Cost Effective Packaging
Proven strategies and ideas to help you reduce packaging costs throughout your business
With increasing competition across practically every market sector, plus price pressures affecting everything from raw materials to logistics, companies must look at ways to reduce costs to remain competitive.
Packaging is no exception to this.
By working alongside GWP Group, the aim will always be to have a direct, positive impact on your business’ profitability. It is a fundamental belief of GWP Group that your packaging should offer all of the benefits you would expect, but at a cost which works for your business.
Cost Saving Strategies
All the ways in which your packaging can positively impact costs
The below ideas and strategies can be leveraged in various combinations to provide tangible efficiencies and cost savings for virtually any business. Please visit the specific pages for further information, or contact GWP Group for assistance as required.

Rationalise Your Packaging
Streamlining inventory & economies of scale
One of the most commonly overlooked ways to reduce packaging costs is that of packaging rationalisation. By consolidating similar lines, your business can benefit from reduced costs thanks to leveraging economies of scale and streamlining your inventory.

Minimise Your Packing Times
Reduce labour costs whilst improving output
Small gains in productivity can usually make a significant difference to your costs. From reducing spend on labour, being able to manufacture and ship more products and fulfilling more orders, minimising packing times can realise genuine cost advantages.

Reduce Shipping Costs
Tailored sizes to avoid excess charges and void fill
Whilst usually a marginally higher unit cost, custom sized packaging can soon pay for itself and should be seen as an investment rather than a cost. It eliminates shipping of “empty space”, which is particularly important with the increased use of volumetric shipping.

Prevent Damage In Transit
Prevent returns and enhance customer satisfaction
Transit damage is the hidden cost of your packaging. If items are not protected they can become damaged & unfit for sale. This incurs costs through returns, replacements & “written off stock”. Even worse, it can harm potential repeat business through dissatisfied customers.

Reduce Storage Costs
Just In Time supply with a Vendor Managed Inventory
Maintaining a large warehouse of packaging stocks can be costly – or can take up space you could be using to expand production. A vendor managed inventory (VMI), using just in time deliveries, reduces stock holding, eliminates stock shortages and reduces admin.

