Sustainability, Shipping and Web3 cheat sheet

If you’re shipping products (or thinking about it), focused on sustainability or even exploring Web3 / Crypto, then we’d love to talk.

If you think you got those figured out and can’t elevate your game any further, close the tab.

Sustainability

You can take this route on selfish and capitalistic incentives.

Not only will consumers want to try your product, but they will come back!

Retention is the most important piece about growth. 61% of consumers are likely to repeat an order due to premium packaging, according to Accenture. Packaging can’t be an afterthought. (Accenture)

• 43% of consumers expect businesses to integrate sustainability in their operations. (PwC)
• 67% of consumers check for a sustainability component before purchasing. It’s only growing with Gen Z. (McKinsey)
• Shipping a product In its Own Container (SIOC) removes 50% of the waste involved in packaging a product.

SIOC will cut on material and fulfillment costs. If you’re shipping with Amazon FBA, this will be especially true,

Shipping materials with glass? Automatic fee with a plastic wrap rule from FBA. We're SIOC, PFP and FFP certified from Amazon so hit us up! (Prep Free Packaging and Frustration Free Packaging).

People make the mistake of using messy fillers to “protect” their product and it looks like trash.

The alternative is to have a fresh looking insert made. Made from FSC corrugated paper (Forest Stewardship Council) to protect your product. You can brand these with a cheeky message waiting for your customers underneath!

We've helped many brands champion badges of responsibility on sustainable packaging.

This includes but isn’t limited to:

• 100% PCR (Post Consumer Recycled Content)
• Carbon or Climate Neutral Checkout
• Compostable + Biodegradable materials
• FSC Certification

Shipping

This will apply to you whether your business is racking up fat stacks of cash or getting started.

• Your package is the one thing you send your users that has a 100% open rate.
• Every physical product you buy needs packaging, with 90%+ of ecomm doing less than $5M a year.
• About 75% of direct-to-consumer brands in the U.S. generate less than $1 million in online sales.
• 77% of DTC brands that bring in less than $1 million in online sales have a physical storefront.
• 67% percent of DTC brands generating more than $500 million in online sales have no physical store presence.
• You’re going to be spending ~10% of product costs on packaging.

We’ve got tons of experience building this space. We obsess with customers innovating for their business. Shopify even sponsored a course we made for you to ship better!

The sooner you take on some of the practices, the better off you will be in the long run.

And if you are established, you’re going to be saving serious cheddar. Simple adjustments can be a game changer.

One way we help businesses is with tweaks to lower your shipping costs.

For instance:

Sending out a 12x12x12 box weighing 1 lb from New York to Los Angeles costs $23.65 via UPS Ground. But if you manage to fit your product into a smaller 10x10x10 box, you lower your rate to $17.72. That’s a difference of $5.93 or about 25%, which can add up !

If you’re using a 3PL (Third Party Logistics Provider) you may not have a system in place to audit this issue.

We’ll talk to your 3PL provider to ensure this is setup . It’s not the business they’re in unless they’re partnered with someone like us.

We’ve integrated with platforms like Shopify, Square and BigCommerce to be stewards of their merchants packaging. Through them we’ve connected and revamped 3PLs in the ecosystem.

As you read on, you’ll see that to conduct business in a digital space doesn’t mean you have to be an ecommerce store.

Involved in Web3

Wtf is Web3 in layman terms?

Web3, also referred to as Web 3.0, represents a whole new iteration of the World Wide Web. Often, Web3 is contrasted with our current Web 2.0, also known as the participatory web. (Vaimo)

Some quick facts:

• Information is free and open-source
• Transaction information is unique and authentic
• Each person owns their data
• The centralized monetary system is replaced by DeFi (Decentralized Finance) and cryptocurrencies
• Transactions and ownership are anonymous

Web3 is completely going to completely change the ecommerce world and packaging is going to be heavily influenced by this change.

What’s not available right now for this inevitable change is this solution we’re building.

One example of this Proof of Attendance Protocol.

POAPs are exclusive crypto-based NFT badges given to you for participating or attending special events.

The events can be in the physical world, online, or in the metaverse and can gate chats, discounts, etc.

POAP redemptions can take place through the delivery of gifts to collectors of your NFT.

Eg NFT native packaging opps or collabs with NFTs that drop merch!

IRL participation with your community doesn’t diminish the value of what you’re building in the digital space, it amplifies it!

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We’ve spent the last couple of years helping hundreds of merchants (especially during COVID) to support this idea in Web2. But in <10 years time the current pen and paper packaging suppliers will have to change or die.

Despite current events and the years that have led up to it, I feel incredibly fortunate for how this chapter of Arka is progressing.

Hope that you join us!

Thanks to Gary Vaynerchuk for encouraging me to write this article.

Thanks to Chris Cantino for advising on Web3.

Thanks to Wade Warren and Amelia Lord for some quick edits.