Nuggets e-commerce packaging companies' three major challenges

Beijing time on the evening of September 19, 2014, Alibaba listed on the New York Stock Exchange, this news sensationalized the world, and instantly became a hot topic in the joints and tails. It can be said that no company's listing is so touching, Alibaba's listing is only a matter of time, but this move will have a profound impact on the e-commerce industry. For the packaging industry, we can't help but think about the opportunities and challenges that the e-commerce industry will bring to the packaging industry. How should packaging companies respond? [More exciting content in the "Printing E-commerce" channel]

Three challenges

Due to the geographical distribution of e-commerce companies, the variety of products and specifications, and the control costs and high damage rate, it is a challenge for the packaging industry and the express logistics industry to create a satisfactory packaging for e-commerce companies. .

Challenge 1: Standardization of packaging material specifications

The form and specifications of e-commerce packaging can be described as varied, as long as the packaging materials that can be used are used in e-commerce packaging. “The specifications of packaging materials are complicated and there is no uniform standard. This is the most common problem.” Huang Changhai, manager of Jifeng Packaging (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Group R&D Center, told the reporter. Most e-commerce companies will stock a certain amount of goods and packaging materials, and then sort, package, and ship according to customer orders. If there are too many specifications of packaging materials, it will result in an increase in storage costs and logistics management costs. Therefore, the standardization of packaging material specifications is very necessary, which not only helps packaging companies to implement mass production, but also helps e-commerce companies to effectively use storage space and package quickly.

Huang Changhai pointed out that the specifications of packaging materials can be standardized based on “big data”, which requires a large number of verifications to obtain the packaging specifications that are frequently used. For example, the outer packaging specification can be based on the characteristics of the e-commerce product, such as size, weight, etc., after collecting and sorting information, and defining as many standard outer packaging sizes as possible, thereby reducing the specifications of the outer packaging material. The cushioning packaging material can summarize the characteristics of the inner packaging cushioning material according to various considerations such as product protection, operation convenience, cost and environmental protection, and then select an appropriate cushioning material according to the e-commerce packaging requirement. “That is to say, the requirements for e-commerce packaging have risen from the initial single integration requirement to the technical and R&D level.” Huang Changhai added.

Challenge 2: Standardize logistics operations and reduce damage rate

"There are many uncontrollable factors in the process of logistics and transportation. Now many express logistics companies have barbaric operations, which will cause damage to the goods and need to be solved." Chen Xianying, design director of Lafang Jiahua Co., Ltd. said. At present, the operation mode of the express logistics industry is still in the stage of manual handling, and the number of turnover handling is high. Therefore, in the process of logistics operation, different degrees of damage occur sometimes, causing customers to directly reject or return, thus causing unnecessary losses. . "The uncontrollable nature of logistics really makes us very headaches and confusion. If we can do better in the logistics operation normative, we will do better when designing e-commerce packaging." Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Packaging Logistics Expert Subcommittee Director Liu Hongchun said. It can be seen that standardizing logistics sorting and distribution operations is imperative, which also puts higher requirements on e-commerce packaging. First of all, packaging companies should consider the characteristics of e-commerce packaging for handling, loading, unloading, packaging and distribution when designing e-commerce packaging, and the strength of the outer packaging should meet the protection function of the contents to reduce the occurrence of damage.

In response to this problem, some e-commerce companies have also put into action, Liu Hongchun told reporters, "The next thing we need to do is to collect information on the logistics scene to achieve a match with the e-commerce packaging logistics environment to reduce the logistics process. According to Huang Langyang, chief operating officer of Hangzhou Youke Cosmetics Co., Ltd., some large e-commerce companies will refine the e-commerce packaging supply chain, optimize packaging according to different transportation routes, and reduce the probability of damage. And minimize costs. Because the same e-commerce package is for different transportation paths, the breakage rate is different. For example, Amazon uses low-cost packaging for short-haul transportation, and uses stronger packaging for long-distance transportation; No. 1 stores for some cumbersome products, which are sent to the delivery station for repackaging after being taken out of the warehouse. After the integration, go to the distribution.

Challenge 3: Control costs and avoid excessive packaging and packaging protection

“The profit margin of current e-commerce companies is getting smaller and smaller, especially for daily chemical products, and the added value is low. Therefore, our ideal e-commerce packaging can not only protect products well, but also reduce logistics packaging costs reasonably.” Chen Xianying Said. "Carton is the main packaging form of e-commerce, and the amount is very large. Therefore, we hope to have technical breakthroughs in the field of carton, which will further help us to control the packaging cost reasonably." Huang Langyang said. Every home appliance company pays close attention to the cost issue. The core of this problem lies in how to balance the value of the product and the cost of its packaging. At the same time, it also considers the protection performance of the e-commerce package and avoids the problem of insufficient packaging and packaging protection.

"According to the difference in product vulnerabilities and the protection performance of buffer packaging materials, in-depth study of the balance between the two, in order to develop a reasonable packaging solution, so as to properly solve the problem of insufficient packaging and packaging protection." Huang Changhai said . Chen Xianying told reporters that Lafang will take appropriate protective measures according to the characteristics of its products. For example, products with nozzles will partially protect the fragile parts of the nozzles, which will avoid the problem of excessive packaging and insufficient packaging.

The above content is selected from the November issue of “Printing Technology·Packaging and Decoration” of the Ink Media. For more journal content, please pay attention to the journal channel.