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PackageThe FORGOTTEN channel

MINISOFT, INC.www.minisoft.com

WHITE P

APER

@minisoft_inc

sales@minisoft.com

ARE YOU REALLY OMNI-CHANNEL?Omni-channel retailers use all physical (offline) and digital (online) channels to deliver a consistent customer experience at every touchpoint in the fulfillment of an order. These channels include brick-and-mortar stores, online stores, mobile stores, mobile apps, catalogs, telephone sales and social media, and each of these channels is an opportunity to engage customers with consistent messaging throughout the lifecycle of an order. Omni-channel retailers focus on optimizing the customer experience across all channels and devices (e.g. smartphones, tablets and laptops) that are used in interactions with their brands. Yet, many companies miss the opportunity to deliver a truly end-to-end experience for their customers, because they’ve forgotten a very important channel: the package.

HOW DO YOU SHIP TODAY?The package is a physical channel that, if optimized, can drive traffic to brick-and-mortar stores, online stores, social media and other channels. With this in mind, how do most retailers ship today? Usually, companies use a plastic pouch with a packing list that’s manually folded and inserted into the pouch, with a separate label generated off of a thermal printer. Sometimes, a retailer will skip the plastic pouch and just throw the packing list into the package.

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PACKAGE

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PHYSICAL DIGITAL

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Most channels will lead to a customer interaction with a packagep

BRICK-AND-MORTAR STORE

PACKAGE

CATALOG

TELEPHONE SALES

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ONLINE STORE

SOCIAL MEDIA

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PACKAGE

Receipt of a package often generates reviews on social media, e.g. unboxing

OMOBILE STORE/APP

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The traditional brown box with a plastic pouch or an integrated packing list fails to capture a customer’s attention or point them to additional channels for more shopping and buying. Nothing about these approaches sells more or enhances the customer experience. Including offers in the box is nice, but by that time the customer’s attention has shifted to what they’ve just ordered. Likewise, the plain brown box doesn’t reinforce corporate branding. After a great website and customer support experience, receiving a plain box with a hard-to-open plastic pouch or a packing list haphazardly thrown in the box ruins a customer’s happiest time.

Inconsistent Messaging

IPlastic Pouch

Integrated Packing List, also known as the Collate

82% of customers want to be able to return products with a pre-paid return label

Returns

LIFECYCLE OF THE ORDERAt every touchpoint in the fulfillment of an order, omni-channel retailers focus on engaging the customer with consistent messaging. They optimize their digital channels across all devices, they send branded order confirmations, shipping notifications, delivery confirmations and they even send surveys to check on a customer’s satisfaction with their purchase. Throughout the lifecycle of the order, they’ve reinforced their brand while including cross-sell and upsell offers, except at the time of product delivery. The happiest time for a customer is when they receive what they have ordered, but are omni-channel retailer’s taking full advantage of this moment?

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“52% of consumers want to see a return label right in the box.”-2014 UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper™

Branding

“Forty percent of online shoppers say branded packaging makes them more likely to recommend a product to friends.”

-“Unwrapping the Customer Experience” Dotcom Distribution Packaging Report 2015

40%are more likely to

recommend products with branded packaging

MOBILE BILLBOARDSPackages are more than brown boxes. The package is a physical representation of your brand; a mobile billboard that travels far and wide to find its final destination. With all of the online marketing these days, it is tough to guarantee customers or prospective customers will see a retailer’s marketing. Well, every package is a guaranteed audience.

52%want to see a return

label in the box

CUSTOMERS VALUE RETURNSAccording to the 2014 UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper™, “Returns remains an area highly valued by consumers but underserved by retailers.” In fact, “Only 1/2 of consumers are satisfied with the ease of making a return and the clarity of retailers’ policies.” Clearly, customers want to see return labels included with every order they receive, preferably free pre-paid labels.

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-2014 UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper™

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THE HAPPIEST TIME - DELIVERY

mSURVEY EMAILPURCHASE ORDER CONFIRMATION

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UNBOXINGAre retailers starting conversations with their packages? Unboxing, when a customer opens an online order and shares their experience on social media, is a fast-growing trend. Indeed, “One in three online shoppers have watched an unboxing video online” according to the Dotcom Distribution Packaging Report 2015, titled “Unwrapping the Customer Experience.” The same report also found that “Sixty-one percent of online shoppers were convinced to buy a product after looking up images and videos on social media.” Clearly, offering a superior customer experience involves creating a connection with shoppers while they unbox the product. Connecting with customers in a genuine way at the time of product delivery drives authentic word-of-mouth marketing.

