sort of enterprise – where customers are few, but expenses and requirement upgrades similarly slight.
In one way, you could even make the case that small ecommerce ventures have a few discrete advantages over much larger ones. If an ecommerce venture is small enough, it can garner a sort of authentic appeal. For the smallest ecommerce ventures, for example, order fulfillment is usually carried out at home, with authentically home-made items being shipped personally to a limited number of customers.
Ecommerce fulfillment experts Shipping and Handling of Texas, who also focus on last mile delivery, say that while many ecommerce companies might wish to retain this authentic appeal, they should aim to reign it in while still expanding.
Making a Step Up
Those running ecommerce ventures who find themselves in the aforementioned position are usually the ones in need of some tips regarding ecommerce fulfillment, or all the packaging, processing, and delivery of their products. With many small ecommerce ventures handling this at home, it is the shift to outsourcing its responsibilities which is the clearest way to make that step up and to follow business growth when it becomes available.
You might think that this would involve less responsibilities but making the step up to ecommerce fulfillment takes planning and strategy – simply because there are many ways you can go about it. And this applies in the case of packaging as well. You may have felt like packaging was entirely individual and unique to your business when you are doing it at home, but the moment it is outsourced, you still have a great many options. It all depends on what fulfillment services you use.
Tips for Packaging
So, when it is time to make that step up, you shouldn’t just simply resign yourself to the fact that somebody else will be handling your packaging. You should make active attempts to control it and keep it as bespoke and effective as you can. Here are some ecommerce fulfillment packaging tips:
Consider Size First
You might have all sorts of plans and ideas for attractive and unique packaging, but to cost this effectively, it is more the size that you need to consider first. Some fancier types of packaging can indeed increase the costs, but not as much as the actual size of the packaging. This stage is simple enough. All you need to do is consider your inventory, which will allow you to cost your packaging by size.
Then Materials
There are many fulfillment services out there that can offer all sorts of different packaging materials. First, consider what materials are necessary considering how fragile your products are. After that, you should consider those materials which aesthetically fit your products. Books sheathed in elegant smooth cardboard is a good idea – glassware with extra padding is an essential.
Go Green
For the ecommerce generation, sustainability is important. A solid business tip is therefore to lean into this by choosing sustainable methods. Just be sure to also advertise this choice, perhaps of the packaging itself.
Packaging offers the potential to really show off your business’s growth. After all, it’s the first thing anybody receiving your products will see.
