+0.20Slimming diet for E-commerce
The first impression counts. This also applies in e-commerce. For ordered products and packaging to arrive at the online customers’ in pristine condition, DS Smith has developed the e@Box. The special feature of this innovation: The all-in-one solution for the shipping of individual orders combines primary and secondary packaging. The brand manufacturer saves valuable time and costs in logistics. At the same time, the clever shipping solution turns unpacking the goods into a unique experience: for more emotions, convenience and customer loyalty. The e@Box has completely convinced the jury of the German Packaging Award (Deutscher Verpackungspreis) 2018. They chose the DS Smith prototype as the winner in the functionality & convenience category.
Online shops are open 24/7. They offer a great selection, deliver right to your home and this even more and more frequently free of shipping costs and within one day. What means a high degree of convenience for online shoppers has a far-reaching impact on the structure of the shopping carts: it increasingly leads to only individual products being ordered. Shipping of these products generally takes place using a set of differently sized standard cardboard boxes which, depending on the contents, include lots of air and thus lots of filling material for product protection. High packaging, storage and transport costs are the result. If the brand manufacturer has outsourced packing to an external service provider, this leads to additional costs and efforts since the product also needs to be transported to the commissioned co-packer before it can be shipped to the customer.
In order to streamline processes and thus make them more cost-effective, the DS Smith display and packaging strategists have developed the patent-pending e@Box, a prototype for the shipping of individual orders. The solution is product and shipping packaging all in one. The boxes are filled with the brand product directly at the manufacturer’s at the end of the production line. When lying flat, primary and secondary packaging are still firmly connected with each other, but separated when you build them up, and form a box-in-box system that can be easily and quickly filled and sealed from the side or from the top.
Whether headphones, shoes, fan jersey, cordless drill or cosmetics gift set – the e@Box always has the right size and strength so that quality products can be delivered to the customer safely and without the usual heaps of packaging waste. Even the primary packaging is optimally protected thanks to the box-in-box system: no dents, no scratches, the presentation of the brand is always perfect in the e-shoppers home. Thanks to the circumferential pull-strip, the external packaging can be opened easily. When sliding the box open, the two halves gradually reveal the interior packaging printed in the brand design and the long-awaited product. The original construction ensures a shopping experience that will be remembered while at the same time offering a maximum of convenience. In the event of a return shipment, the two parts of the external packaging only need to be pushed together again and sealed with tape. The e@Box is flexible with regard to its dimensions and design. All sizes up to a surface area of 300 x 400 mm can be realised.
“The pure manufacturing and procurement costs of packaging materials are only a small fraction of the total costs”, says Volker Quaas, Design & Innovation Manager at DS Smith. “Shipping, processing and in-house logistics cause the far greater share. This is where we start with our e@Box: through optimised packaging volume and reduced resource costs in warehousing, packing and transport. If the brand manufacturers additionally emphasise an equally emotional as high-quality appearance of their product in online trading, the e@Box is the ideal solution.”
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The e@Box combines product and shipping packaging. With innovations such as this prototype for the online trade, DS Smith creates profitable added value for its customers along the entire supply cycles: less material, time and costs and an extra plus of product protection and shopping experience.
Image source: DS Smith