Packaging & presentation
What the customer opens. The last thing you control before they judge you.
What actually matters
- Protection first. A beautiful box containing something broken is worse than a plain one.
- A printed insert or a card costs very little and is the easiest place to ask for a review.
- Recyclable and paper-based filler is increasingly what customers expect, and it photographs better.
- Whatever you choose, check you can reorder it. Running out of your signature packaging mid-season is its own problem.
Picks
No specific picks in here yet — I only list things once I've actually formed an opinion about them. The points above are what I'd go on in the meantime.
Also in paper, print and post
- PrintersMostly for shipping labels, invoices and the occasional thing that must be on paper.
- Label makersFor shipping, for stock, and for the cables under your desk.
- Paper cutters & trimmersIf you sell anything printed, this is the difference between a product and a craft project.
- Shipping suppliesThe unglamorous things that decide how long packing takes.
Kit is the easy part. The awkward part is usually the process.
Buying a label printer fixes an afternoon. If the thing eating your week is the admin around the orders rather than the packing itself, that's the part I build.
Tell me what's eating the week