Value Engineering
Analysis to ensure packaging is the optimum spec
Paying too much for packaging? Not sure? Whether you think your packaging is cost effective or not, one thing you can’t be certain of is if your packaging is being produced to the optimum specification. A full analysis can often identify a number of easy and actionable cost savings.
Importance of Cost Effective Packaging
Ensuring your packaging is sustainable and environmentally friendly
Many companies view packaging as a necessary evil. A cost that has to be met.
But, your packaging can say a lot about your business. It can carry your branding, offer protection for your products in transit, and it is often the first thing your clients will see when receiving your products.
There is no better way to lose a customer than having your goods arrive damaged.
Because of this, many successful companies see their packaging as a way of promoting their business, boosting sales and improving efficiency. Companies that recognise the importance of good packaging frequently boast both great brand awareness and satisfied customers.
Holistic approach to cost reduction
Additional strategies and tips that can aid cost reduction projects
As a starting point, GWP often carry out theoretical testing, which analyses the performance of existing materials used along with the dimensions and style of your existing packaging. Other factors such as the weight of the product, required stacking height, environment and intended use are all also accounted for.
This will provide a strong indication of whether the current material and design is optimised for the application or, in many cases, over-specified.
Whilst over-performing is obviously better than under-performing, our design team can vary the parameters (for example the board and box style) to produce a solution that is well within safe performance levels whilst still allowing us to reduce packaging costs.
This can then be further tested through transit trials, ensuring that the theoretical changes made deliver benefits in the real world.
So whilst you see no difference in the performance of your packaging, there is one major difference that you will see – the cost. Over a customer’s entire annual packaging spend, the cost savings can often total tens of thousands of pounds!
Plus, of course, there are many other benefits resulting from a project to reduce packaging costs, including cash flow, profit margins and ultimately a healthier bottom line.
Packaging Cost Reduction FAQs
Common questions on how to reduce packaging costs
There are normally a number of common questions and / or objections to how packaging cost reduction strategies can be applied to a business. The below aims to answer a number of these.
If you cannot find the answer to your specific question however then please do not worry – simply contact a member of the GWP team on 01793 754 444 or email info@gwp.co.uk.
How can I tell if my packaging is cost effective?
It can be very difficult to tell if your packaging is cost effective. Packaging that is performing well may be completely over specified for the intended use, wasting material and driving up costs. Alternatively, cheap packaging can cause a number of hidden costs, including increased damage and slower packing times. GWP will be able to carry out a full audit to ensure that your packaging performs at the optimum level for your specific application.
Wouldn’t sending my requirement out to tender reduce costs?
Whilst competitive tendering always has its place in driving down cost, even greater gains can be made through the intelligent use of materials and design. An increasing number of companies are turning to GWP Group to engineer such cost savings in their packaging and, ultimately, reduce packaging costs.
Will reducing packaging costs make a significant difference to my business?
Many organisations are surprised at just how much difference a packaging cost reduction exercise can make to their business. Many are unaware of the hidden costs created by their packaging (such as high returns due to damage, the reputational damage, slow fulfilment times etc.), whilst material analysis can frequently reveal significant savings too (which also benefits the environment).
Would switching to stock packaging minimise my spend?
As well as all of the clever engineering to reduce costs, there are often simpler ways in which you can save money. Besides the standard range of FEFCO designs GWP offer for example, many years of experience has led to the creation of our own library of cost-effective custom solutions for an extremely wide spectrum of product types. Over the last twenty-plus years, these have been continuously developed and refined to save your business money while providing predictable, proven levels of performance.
I use more than just corrugated packaging – can you help?
GWP’s experience of packaging cost reduction projects extends well beyond corrugated packaging. With specialist knowledge of foam, Correx®, anti-static packaging and even protective flight cases, whatever form of packaging you use, GWP can help. And if you source multiple types of packaging from different suppliers, consolidating this to a single source supplier can realise further cost savings too.
What other ways can GWP help improve my business’ packaging?
Besides simply reducing your packaging costs, there are a number of other ways that GWP can help to improve your packaging. This includes moving to more environmentally friendly, sustainable solutions, improving efficiency, material reduction, damage prevention, reduction in storage and much else besides. Your business can also benefit from a full packaging audit to identify any potential savings and improvements.
About GWP Group
A partner you can trust to reduce packaging costs
Savings on the cost of packaging are often only one part of the benefits GWP can bring to your business.
For example, savings through the reduction of damage and breakages in transit can easily exceed those to be made on packaging spend alone.
When coupled with a full packaging audit which can also reveal time (and therefore cost) savings in terms of assembly and packing times, GWP are certain you can reduce your packaging costs in at least one, if not many, ways.
- Accurate calculation of transit protection / performance
- Creative design utilising the latest software
- Minimising of storage and warehouse space / costs
- Tailored designs to meet each individual clients’ priorities
- Reduce packing times and enhance productivity
- Enable cost efficiencies and reduce shipping costs
- Ultimately, reduce costs without reducing performance
Find Out More
Get advice from a packaging specialist
If you think that your packaging isn’t cost effective, is placing a strain on your business’ potential for success, or just think it could be made to work harder, please get in touch to see how GWP Group can help.
All Cost Reduction Strategies
Gain a Competitive Advantage
Your Packaging. But Better.
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Here to Help
Contact a member of our sales & support team directly

David Mason
(Corrugated / POS)
david.mason@gwp.co.uk
01793 754 444

Ian Cook
(Returnable)
ian.cook@gwp.co.uk
01793 754 457

Ian Heskins
(Cases / Foam)
ian.heskins@gwp.co.uk
01722 416 440

01793 754 444
Mon – Fri 08.00 – 17.00

info@gwp.co.uk
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