E-commerce logistics: 5 tips for achieving your goals
10min read
20/02/2019
Have you already finished your annual planning for 2019? To help you, we’ll show you 5 improvement opportunities that will pay off in reaching budget targets as well as improved customer relations, and directly show examples of how our French colleagues have implemented them.
Packaging as part of the e-commerce budget
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Individualise your packaging.
Why? Because it is a trend that is emerging in all sectors, company sizes and sales channels. Stand out from your competition and get noticed
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Discover environmentally friendly alternatives to your plastic packaging.
Why? Because civil society is becoming more demanding in this area – a rethink is taking place. It is time for a more environmentally conscious purchasing policy.
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Reduce your transport budget by investing in packaging.
How? Optimise the weight and volume of your shipments thanks to new packaging solutions – and reduce the transport costs for each package shipped.
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Improve the customer experience.
Why? The positive experience of opening the packaging (the so-called unboxing experience) has become indispensable for online retailers. Make it easier to open, make it easier to return, use less filler and cushioning material …
Discover below our investment opportunities to better engage your customers of tomorrow. -
Increase picker productivity.
Why? Invest in packaging solutions that enable every picker to handle more orders. Facilitate the processes and thus increase the pace. At the same time, our simple tips can help you reduce the number of sick days (80% of sick days are related to musculoskeletal disorders). This is an investment that is triple beneficial! Such solutions are already worthwhile from 50 orders per picker!
I Personalising your shipping packaging
Goal: Leave the competition behind with a wow effect
Textiles and sports, electronics, video games, food, parapharmacy, luxury, spirits, health, etc. Requests come to us in this regard from every sector from executives, challengers or new entrants.
Insert flyer
Some ideas for the content of your flyer: an effective message encouraging people to share their positive experiences on social networks, a promo code to create “brand loyalty”. Should the flyer be personalised with the person’s name? Technically more complex – and often a source of errors during preparation! Take inspiration from what Cheerz or Le Closet do in terms of inserted messages.
Personalised tissue paper
… in your colours or directly with your brand. You will see this more and more in textile and luxury industries in the future. However, if you need to invest in personalisation, branded tissue paper may not be the most effective medium. A tissue paper in your colours is sufficient. Instead, invest in one of the following media.
Match the tapes to your packaging
This customised “glue for your brand” offers three advantages:
- Theft protection: Your tape is unique, no one can open the package and then reseal it with a standard tape. Fraud is detected immediately.
- Brand significance: It is certainly (and visibly!) reinforced in the minds of customers and your carriers.
- Efficiency: the customised tape requires no extra storage space and no extra preparation time for the logistics team
Our tip: Ask us about technical limitations when printing on adhesive tapes. And don’t hesitate to adapt your message to the specific format of the adhesive (on a Creads platform, a motif is created within 5 minutes).
If a more responsible shopping policy is part of your resolutions for next year, you should know that the 100% recyclable adhesive tape is also customisable as you wish...
Customise labels
Whether for sealing your packaging or tissue paper or for sticking on the inside of a white box – labels are the cost-effective solution that was also used, for example, by Ralph Mansour, the founder of Le Closet. Because printed labels also ensure a good advertising message for your brand.
Design your packaging directly: box, carton or bag.
Thanks to personalised boxes, Sézane can benefit from free advertising on social networks. It’s “a measured loyalty lever” for Ralph Mansour (Le Closet); it’s “the unique physical ambassador of the brand” for Gaëlle Dauger (Easyparapharmacie) and the extension of the customer experience for Kenzo.
Our advice: before you decide how to get your shipping box printed, get some inspiration from personalised boxes and cartons you like. Think about a message that accompanies the opening with a positive emotion for the customer. Finally, submit your project to us for production (we will validate several prototypes with you until final satisfaction).
Tip for the small budget: for those who want to test a lower level of customisation, we have the Thank You Box in our range. The box with inside print says THANK YOU in several languages. If you are a shop or marketplace seller and your brand is not relevant to the customer, these small efforts combined with a customised cover letter will help you make the difference.
In terms of budget: It is not uncommon for the impulse for personalised packaging to come from marketing, because it also offers enormous additional benefits for the marketing department.
Shared investment, shared benefit: To increase the overall benefit of this project, we recommend marketing support. The best personalised packaging is the result of good cooperation between the two departments (beautiful and efficient).
