Custom-Printed Ecommerce Packaging Boxes: To Elevate Your Business Growth

Having an ecommerce online store is a lot of work, and the first impression is important. Your first touch point with a customer is not a gorgeous store aisle when a customer orders online. It's the delivery box that has arrived on their front porch. This is where custom ecommerce packaging comes into play and makes a difference. It connects virtual shopping and reality.

Many brands consider a shipping box important and utilize it. However, if you get your ecommerce boxes as just a normal box, you're missing a good opportunity. At Packaging Hippo, we go above and beyond this tangible experience by creating high-quality, long-lasting, and eco-friendly custom packaging that really captures the essence of your brand. Our high-quality manufacturing and complete design flexibility enable you to produce eye-catching custom printed ecommerce boxes that feature your awesome logo and bright brand colors. However, we don't just provide containers; we provide you with affordable wholesale pricing, reliable transit protection, and turnaround times that make your supply chain run smoothly.

Why Custom Ecommerce Packaging Matters

Consider the last time that you bought something online. Did it come in a plain, large, brown carton lined with crumpled paper? Or did it come in a neat, compact box, with a neat logo brand on the front, just the correct size? It's not only a difference in looks. It affects people's perception of your business.

With the use of custom-made eCommerce packaging boxes, you are in control of the narrative. If you're looking to build a quality, aesthetically pleasing corrugated box, you're showing the customer that you're concerned with your product. The box reflects the contents of the box. 

The Benefits of Choosing Packaging Hippo Ecommerce Boxes

With innovative design and premium materials, our ecommerce boxes are engineered to provide your products with the protection they deserve, bring a smile to your customers' faces, and increase your profits.

100% Eco-Friendly Materials

Our packaging solutions are made from fully sustainable, recyclable cardboard, corrugated board, and kraft paper. Use of green materials make sures te good impact on appearance, and you will quickly get traffic and attract shoppers.

Versatile Packaging Designs

You will be amazed after receiving our range of packaging designs. We design in different sizes that meet the product size perfectly. This gives an ideal fit without big plastic fillers and provides an elegant unboxing experience. 

Ultimate Transit Protection

That is just the right fit to protect your items in transit when shipping them. Rough handling is a thing of the past with our rugged, shock-absorbing corrugated walls. This will keep your product safe when it's handled roughly and reduce replacement and return expenses.

High-Impact Marketing Tool

These boxes can be a good marketing tool for your e-commerce business and are extremely cost-effective too. Add your unique logo, brand colors, and chic printing. You create a special brand experience that encourages your clientele to post their unboxing photos on social media.

Maximized Profitability

We make sure that our packaging solutions optimise your supply chain and enhance your overall profitability. Boxes ship completely flat to maximize your warehouse space, quickly assemble on your packing lines, and are just the right size to reduce your dimensional weight shipping costs. 

The Strategic Power of the Unboxing Experience

Once a package is received, the clock begins. A customer seizes the box, cuts the bandage, and opens the box. It's the unboxing experience, and it's a tremendous marketing tool!

1. Social Media Fuel: People enjoy sharing video snippets of gorgeous packages! One buyer can become a confident influencer by just having a custom-printed design.

2. Perceived Value: The high-quality finishes in the print and crisp typography give the feeling of greater value and exclusivity inside

3. Emotional Connection: Small gestures, like including a personalized message inside a lid, make a good connection between your brand and your buyer.

If the packaging is not appealing then you need to do more work to open it. If it's dynamic, it's an event! It's easy to make mundane shipping boxes something special with creative interior printing and specific custom dimensions.

Types of Ecommerce Packaging to Choose From

Each product should be protected in a particular way. It is not as easy as it seems to ship a fragile glass bottle as well as a cotton t-shirt. Knowing what kinds of ecommerce packaging exist lets you strike the right balance between cost, presentation and safety.  

Let's dive into these building essentials and discover your ideal match. 

Custom Mailer Boxes

They are the undeniable reigners of the DTC scene. They have interlocking wings and a front tuck closure and don't need thick tape to close. They are tidy and well-kept on the doorstep. Opened, they show your possessions in a gift display format.

Corrugated Shipping Boxes

If you have bulk packaging that you need to ship long distances or heavy items, regular packaging won't work. The shipping boxes must be heavy-duty corrugated boxes. They have a fluted middle layer between thick liners to absorb shocks when being transported by an unsteady means.

Paperboard Product Boxes

These are light, good-looking boxes intended to hold the individual object. Consider a perfume box or tech accessory sleeve. They offer great value in a retail box in a larger, more rugged shipping box. 

Rigid Hardboard & Cardboard

Finely sourced, premium rigid hardboard and cardboard materials are used to achieve luxury, sustainability, and quality in one box. This offers a sophisticated, substantial base to boost your brand and is fully accountable to the planet.

Regular Slotted Containers (RSC)

These are the traditional, reliable shipping boxes that have tape on top and at the bottom. These are the most budget-friendly and robust options for sending big items by mail.

