Chances are, you have recently encountered eCommerce packaging at least once in the past few weeks. With an increasing number of consumers turning to the convenience of online shopping over brick-and-mortar, eCommerce brands and retailers must offer a unique selling proposition to stand out against their competitors.
Your eCommerce packaging experience is a direct reflection of your brand’s values. Beyond ensuring your product arrives safely to the end-user, a well-thought-out packaging experience can help foster customer loyalty, enhance brand reputation, and encourage word-of-mouth and social sharing. Not to mention, having an excellent experience can reduce your number of product returns — ultimately benefitting your bottom line.
For both up-and-coming and established brands, there’s more to it than just delivering a shipping box or mailer. The packaging extras, including void fill, tape, and labels are important to consider but are often treated as afterthoughts. Don’t make this mistake!
Let’s take dive into the eCommerce packaging extras:
Void fill refers to any type of cushioning or padding added inside packaging for protection. Void fill solutions such as foam, tissue paper, bubble wrap, paper shavings, and filler chips fill up the empty space (a.k.a. “the void”) in packaging to protect the product inside during transit. Void fill is typically recommended for shipping products that are fragile, heavy, or irregularly shaped.
Void fill can also serve to enhance the brand experience that you deliver. Some brands choose to incorporate their logo or imagery on their void fill solution, such as paper or tissue paper, to add color and texture to packaging.
However, it’s important to not overfill your boxes. The added weight can result in expensive shipping costs. Excessive void fill can lead to a poor consumer experience, and from an environmental perspective, it may also appear wasteful. If sustainability is a top priority for your brand, consider using environmentally-friendly void fill options, such as biodegradable packaging peanuts.
Where there’s a shipping box, there’s likely some tape to keep it together. Not only does tape keep boxes sealed tight for transit, it provides protection against package tampering. Going the extra mile by using custom packaging tape can also help reinforce your brand and add presentation value to the outside of a box.
But not all tape is created equal. There’s a wide range of tapes and adhesives to choose from depending on your shipping needs. Choosing the right tape for your packaging should be of utmost importance to your brand since it can affect the safety and security of your product. Here are three common tapes to know:
Polypropylene tape is the most common type of packaging tape on the market and can be used for generally all sealing tasks. It effectively sticks onto many different surfaces, including polythene and corrugated boxes.
Filament tape is made of polypropylene film backing with a natural rubber-based adhesive system. Reinforced with a series of longitudinal fiberglass, filament tape is both durable and flexible and often used for a variety of light to heavy-duty sealing and strapping applications.
As its name suggests, water-activated paper tape activates with water to create a long-lasting bond. It’s typically made of kraft paper and comes in a natural kraft or white color, allowing it to blend into corrugated boxes and cartons. Paper tape is recyclable, customizable, and can help to discourage theft by providing a tamper-evident seal. Many high-volume shippers, such as Amazon, use this tape solution for their own boxes.
Labels are a key part of the product packaging experience. An effective label design accurately reflects your brand, while concisely communicating messages to the consumer. Some eCommerce businesses add labels onto a plain shipping box to enhance the appearance. Labels can also be used on the actual product to provide information, directions, ingredients, meet guidelines, etc.
Choosing a packaging supplier that offers both custom boxes and labels eases the buying experience since you’re only dealing with one vendor. It also helps ensure your branding remains consistent in both color and quality.
Many online packaging suppliers only offer one-size-fits-all packaging options. This is why it’s important to choose a vendor who manufactures custom boxes and mailers to fit your specific needs.
Along with offering dozens of box styles to choose from, Fantastapack can produce custom labels to enhance your packaging experience. With 4 classic label shapes — circle, oval, square, and rectangle — our quality digital print provides a final print with full color and a gloss varnish, delivered to you in a clean-cut, easy-to-use roll in any quantity. Order as many labels as you want or as few as you need!
To get started with your eCommerce packaging, order a sample kit to see our materials and labels in person before you place your first order. If you're interested in learning more about creating your own subscription box, check out and download our ultimate guide to subscription box packaging.