The Resurgence of Mailers
Remember when Netflix used to mail DVDs in its iconic red envelops? Guess what, that business model is still alive and well. Netflix currently has 33 physical distribution centres that process around 3,400 discs per hour!
While physical retail store fronts have lost ground, mailers are doing well and growing in leaps and bounds. As such, in the following post, we’ll look at how custom mailers make good business sense in terms of marketing, ROI, and in light of disruptive industries in e-commerce.
Leveraging Disruptive Business Models
By leveraging new technologies and services, such as automated checkout and shipping services, startups and small businesses can gain a strong competitive advantage over traditional retail stores.
Take DollarShaveClub.com as a recent example. With a disruptive marketing campaign and an even more disruptive business model, known as the “subscription box model” or “subcom”, the dollar shave club has grown from a tiny startup to boast “hundreds of thousands” of monthly subscribers.
The subcom industry is highly disruptive and an exciting way to break into established markets and competition against the big-boys in the retail space. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. We will delve deeper into this subject in our upcoming post: “Understanding the Subscription Box Marketing Strategy”
Gaining The Competitive Advantage: Custom Mailers
Custom mailers (or small die-cut shipping boxes) are of big importance in the disruptive ecommerce industry. Netflix uses iconic red mailers and Amazon uses a friendly arrow that looks like smiley face. In both cases, when you see their custom printed boxes, your decision to use their service is instantly reinforced.
But Why Market to Existing Customers?
Some business owners may wonder why they should bother custom printing their shipping boxes. “These boxes go to our customers; i.e., our marketing has already worked on them! So why bother?” In a word: retention.
In a study published by the Harvard Business Review, the researchers show that for traditional businesses in most industries, “increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.” This is due to the incredibly low return on investment for new customer acquisition.
The study then followed this trend in a marketing study on ecommerce and found the value of retention is even more pronounced. In fact, “web customers tend to consolidate their purchases with one primary supplier, to the extent that purchasing from the supplier’s site becomes part of their daily routine.”
For any e-commerce business, the researchers make it clear: “you cannot generate superior long-term profits unless you achieve superior customer loyalty.”
This is Where Custom Mailers Earn Their Stripes
A branded packaging experience requires a thoughtful selection of your packaging and shipping materials, as well as the deliberate presentation of your products. Its purpose is to provide value for your customer as well as your business by creating a memorable experience.
Whatever your branded packaging experience is, the upshot of shipping custom printed boxes to your existing customers is the return on investment provided by customer retention and brand loyalty.
Vancouver Wholesale Custom Mailers & Box Printing
For your custom mailers in the Vancouver area, consider the savings and benefits of ordering from local box manufacturer! Racer Printing and Box Manufacturing makes custom mailers and shipping boxes locally in-house in Richmond B.C., Canada.
Craft the perfect branded packaging experience, give Racer Boxes a call today at (604) 270 – 8205 to get your high quality custom shipping boxes with custom box printing.