RAJAPACK offers a special service to support you here. Contact us:
By phone on 0800 20 77 020 (free of charge) or by mail to personalisiert@rajapack.de
II Reduce the environmental impact of your packaging
This point would also have deserved the number 1. Internationally and nationally, there is a growing demand from citizens for more sustainable management. The rethinking in this area is therefore no longer a medium- and long-term necessity with regard to the environment, but also brings direct benefits in terms of one’s own brand and one’s own wallet.
Our advice: read and follow our recommendations in the article “Possible ways to more sustainability in packaging”. And in the meantime: kraft envelope, paper padding, 100% recyclable kraft glue, 100% biodegradable starch chips… the solutions for Environmentally friendly packaging are in place and available at RAJA within 24 hours for a test tomorrow. No more excuses!
And the budget? The investment is low, as these alternative solutions do not represent a significant additional cost or, in certain cases, are even beneficial (e.g. from switching from polystyrene particles to paper padding, with more adaptable packaging in terms of size). The gain? Your customers’ appreciation can be measured “in euros. The impact on the environment is immeasurable.
III Optimise transport costs
Transport is the number one cost factor in logistics. To reduce transport costs, the weight and volume of the packaging must be reduced.
Our advice:
- Identify recurring order sizes (single product or multiple product) to determine the more appropriate carton sizes. The closer the carton is to the products, the lower the volume and weight of your packaging.
- Find the right size in our specialised search engine.
- Test a lighter alternative to your cushioning material with the help of a RAJAPACK expert.
- In the field of electronics, cosmetics / parapharmacy or even spirits, some customers have chosen packaging with integrated film.
At budget level: depending on the packaging solutions chosen, this may initially involve costs. However, these investments will be largely offset by reduced transport costs by the end of 2019.
IV Improve the customer experience during unpacking
No secret and also a topic here on the blog several times: the ordering process in online retail is no longer 100% digital, it extends to the opening of the package.
Receiving and opening the package are true moments of emotion for any online retailer. Underestimate this last important step and you might lose a customer – after only one order!
Our tip: We have three budget optimisation ideas based on the optimisation intentions of 200 online and European retailers.
- Ease of opening: Cartons or shipping bags with a “zip” (tear strip) are ideal.
- Facilitate returns: We offer shipping bags, cartons and boxes that can be effortlessly reused for return shipping as well. This ensures that your customer returns the parcel in a safe package and does not have to go to any extra trouble.
- Do not use polystyrene packaging chips in your parcels. According to a study (Package Insight), these cause more than 40% of the cases to be opened: Frustration! Switch to another cushioning solution and reduce the size of your parcels at the same time (see III).
Read more about “Psychology in Packaging” in our blog post on the topic.
In terms of budget: a small investment that has a very positive impact on customer satisfaction. The marketing / customer service department will support this investment.
V Improve productivity by creating a safe working environment and reducing work interruptions.
Work stoppages add significant costs to warehouse operations. With new warehouses opening and a shortage of skilled workers, it is also increasingly difficult to recruit and retain pickers. So improving working conditions is both a strategic staffing and a financial issue.
Our advice:
Budget for a prevention plan TMS and train a prevention manager to improve working conditions in the long term.
Equip teams with quality shoes, anti-fatigue mats and standing aids if the picker spends more than an hour at their packing station.
If your preparers process more than 50-80 packs per day, think seriously about mechanising packing. For example, there are machines to seal your cartons. Schedule the free audit of an expert.
Check the condition of trolleys, roller trolleys and pallet trolleys when goods are moved. And what about a conveyor belt? Evaluate the productivity and performance gains from last Christmas, as it can take time to implement.
At the budget level: This is an investment that benefits the logistics team as well as the management and the human resource department (more serenity, decreased interim budget…). To assess the cost of a prevention plan, it is best to contact a certified professional company in your area.
Logistics budget … Conclusion?
Next year, e-commerce logistics must focus on three areas:
- Greener logistics (environmentally friendly packaging, greener delivery methods, optimised truck fill rates, etc.).
- An improvement in the customer experience (nicer and more convenient packaging, easier return modes for the customer…).
- Optimisation of margins and profitability (transport costs, performance of conditioners, optimisation of warehouse space …)
What about you? What are your projects? Feel free to suggest other approaches in the comments below.
Don’t hesitate to contact our experts by phone on 0800 / 20 77 000 (free of charge). We will be happy to visit you on site for a free audit at your warehouse, or we can advise you on the phone on the above points – and any others?
