BARCODING, LABELLING & PACKAGING
W
ith Black Friday and Cyber Monday firmly established in the UK retail calendar, e-commerce and logistics businesses are expecting a busy few weeks. In fact, according to the Office of National Statistics, November is overtaking December as the key month for online sales. Since 2015, December online sales have actually decreased year-on-year while November’s have grown.
In 2018, total retail spending in the last two months of the year reached a phenomenal £80 billion and about a quarter of this was online. This means many more parcels in the delivery network – in 2017/18, 453 million domestic parcels were transported in the final quarter of the year.
TRANSIT PROBLEMS
With an increased volume of parcels in the supply chain, it is even more likely that some of these parcels will get damaged in transit. According to our Black Friday research last year, eight per cent of products ordered over the Black Friday weekend were likely to arrive damaged. This equates to £648m worth of damaged products. What’s more, a third of these products are in such a sorry state on arrival they can’t be used. This results in disappointed shoppers and reputational damage for brands and couriers alike.
It’s an ongoing, industry-wide challenge and all three parties (brands, retailers and couriers) play a key role in solving the issue and helping ensure a positive customer experience.
As we all know, the complexity of the
e-commerce supply cycle means that damage in transit is far more prevalent than traditional bricks and mortar retail. Our analysis of customers’ supply chains has revealed that they can consist of up to 50 touchpoints, so there is plenty of
8 NO VEMBER 2019 | FA
By Rob Carle, UK head of sales e-commerce at DS Smith opportunity for packages to be dropped, crushed
and shaken. For this reason, we have pioneered DISCS, an innovative, first-of-its-kind testing process to provide objective feedback on the protection provided by packaging.
Available to all stakeholders within the
e-commerce supply chain, the DISCS process is named after its five types of testing (Drop, Impact, Shock, Crush, Shake), each replicating a real world cause of damage in a product’s journey. The testing process is based on an audit of the unique supply cycle requirements of each product, allowing the optimum packaging protection solutions to be determined to protect it.
DOORSTEP WINE
One e-commerce business, which has recently made the most of DISCS testing, is Laithwaites the UK’s No.1 home-delivery wine merchant. Laithwaites was particularly aware of the fragility of its wine bottles and how breakages would most often occur over the last mile. It wanted to ensure its packaging was providing the very best protection throughout the long e-commerce supply cycle.
Working with DS Smith, the company undertook an audit of its supply chain and the journey the product takes to the consumer. Based on this insight, DS Smith designed enhanced packaging that would offer protection from the jolts and impacts of the courier delivery network and in particular, drops. During the design process, it trialled the effectiveness of the solution using the DISCS laboratory.
Laithwaites found the drop test video footage to be a significant asset. It showcased the design expertise and performance of the packaging and provided reassurance that the wine bottles would
FACTORY&HANDL NGSOL UTIONSORY&HANDLINGSOLI UTIONS
arrive safely, even if dropped. It could also be used in potentially difficult discussions with couriers about the journey the damaged package had taken. Since using DISCS and the new packaging, Laithwaites has seen a significant reduction in damaged customer orders, which has had a direct and positive impact on the company’s bottom line.
BOOSTING SUSTAINABILITY Laithwaites didn’t want its focus on protection to mean that the unboxing experience or its other brand values were sacrificed. At the heart of Laithwaites’ packaging philosophy is a commitment to sustainability and recyclability. After Blue Planet unveiled the true impact of plastics on the environment and the business saw how important the issue was to its customers, Laithwaites took the positive step to completely eradicate plastic from its supply chain. Historically, Laithwaites had incorporated
plastic air packs in its smaller packages to provide extra protection and cushioning. In collaboration with DS Smith, it devised an innovative cardboard wraparound to replace the plastic, supplying the protection required and ensuring the packaging is easily recyclable by consumers at the curb side. By encouraging e-commerce businesses to test their packaging with the DISCS technology, a definitive and independent analysis of packaging protection requirements can be obtained, giving peace of mind to retailers, brands and couriers. Working in partnership with brands in this way, logistics companies can help improve the customer experience and gain a reputation as a trusted courier during the busy festive period.
DS Smith
www.dssmith.com T: +44 (0)20 7756 1800
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