Wholesale Shipping Boxes Protect and Promote
Wholesale sales in the US dropped sharply during the first months of the pandemic, but by the end of 2020, sales had rebounded to pre-pandemic numbers and continued to grow, increasing almost 22% from December 2020 to December 2021, according to Statistica. As demand increased, so did the need to wholesale shipping boxes. Moving large quantities of product from the manufacturer to the retailer require boxes that can stand up to the challenge.
What are Wholesale Shipping Boxes?
Wholesale refers to buying goods in bulk from a manufacturer at a discounted price and selling to retailers in smaller quantities. There are also club membership stores that buy wholesale and sell directly to the consumer. Wholesale shipping boxes are corrugated boxes used to carry the product from the manufacturer to the retailer. Generally, the retailer removes the products from the wholesale boxes to place them on the shelves. In the case of club stores, they will often display the product in the shipping box. These types of boxes are often referred to as retail-ready packaging.
Benefits of Custom Wholesale Boxes
Deciding whether or not to purchase custom or stock shipping boxes should be a strategic business decision based on total costs. Although harder to quantify, brand equity should also be considered. There are three primary benefits to choosing custom wholesale boxes.
Prevent Product Damage Through the Supply Chain
Wholesale products travel from the manufacturer to a distribution center before being sent off to various retailers, being loaded and unloaded several times along the journey. Besides the ease of moving multiple units, wholesale boxes protect the product through the supply chain.
Packaging Digest reports that as much as 11% of unit loads arrive damaged at the distribution center. To avoid detention charges, workers have two hours to unload or load the truck, which has become industry standard. Often, instead of setting aside pallets with damaged boxes to file a claim with the manufacturer, they will reject the entire load at the dock.
The structural integrity of the box is a critical design element. Many unit loads sustain damage because the boxes were not designed to bear the weight of fully loaded boxes placed on top of them. Proper box design and materials prevent this damage, but it goes hand-in-hand with proper palletization.
Save Money Through Proper Palletization
Most commonly, boxes are stacked on a pallet in either an interlocking or columnar method. Using the interlocking method, a worker would stack a box on the pallet and rotate the next one 90 degrees, continuing the pattern on each layer so that no box is directly on another. The columnar method requires the boxes to be stacked directly on each other forming columns.
A box’s strength is greatest at the corners. The issue with the interlocking method is that your contents take on the burden of supporting the weight above it, and if the contents aren’t rigid enough, the box can fail. Cutout features such as handholds further reduce the strength. With columnar stacking, corners are stacked on corners, providing maximum strength.
Pallet overhang can decrease the stability of the pallet and lead to box damage. Compression strength is reduced by 32 percent when boxes hang over the side of the pallet.
Customizing your wholesale shipping boxes will allow you to maximize your pallet with the largest number of boxes per load. Fitting your box to your product instead of your product to your box will allow you to use smaller boxes, maximize the space within the box, use less filler material, and fit more boxes on a pallet and in a truckload. With current transportation costs skyrocketing, this can result in huge savings.
Let Your Brand Shine Through
Use your wholesale shipping boxes as a marketing tool. Wholesale boxes in a club store environment can be used to convey your brand’s unique personality and connect with your customers. People need to see your brand five to seven times to remember it. Wholesale boxes give you a blank slate to show your brand to customers.
Even if customers aren’t supposed to see your shipping boxes, there is a chance they may. If you have ever been to a grocery or department store when shelves are being stocked, you’ve likely seen carts of products in shipping boxes waiting to be placed on the shelf. Branded boxes also make it easier for store employees to quickly know what is in each box.
Wholesale Shipping Boxes That Stand Up to Transportation Challenges and Showcase Your Brand
You can count on Axis Corrugated to deliver wholesale shipping boxes designed to withstand the challenges faced during the transport from the manufacturer to the retailer. We work to find the perfect balance between material reduction and product protection. We can ensure your wholesale boxes meet strict shipping requirements for drop and vibration with our in-house ISTA testing lab. Using high-precision flexographic printing, we can customize your boxes to differentiate you from the competition.
Don’t waste another shipment; talk to one of our packaging experts about designing your wholesale shipping boxes.