Small businesses must ship their products to customers like every other business; however, many assume their resource constraints rule out the custom packaging larger companies can afford. While this may be true to some extent, we want to make sure small businesses know there are surprisingly affordable options to achieve the same results. One pathway for doing this is by learning how to make the most of poly mailer bags made from polyethylene plastic film, which have been exploding in popularity during recent years.
Poly mailers also don’t have to be the boring white plastic envelopes consumers are continually seeing in their mailboxes and on their doorsteps. Even the humble poly mailer can be leveraged in thoughtful ways to boost brand recognition, customer satisfaction, and cost-effectiveness. Read on to learn how small businesses can make the most of poly mailers to achieve their business goals, and how Brown and Pratt can help you get there!
The Rise of the Humble Poly Mailer Bag
Although e-commerce, as we think of it today, has been around since the 1990s, the real spike in online shopping resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic was gigantic. Many people who were previously reluctant to shop online are now all in (or at least more in than they previously were). The exponential increase in e-commerce in recent years has made many businesses rethink how they’re packaging products for shipping to customers. The result? Many more poly mailer bags are now being used for product shipping than ever before. Why? The benefits are substantial:
- Poly mailer bags made of polyethylene plastic have become a go-to method for shipping products to consumers.
- They’re lightweight enough to save on shipping costs; yet they are durable (tear resistant) and water-resistant.
- The tape strip closure provides a permanent seal, and they can also be made with re-sealable (double) tape strips.
- If your products are fragile, there are also poly mailer bags with bubble lining, which is also lightweight and does not increase shipping costs.
- Poly mailers can also be custom-printed in order to reap all the branding benefits of custom shipping packaging.
- Eco-friendly poly mailer bags are also available if that’s important to your company or your customers.
Sounds pretty good, right? Poly mailers are indeed a great choice for small businesses.
Branding and Marketing Power: Why Packaging Matters for Brand Image
By now, most people have ordered products online that have arrived at their mailbox or doorstep in some kind of poly mailer bag. It’s surprising how many companies are using completely plain white or gray poly mailers. This is boring for customers and a huge missed opportunity to extend their branding into the final piece of the product journey puzzle, which is the customer receiving the package.
Maybe you’re not convinced about custom-branded shipping packaging. Can it really make all that much of a difference? In a word: yes. Here are some statistics from research presented at a conference of the Contract Packaging Association:
- More than 50% of web consumers say they’ll make additional purchases from a business that uses above-average or premium packaging.
- Nearly 40% say they regularly share packaging that is interesting on social media.
Did you catch that second statistic? People who think your packaging is interesting are surprisingly likely to share it on social media—and that’s pure marketing gold in the digital age of the twenty-first century! The branding impact of custom-printed poly mailer bags can really give small businesses a competitive advantage. Come up with the right visually compelling design, and your simple mailer bag is transformed into something people share on their social media networks, raising brand awareness in a ripple effect while simultaneously increasing the loyalty of customers who made the purchase.
You’ve no doubt seen customer-posted unboxing videos on social media; there can be unbagging videos, as well. The visuals, brand messaging, personalization (handwritten notes, postcards, coupons, QR codes, and so on), as well as ease of opening and/or reusing for returns (thanks to dual adhesive strips and perforated edges) can turn customers into brand ambassadors through social media shoutouts, not to mention ensuring they make repeat purchases from your company.
There’s a psychological effect at play here as well. When customers receive something in customized shipping packaging, the perceived value of the products themselves goes up! Well-designed packaging can make a small business appear more established and premium. It’s all about creatively using various branding elements, including your logo, color palette, fonts, messaging, and so on. Doing it right can make your customers increasingly loyal to your brand.
Cost-Effectiveness and Practicality: Lightweight and Budget-Friendly
One of the main reasons poly mailer bags have become so popular in recent years is because they are often more affordable and cost-effective than cardboard boxes. Let’s start with shipping cost savings. Poly mailers weigh substantially less than cardboard boxes. The weight of an empty poly mailer bag (depending on its size, of course) will be anywhere from 0.03 ounces to 0.4 ounces. A corresponding cardboard box is going to weigh much more than that. Plus, many shipping carriers will use the higher number between actual package weight or calculated dimensional weight because they can then charge more for packages taking up more room on a truck even though they’re lightweight. Poly mailer bags take up less room on delivery vehicles!
Poly mailer bags will cost you less than cardboard boxes. The per-unit cost of poly mailers can be a lot less than the per-unit cost of cardboard boxes when buying in bulk or wholesale, even with custom printing. The price point for customizing poly mailers is substantially lower than customizing cardboard boxes.
