Reduce your e-commerce logistics costs by optimising your packaging | RAJA

As you may have noticed when looking closely at your overall e-commerce budget, transport accounts for a significant proportion of your monthly costs. However, this is also an expense item that can be relatively easy to optimise, particularly by focusing on the packaging of your parcels.In this article, you will discover 3 clever e-commerce tips for reducing your logistics costs, and particularly your transport expenses, by optimising your packaging

• E-commerce tip #1: Avoid over- or under-protecting shipped items
• E-Commerce Tip #2: Don’t ignore weight-volume billing
• E-commerce tip #3: What if you tried letterboxing?
• An inspiring case: Melijoe, and the story of its low transport costs

Conseil e-commerce #1 : Évitez de sur ou sous-protéger les objets expédiés

L’emballage joue un rôle primordial dans le transport, et influe significativement sur vos tarifs logistiques e-commerce.

Toutefois, il existe un savant équilibre à trouver concernant la protection de vos colis.

D’un côté, un colis mal protégé peut nuire à votre réputation et à votre image de marque, mais aussi à votre bilan environnemental : le retour de commande augmente votre bilan carbone significativement.
De l’autre côté, un colis sur-protégé nuit à votre budget emballage, mais a également un impact sur la productivité de vos préparateurs, sur le poids volume de votre envoi… et sur l’écologie, là aussi.

A l’heure où vos clients sont de plus en plus exigeants, en termes d’expérience vécue et d’éco-responsabilité, comment diminuer vos coûts d’emballage sans risque ?

Votre objectif est simple : trouver le juste milieu, pour un colis protégé, mais s

• Strong enough packaging, made of shockproof and puncture-proof materials
• Protective cushioning solutions (plastic bubble wrap, recycled plastic, or paper…), to be used with discretion
• Crates of sufficient quality: choose between double, single and triple flute, depending on the weight of your parcels
• Just the right amount of adhesive: avoid bad practices, such as putting a cross on your packages when it is not necessarily necessary

l’astuce RAJA en plus: Envie de mener une démarche éco-responsable très simple, sans faire drastiquement augmenter vos tarifs logistiques e-commerce ? Passez à l’adhésif papier, plutôt que plastique. Ce matériau est tout aussi résistant et flexible, pour un impact environnemental bien moindre.

Conseil e-commerce #2 : N’ignorez pas la facturation au poids volume

Selon une étude DS Smith, 24% du volume de colis envoyés dans le monde serait… rempli de vide. Un chiffre qui grimpe lorsque l’on regarde certaines catégories de produits, tels que la verrerie ou les jouets.

Or,la plupart des transporteurs aujourd’hui facturent aujourd’hui au poids volumétrique, c’est-à-dire en fonction du volume des colis et non de leur poids réel.

Pour diminuer vos tarifs logistiques e-commerce, il vous faut donc prendre en compte cette notion de poids volume, en réduisant le vide dans vos cartons au maximum.

Pour ce faire, le cabinet ColisConsult et RAJA ont conçu

1. Analyse the dimensions of your cartons, to observe their volumetric weight, and therefore their impact on your e-commerce logistics rates
2. Compare the weights invoiced by your carriers, by asking them for invoices that distinguish between real weight and volume weight, and the difference between these two weights.
3. Divide your parcels by weight range and, if possible, fix these ranges on the carriers’ price lists.
4. Adapt your range of boxes to this diagnosis, to reduce the empty space in your packaging.

By adapting your range of packaging to volume weight invoicing, you will undoubtedly face greater complexity in managing your boxes internally, and will have fewer discounts on group purchases… But the reduction in the average invoicing weight will have a real impact on your e-commerce logistics rates! Don’t hesitate to try it out now, using the RAJA box search engine, which has more than 1,200 different formats.RAJA’s extra tip: Don’t hesitate to adopt clever packaging that adapts to invoicing by volumetric weight, such as personalised boxes or variable height boxes, which will enable you to reduce the void in your parcels as much as possible

e-commerce tip #3: What if you tried to go through the letterbox?

Another key method for significantly reducing your e-commerce logistics costs is to try to get some of your parcels through the letterbox. Many e-tailers don’t think about it, but their parcels could easily go through their customers’ letterboxes.The key to optimising your packaging is to ensure that your parcels go through the letterbox

• Reduced packaging costs, with generally cheaper products
• Simpler processes for pickers, thanks to easier-to-handle packaging
• No more invoicing by weight and volume
• 100% guaranteed delivery, even in the absence of the recipient, and therefore an optimal customer experience

to ensure that your parcels go through the letterbox, you can choose packaging such as opaque plastic pouches

an inspiring case: Melijoe, and the story of its reduced transport costs

Melijoe, a major e-commerce site for luxury children’s clothing, set out in 2018 to reduce its e-commerce logistics costs, and in particular its transport costs. The company took up the subject, accompanied by ColisConsult, by

• Renegotiating its transport contracts, generating annual savings of more than €360,000 excluding VAT
• Optimising its costs linked to volume weight, for additional savings estimated at 3.2% of the transport budget, i.e. €48,000 per year

if you want to learn more about this case study and get inspired by it, read the dedicated case study here