Tuck-Top Mailer Boxes

These boxes are shipped flat for easy storage and come together easily without the need for tape, thanks to a safe front-locking tab. They include special double-walled sides with triple thickness at all outer edges to protect contents from crushing during transport.

If you are running a clothing brand and looking for e-commerce boxes for your business, our boxes are perfect for you. We offer a wide range of boxes, including custom shirt boxes, custom bra boxes, custom apparel boxes, and more to fulfill all your business requirements.

Deep Dive into Materials: The Foundation of Strength

It is very important to know the way of producing boxes if you want to make custom boxes perfectly. The types of materials that you use in making determine the quality of prints that you can get and the protection in shipping.

The Magic of Corrugated

Why are corrugated boxes different from regular cardboard boxes? It's all about the building design! One of the corrugated cardboard's properties is a wavy layer, which is known as a flute. The center wavy portion serves as a constant arching mechanism that allows a lot of vertical load to be carried while being able to withstand direct hits on the side of the vehicle. 

There are different thicknesses for each flute for a different structural purpose:

• E-Flute (approx. 1/16"): Very thin and crisp. This results in a smooth surface, perfect for custom-printed graphics of high quality. It is the ‘must-use' option when sending out subscription mailings.

• B-Flute (approx. 1/8"): Thick and tougher. Good resistance and is often used for regular shipping boxes.

• C-Flute (approx. 3/16"): This is the standard size for the traditional transit box. It allows for excellent thickness because it can carry heavy loads, but is not as good for high-precision graphic printing. 

Eco-Friendly Kraft Paper

Sustainability has come to the mainstream. Today's buyers are very green; they don't ignore the amount of trash your business produces. When it comes to packaging, showing your audience that you are concerned about the environment is done with sustainable packaging options such as unbleached kraft paper. Kraft is 100% recyclable, naturally biodegradable and has been made with fewer chemical bleaches. 

The Right E-commerce Box for Every Product

Packaging Hippo provides high-performance boxes with a dust flap on the roll-end tuck-front (RETF) suitable for online transportation. Dirt and moisture are kept away from your merchandise with built-in side shields, and heavy exterior taping is not required.

We can produce a variety of standard sizes for all products. Our small boxes are compact and won't take up too much space, such as jewelry, make up sample boxes and small candy boxes measure 3” x 3” x 1.25”, these boxes are an excellent choice. For larger items such as clothing line kits, heavy electronics or fragile ceramics, our 14” x 12” x 3 mailers provide ample space to organize your items neatly.

If the standard industry dimensions will not suffice, they can be made as per any custom size requirement. Within these flexible boundaries, you can create the packaging of your product almost to your exact size:

Length: 3" to 25"

Width: 2" to 25"

Depth: 1" to 15"

Customization, Printing, and Tactile Finishing Options

After you've chosen your style of structure, the actual designing starts. When the box is customized, it becomes a brand ambassador. 

Essential Printing Methods

The type of printing machinery you use will affect your total setup cost and the quality of the prints you can expect:

1. Printing: Best suited for larger boxes, wholesale printing. It can apply simple and clean logos at high speed stamping on corrugated surfaces with the use of flexible rubber plates.

2. Offset Printing: The premium standard. First, it prints your design on a smooth paper layer and then laminates the paper layer to the corrugated. This results in an amazing and photo-ready printed packaging.

3. Digital Printing: Suitable for short-run custom ecommerce boxes. It is the same as a large office-sized inkjet printer, with no plate charges. That allows you to get season or limited edition designs in a very short time. 

Premium Touch Upgrades

If you want your custom packaging to really stand out, you may want to consider unique textures and finishes that will make a statement:

• Spot UV Coating: Coats your design (such as a logo) with a liquid that reflects and has a high-gloss finish. It forms an amazing backdrop contrast with a clean matte backdrop.

• Embossing & Debossing: Makes your brand logo or lettering physically embossed into the fibers of the paper. This provides a 'felt' raised texture that a customer can feel the moment they touch the box.

• Foil Stamping: Applies metals to the surface with the help of heat and pressure. Gold, silver, or rose gold accents immediately give the buyer the idea that they are in possession of a high-end luxury product. 

Designing for Safe Transit: Protection Meets Presentation

Nothing is more appealing than a beautiful box of presents, but if the presents are broken, then it isn't worth the effort. You should think about your box's design from the inside out so that you can protect the items as you transport them. The inner design of your package is as important as the outer.

Custom Cardboard Inserts

Use plastic foam peanut inserts that are cut to size for loose parts rather than loose cardboard pieces in a box. Designed to be as physically identical as possible to your products. They securely keep your products and prevent them from colliding while you are transporting them. Moreover, they display your items in an organized and beautiful manner as soon as the lid is opened.

Sizing It Right

Don't make the error of ordering large general boxes. If the box is too big, your product will slide around, making you have to use additional plastic void fillers. You make a special box just the right size to reduce movement and further reduce your dimensional weight shipping costs. 

Industries We Serve With Eco-Friendly Packaging

Packaging Hippo develops and manufactures boxes with improved performance and sustainability for the unique regulatory and transport requirements of various industries.

