Internet retailers, especially those new to the market, are ruining their relationship with new customers by using incorrect or poor packaging, according to Peter Faulkner, chairman ofIreland’s oldest packaging company Faulkner Packaging, founded in 1860.
Faulkner Packaging has published a comprehensive Online Packaging Guide for those buying and selling their products online and the guide is available at www.discountpackaging.ie .
The guide covers all types of direct, intermediate and outer packaging and their uses, with tables and practical advice. It also covers the packaging and dimensional terms of the various delivery and postal services operating inIreland.
“The rise in the popularity of internet shopping has led to a corresponding rise in the numbers of those selling products online. Many of these new vendors are modest start-up enterprises spread across the country,” explains Faulkner. “60% of our new online sales come from small rural areas inIrelandwhich suggests the new wave of online businesses is located in areas outside the traditional business hubs in bigger cities and towns.”
Surveys of Internet buyers have found that one of the most common causes of complaint is the arrival of damaged goods due to poor or inadequate packaging, according to Faulkner who adds: “Many new internet retailers do not know how to pack goods properly for delivery by post or courier. It requires more effort and materials than for a normal shop, where the customer takes the goods away with them.”
The guide is supported by a free online advice feature, managed by qualified packaging professionals, where specific packaging queries and advice can be obtained, at no cost.
“The idea for the Packaging Guide came to me when I was talking to a friend who is a senior executive with An Post,” he says. “He told me that I would not believe the volume of badly packaged parcels that they have to struggle with every day. I knew we could help and hence the new Packaging Guide and Blog.”
With so many joining the online sales revolution, incorrectly packaged goods are leading to a great deal of end customer dissatisfaction, with many fragile shipments arriving damaged or broken, according to Faulkner. “This is not the way to earn loyalty from hard won new customers. It need not be a problem at all, if the simple basics of packaging best practice are followed.”
The new guide is available free to download from http://www.discountpackaging.ie/packaging-guide.html and is filled with practical advice on how best to pack all types of merchandise for safe transport and delivery.