How Custom Delivery Boxes Can Make a Difference for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

There are more than 1 million retail organizations across the country. Because of that, it’s crucial to stand out and be seen to get business.

As the Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping season approaches, every little extra that you add to make your customers – and their gift recipients – feel special can only help you in the long run.

So, let’s focus on that super-important first impression. And it’s all in the packaging.

Whether consumers are buying in a brick-and-mortar store or online, if they’re going big-box or local, there’s something that lots of gifts have in common.

They need a box.

Think about it: 

• If they buy a co-worker a glass figurine at a boutique downtown
• If they send a scarf from a handmade-goods website to their aunt on the other side of the country
• If they want to give a family portrait to their grandparents
• If they are going to drop off baked treats to a few of their favorite clients

Notice a pattern? You should. And you should capitalize on it. With custom delivery boxes.

Say, for instance, you own a bakery. Your social media marketing efforts have been paying off, and now you’re beginning to ship more of your soon-to-be-famous gingerbread cookies outside of the region – to new customers. 

Your goal? To make them regular customers.

By working with a custom box manufacturer – like BoxUp – you can partner with packaging experts. These people are truly the first-impression masters. They’re the ones who can get your cookie recipients just as excited about the outside of the box as they are about what’s actually in the box. (And you know how hard it is to compete with cookies!)

So, what do you need to know about making the best custom shipping boxes a part of your business? Here are a few tips to remember when ordering custom delivery boxes:

1. Order early

Every retailer is trying to find ways to stand out in the crowd at the end of the year. And since many stores will consider putting money into branded shipping boxes, you need to get in ahead of them. There wouldn’t be much worse than putting an order in for boxes that didn’t come in on time, now would there?

If it’s too late in the season to consider custom delivery boxes this year, start working with a manufacturer and designer like BoxUp to get a head start on next year’s holiday season. 

(Besides, you could use that time to get box and color samples to do a test run for the packaging for your to-die-for lemon crinkle cookies in the spring.)

2. Consider box sizes and amounts

Take inventory on everything you could possibly ship around this time of year. Do you need tall boxes? Flat packages? Will you need handles?

By better understanding what sizes you’ll need for your products, you can focus on the numbers from there. Look at previous years’ sales, as well as retail forecasts, to get an idea of how many of each box you may need to order.

Because while you can stack up your snickerdoodles, your peanut butter blossoms require a bit more space.

3. Have fun – but stay on brand

You’ll see some gorgeous boxes that will inspire you for your organization. Photo galleries on packaging websites show all sorts of colors, fonts, iconography and photography. You may see branded shipping boxes that look like school buses, laptops, houses and takeout food containers.

But if you’re running a bakery, those might not make much sense. You need to think about what will make the best custom shipping boxes for your organization.

Work with your designer to find the right balance. You want to surprise your customers and get them excited to see what’s inside, not leave them guessing who a package is from.

You could zoom in on the intricate icing patterns on your cookies. Or if you have lots of fun gingerbread shapes, consider showing them off. 

4. And don’t forget the inside

Want to wow your customers a little more this holiday season? Think about bringing the outside pattern in. 

You have so many options for printing inside the box. Depending on your brand and tone, you could add:

• A cute message: “You’re one smart cookie.”
• How you give back: “For every $XX spent on our cookies, we make a donation to the local food pantry.”
• Your upcoming specials: “This Valentine’s Day, say ‘I love you’ with a cookie bouquet.”
• A discount code: “Thanks for ordering your cookies from us. Use code SAVE20 on your next order to save 20%.”
• Your social links and icons: “Follow us to learn more about our #TuesdayTreat.
• Your box manufacturer can help you come up with ideas that could be successful for printing inside the box.
• Ready to get started on your branded shipping boxes for the upcoming holidays? Start today!

Source:

1National Retail Federation, State of Retail, on the internet, at https://nrf.com/insights/economy/state-retail (viewed Sept. 27, 2020).