When shipping an item to a client abroad, the two most critical issues to be addressed are condition and expense. A majority of the company base their shipping rates on weight. This means that you have to ensure your packaging materials are not only the most affordable but also the lightest available. The material should not inadvertently add more weight to a package than necessary.
The primary reason for packaging is to prevent breakages and leakages. Packaging also protects perishable food items from germs, moisture loss, and heat. Your choice of packaging material should also enhance your item’s safety, and this cannot be compromised by using cheap, weak packaging materials. For professional-level services in e-commerce product packaging, you can check out deepking. Let’s talk about the best types of packaging materials to use in e-commerce.
Classification of packaging techniques
- Shipping containers
Used to protect items and food during initial distribution, transportation, and marketing. Items that can be packaged in shipping containers include stretch, sacks, and barrels, foil bags, crates, drums, shrink-wrapped containers, and corrugated fire board cartons.
- Retail containers
Retail containers are used to protect content and food from damage, while also advertising the item for possible retail sale. Examples of retail container packaging include metal cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles, overwraps, and sachets. Retail packaging is also applicable for storage at home.
In many ways, the packaging is what determines if an item will be shipped to the end-user in one piece or pieces.
The types of packaging materials include:
- Bubble-wrap
This is a plastic material consisting of layers of plastic with an air bubble between the layers. These air bubbles provide a cushioning effect for the items under transportation by preventing damage and shock. The lightweight nature of bubble wrap also serves to keep the weight of the shipping to a minimum. The size of the bubble wrap ranges from a quarter inch up to half an inch in thickness. This convenient size also makes it easier to wrap your fragile parts and items.
- Plastic
The most popular packaging material type. However, plastic is very difficult to dispose of properly. Plastics are preferred because they are strong, cheap to make, and light. Properties of plastic that make it an excellent packaging material include ease of sealing with heat, ability to be decorated or labeled, lightweight, ability to be molded into many shapes and levels of rigidness, and resistance to impact. Plastic may be a bad choice based on the type of polymer used to make it. Plastics do not guarantee moisture and gas resistance. They also melt at 650 to 2300 degrees Celsius. Different plastics also feature different resistance to chemicals.
- Wood
Wood (pallets and crates) is mostly utilized in packaging heavy duty products such as machinery components. Smaller items such as cigars, tea, cheese, and gifts can be placed in hinged wooden boxes. Some alcoholic drinks feature wooden caps and corks.
- Paper
The paper features low cost, easy decoration, and the ability to hold its shape. Most commercial packaging paper is made from cellulose fiber, and itself derived from pulped wood. Packaging paper can also be obtained from hemp, sisal, straw, and cotton.
Conclusion
Packaging materials come in many different shapes and sizes. Each plays a role in keeping your product or item secure and preventing shock or breakage. On some excellent packaging ideas, check out deepking.com.