Cosmetics & Skincare

In the beauty industry, a clean look is essential. Our packaging solutions are sustainable, whether it's a lipstick or a full skincare collection. Beauty companies can keep up the luxurious vibe of these bespoke boxes and make use of 100% recyclable materials by ordering them in bulk.

Food & Confectionery

The materials used for food containers are extremely important, since they are used once and discarded. By helping gourmet brands increase their corporate social responsibility (CSR), our boxes are also extremely structurally robust and maintain the freshness and integrity of delicate delicacies.

Consumer Electronics

Strict environmental waste regulations have to be dealt with by the tech brands. We provide durable, environmentally friendly boxes with protection for delicate accessories, such as chargers, headsets, and other accessories. These designs offer crucial drop protection and present a modern and progressive brand image.

Toys & Games

Sustainable packaging is important to toy manufacturers because they want to reach out directly to eco-conscious parents. Our boxes are clean, biodegradable, and free from toxic plastics and heavy chemical adhesives, making them safe for families to unbox and reduce waste in landfills.

Step-by-Step Guide: Creating a Custom Box for Your Brand

If you're a novice to manufacturing, the custom packaging process may seem daunting. Dividing your journey into logical phases helps you to move your project forward smoothly to completion.

1. Determine Exact Dimensions: 

Find the length, width, and height of your product arrays. If wrapping with thin tissue paper, place a small distance between the objects and the paper.

2. Select Your Box Style and Material

Opt for a beautiful die-cut mailer box or a sturdy corrugated shipping box. Choose white cardstock or kraft paper for your brand story that is rustic and sustainable.

3. Design Your Artwork and Dieline

Take your logo, corporate colour schemes, and regulatory text and put them on a flat digital blueprint (dieline). Make sure that your images are placed at a safe distance from the creases of your structure to avoid folding.

4. Examine Digital and Digital Proofs.

Examine a 3D digital model carefully or ask for a sample box. This enables you to check your structural sizing and the printed text is legible before mass production is started.

6. Start Full Wholesale Production

Accept final prototype(s) and begin the formal production time clock. The wholesale bulk pricing of boxes for ecommerce will greatly reduce the cost of each box.

Getting Your Ecommerce Packaging Right: Practical Tips

Here are some tips on how to do this correctly.

1. Right-size your boxes. Oversized boxes are materially wasteful, are more expensive to ship because they're dimensional, not just real weight (dimensional weight pricing is real), and they are a mess. If the product doesn't fit snugly in the box, it's not a pleasant unboxing.

2. Select the appropriate filler. Use crinkle paper, kraft paper fill, air pillows, or pick based on your product. For fragile items, actual cushioning is required. If it is a lightweight outfit, then you may not need any filling whatsoever.

3. Test before scaling up. Ship some boxes beforehand so that you can find out what happens in the real shipping. Drop them. Shake them. See what happens.

4. Remember, it's not only the exterior! A relatively small cost upgrade to the mailer box's interior that makes a big impact when customers open the box.

5. Go eco-friendly where you can. Recyclable materials, soy-based inks, and reduced plastics: all of this is important to an increasing number of customers. They're not always as costly as you would anticipate. 

From Wooden Freight Crates to Custom Brand Canvas 

The corrugated cardboard box is the backbone of e-commerce today, but in 1856, the British inventors Edward Allen and Edward Healey first patented a corrugated cardboard box to line tall top hats. In 1871, the corrugated box was patented by Albert Jones to provide protection for transporting glass bottles, replacing heavy wooden shipping crates. In the 1890s, pre-folded flat boxes began to be mass-produced.

This simple shipping tool developed into a custom printed marketing piece designed for automated fulfillment and premium doorstep presentation when digital shopping came about 100 years later. Consumer insights indicate that 67% of online shoppers are more likely to make repeat purchases if they are made with sustainable packaging, and that 40% of consumers are more likely to make referrals based on a premium unboxing experience.

Why Choose Packaging Hippo for Your Ecommerce Boxes

Packaging Hippo was created to make custom packaging simple, from small brands just getting started to seasoned retailers ordering large swathes of custom packaging.

Each packaging solution is custom-made to fit your requirements. You don't have to adhere to a standard size that doesn't accommodate your product. You truly have customization, custom sizes, custom print, and your logo exactly where you want it! Ordering is easy, production time is competitive, and wholesale pricing means you pay no more because you need a custom job.

Packaging Hippo's e-commerce boxes is tailored to the actual needs of shipping. Crescent corrugated that lasts. Great print quality at the airport. Sustainable choices for brands that would like to do the right thing for the environment without compromising quality. 

Final Thoughts

Ecommerce packaging is not showy. No one discusses it as if they do something like product development or social media strategy. But it's the only thing every customer comes in contact with. Literally. All of your orders are shipped in a box.

Make it count. Get the appropriate eCommerce boxes for your product, get custom printing done with your brand, use eco-friendly materials when they fit, and order in the correct quantities so as to keep the costs manageable.

The box is an integral part of the product. Do so, and your customers will see.

Looking to design and craft personalized e-commerce packaging that's truly effective for your brand? Request an instant quote from Packaging Hippo today.