If you account for the storage of materials as part of your costs, whether in-house or in a warehouse, then it’s important to know poly mailer bags take up less space than boxes. Even if your cardboard boxes are stored flat, they take up so much more room than flat poly mailers. When it’s time to assemble those boxes, space becomes even more of an issue. Compared to cardboard boxes, poly mailers take up very little space and don’t require any assembly, which will save your company money on packaging materials storage costs.
It’s also worth noting how the durability and protection offered by poly mailer bags can also save you money. How? It’s simple when you think about it: The items you ship in poly mailers are better protected when it comes to exposure to the elements because, unlike cardboard, poly bags are water-resistant. Even though it’s a bag made from plastic film, poly mailers are typically puncture-resistant because the polyethylene plastic film is quite a bit stronger than cardboard. With products better protected, you’ll experience fewer refunds due to damaged products.
Design Flexibility and Customization: Sizes and Styles
At Brown and Pratt, we can custom make whatever size of poly mailer bag you need, or you can choose from 10 different standard sizes of single-tape-strip bags and 12 different standard sizes of double-tape-strip with perforation bags. We can also add features such as self-sealing strips, transparent windows, or gusseted edges as desired. Additional aspects to keep in mind:
- Color: Up to eight colors on one or both sides of a bag.
- Quantity: We can print a simple one-color artwork in as few as 500 bags with pricing breaks at 1k, 3k, and 5k bags. With 2 or more colors, a full production run is required. For orders of two-color printed bags, a minimum of 3,000 bags must be ordered. The minimum for 3-color printing is 5,000 bags. We offer price breaks on orders of 5k, 10k, and 15k bags.
- Base Color: Our poly mailer bags are white to better show a business’s printed message.
- Turnaround: Timeframes vary from week to week, depending on how busy things are, but we always do our best to provide a realistic timeframe for producing your custom poly mailer bags. When dealing with new artwork, factor in an additional 3–5 days for an artwork proof approval process.
- Convenience: You can even order poly mailer bags online with us!
Find out more about Brown and Pratt’s standard and custom-printed poly mailers from these resources: Poly Mailer Bags: Why Smart Online Sellers are Making the Switch and Custom Printed Poly Mailer Bags.
Sustainability and Eco-Friendly Options Matters
Research has shown that a growing number of Americans are increasingly concerned about plastic and packaging waste. The good news is that eco-friendly options are available, so be sure to check what your vendors might offer. It’s yet another way a small business can set itself apart from its competitors. At Brown and Pratt, we carry recycled biodegradable Blue Earth poly mailers with the following key features you can show to your customers:
- Lightweight: Lighter than any corrugated cardboard box and up to 30% lighter than many other poly mailers while still durable enough to withstand the rigors of shipping.
- Reusability: Thanks to double-tape enclosures, customers can use the same bag for returning their purchases when needed.
- Recycled: Made from co-extruded material, 75% of which is recycled content, and 25% of that recycled content is post-consumer.
- Recyclable: These bags are 100% recyclable. Just recycle them at any location that recycles plastic grocery store bags (collection bins are often found at supermarkets).
- Biodegradable: Blue Earth sustainable poly mailers will degrade with exposure to sunlight and moisture; however, this can’t happen if they are buried in a landfill, which consumers need to keep in mind.
Our Blue Earth poly mailers come in generic versions (white exterior, silver interior for high opacity) as well as custom printable versions and are available in five different sizes (9×12.5+2.5, 10×13+2.5, 12×15.5+2.5, 14.5×19+2.5, and 19×24+2.5). Learn more here: Earth-Friendly Poly Mailers? Yes!
Brown and Pratt: Your Trusted Partner for Custom Poly Mailer Bags
Brown and Pratt has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1954 when Leonard J. Brown and his wife Evelyn started making paper and paperboard packaging items sold primarily to laundry services and dry cleaners. Today, we offer a truly vast array of packaging solutions, including more than 10,000 in-stock packaging and shipping supply items, many of which can be customized with your company’s artwork for branding impact. Our goal with all customers is to build long-term partnerships based on trust while meeting or exceeding your expectations. We have built our reputation on deep expertise, extensive experience, affordability, and top-shelf customer service.
Now that you know how poly mailer bags can save your small business substantial money while bringing all the many branding benefits of custom-printed shipping packaging, along with eco-friendly options as well, we invite you to take the next step and choose us as your go-to shipping packaging partner, whether it’s for custom-printed boxes, custom-printed bags, other custom-printed packaging supplies, or shipping supplies. Contact Brown & Pratt today for more information or to schedule a free consultation to learn how we can meet your custom-printed packaging needs. You can call us toll-free at 888-659-9359, email us at info@brownandpratt.com, fill out our Request a Quote form, browse our online catalog, or live chat with us from any page of our website.