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- “Unwrapping the Customer Experience” Dotcom Distribution Packaging Report 2015

“After watching an unboxing video, 55 percent of online shoppers felt intrigued and 41 percent felt excited.”

41%of online shoppers are

excited after watching an unboxing video

55% of online shoppers are intrigued after watching an unboxing video

- “Unwrapping the Customer Experience” Dotcom Distribution Packaging Report 2015

h 61%of online shoppers are convinced to buy after watching videos or looking up images on social media

- “Unwrapping the Customer Experience” Dotcom Distribution Packaging Report 2015

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOXThe 2014 UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper™ noted the emergence of the “flex shopper.” The report observed that “This flex shopper is ruthlessly efficient, switching channels and devices to best suit personal convenience when evaluating and purchasing products.” Successful omni-channel retailers have optimized their channels across devices for consistent customer experiences, with the exception of the one channel every online shopper encounters: the package.

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More than ever, customers are customizing every aspect of their shopping experience. Delivering a more personalized experience is critical to starting conversations and making a brand appear more upscale. While branded packaging is more likely to invite customer interaction, even the prettiest packages lack direct personalization, such as relevant cross-sell and upsell offers. Cleaning up the traditional brown box is a solid first step, but how do retailer’s engage customers on the outside of the box? Put differently, how do you capture a customer’s attention before they tear open the box?

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eFLEX LASER FORMSIncreased on-the-box personalization enhances the look of the brand and makes shoppers more likely to share their experiences about a product purchase. Likewise, on-the-box offers and promotions drive customers back to your websites for more shopping. How do retailers engage customers with personalized, branded packages? With eFlex® Laser Forms, every package that ships is an opportunity to generate new sales while reinforcing a retailer’s brands and messaging. These unique multi-use laser forms allow retailers to include relevant offers and promotions right on the box. Special offers, targeted cross-sells, upsells, gift cards, loyalty rewards or web promotions can be incorporated on every package.

RETURNS

START CONVERSATIONS

Integrated, pre-paid return label in the box

eFlex® Laser Forms use DuplexPackSlip® tear strip technology, so when a customer receives their package, they just pull the tear strip of the shipping label to reveal the packing slip or gift message.

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Relevant promotional offers on the box

eFORMz - THE ENGINEeFORMz can integrate eFlex® Laser Forms with any WMS, ERP, Order Management or Shipping Solution. eFORMz can capture and combine output from any of these systems and format it for printing on an eFlex® Laser Form.

CASE STUDY: Toffee to GoThere is no sweeter gift than award-winning handmade toffee, and nobody does it better than Toffee to Go. In 2015, they deployed the eFlex® Mini on all of their packages, streamlining their shipping operations while taking their marketing efforts to the next level. Using eFORMz built-in conditional decision-making, gift messages are sent for gift orders and a packing slip is sent for direct orders. Both gift messages and packing slips are branded, and each packing slip has a relevant promotional offer based upon the time of the year.

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DATA STREAMSWMS, ERP, Order Management (XML, PDF, Text, etc.)

SHIPPING SYSTEM(ZPL, Images)

INPUT METHODSVirtual PrinterDirectory MonitoringWeb ServiceDatabase Query

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eCom LABELIn addition to eFlex® Laser Forms, retailers are turning to the eCom Label. With a unique, triple-paned duplex label design, the eCom Label gives retailers multiple opportunities to enhance their customer’s experience.

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CASE STUDY: CATULLO PRIME MEATSCatullo Prime Meats, a premier butcher shop, implemented the eCom Label with great success. In fact, “Products highlighted in the label (Filet Mignon, Prime Ribeye, Sirloin Filet increased sales (by sku) by 19.5% over the last 6 months when compared to the same range a year earlier” according to the eCom Label Case Study: Catullo Prime Meats.

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d“The thought behind eCom Label Labels is pretty ingenious. The labels allow us to utilize the whole package for branding. Instead of packing info sheets into our box, we can save time and money by just printing our shipping label right on them! No longer does the shipping label become out of place as if it was created by a third party. That area becomes part of our brand and lets our company control the entire package’s look and feel.”

- eCom Label Case Study: Catullo Prime Meats

- eCom Label Case Study: Catullo Prime Meats

19.5%Sales

Repeat Business

“24.6% of customers who placed an order in the first 3 months of using the label placed another order within 6 months.”

- eCom Label Case Study: Catullo Prime MeatsDanny CatulloCatullo Prime Meats

SHIP SMARTER. SELL MORE.

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mMINISOFT, INC.www.minisoft.com

@minisoft_inc

sales@minisoft.com

Minisoft, Inc.Copyright © 2016

THE FUTURE OF SHIPPING

eFlex: a form for any shipping scenario or business purpose

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Packing list in box