Creating a branded unboxing experience for your customers is one of the few ways you can physically connect with them beyond your ecommerce store. Since your customers can’t walk into your store and experience your brand first hand, their first point of contact with your brand is through your product or shipping packaging. It’s one of the only ways they’ll be able to actually touch, feel and see your brand in real life, so you need to make it count if you want to create a positive first impression

Packlane can help you set a good first impression by creating a memorable unboxing experience for your customers. They already provide custom boxes and packaging for over 10,000 brands, including some of the biggest brands in the industry—Shopify, Google, Red Bull, and The New York Times, to name a few—and they can do the same for you.

To create customized product packaging and shipping boxes that can help you create a beautiful unboxing experience for your business, no matter how big your company is, then read on to find out more about what Packlane does and why they can be a good fit for your business.

What Packlane Does

Packlane provides an online service that helps businesses create customized boxes and packaging to house their products in and send to customers. They focus on providing quality boxes that can be completely customized down to the dimensions, materials, colors, and designs, and they require a very low minimum order quantity (MOQ), starting at 1 unit.

They offer plenty of innovative options to help you bring your packaging to life including a digital 3D preview of what your box looks like so you can get a sense of what the finished product will look like, double-sided printing so you can print on the inside and outside of your box and real-time price adjustments that adapt as you add and remove features while you’re creating your box online so you can design a box within your budget.

Who Packlane is For

Packlane is for ecommerce business owners who understand the value of a branded unboxing experience and want to customize their own shipping boxes or packaging. It’s ideal for businesses of any size as Packlane offers very small minimum order quantities which makes it manageable for new businesses that are still gaining traction, and they’re also able to cater to well-established companies, through their Packlane Plus option, that may be sending thousands of packages each month.

Essentially, Packlane is for any business that wants to send beautiful, creative, well designed, and high-quality packages that stand out to their customers, impress them, and stays true to their brand persona and overall aesthetic.

Packlane’s Features & Services

One of the best aspects of working with Packlane is that they recognize each business has different wants and needs when it comes to their packaging so customizing down to every last detail is imperative. They give businesses default options to work with as a foundation and let them build on that to add and remove features as it best suits their needs. These are the main features and services Packlane can offer every business:

Box Types

Packlane offers these different options that businesses can customize to their needs:

• Mailer Box
  • Perfect for gift boxes, subscription boxes, or ecommerce packaging.
  • Can be shipped on its own without any other external packaging.
• Folding Carton
  • An elegant box ideal for showing off on store shelves.
  • Does not maintain the rigidity required to protect items throughout the shipping process, so must be used in conjunction with sturdier packaging if planning to ship.
• Shipping Box
  • The stronger, more robust, and secure option.
  • Can be shipped on its own without other external packaging.
• Sample Boxes
  • To get a sample of their boxes or to sample your own custom creation, contact Packlane via their sample order form here.
• Customized Box Styles
  • If you’re looking for a box style that’s different from the ones Packlane offers and are able to order at least 1000 units or more, they’re open to custom box style inquires, which can be made via their customer support email.

Each of these options can be catered to meet the dimension of whatever products fit inside them, as Packlane states on their website that all of their boxes can be customized to provide a snug and safe fit for the products inside.

Their boxes can appear in three different finishes: Kraft which is a matte brown, Standard White which is a matte white, and Dreamcoat which is white with a glossy appearance on the printed areas and matte on the non-printed areas, providing a unique contrast. For more information on how to utilize different box finishes in your branded unboxing experience and other shipping strategies, check out our Shipping Strategy Cheat Sheet. It’s also worth noting that the majority of Packlane’s boxes are made with recycled materials and all of their products are recyclable.

For more information about Packlane’s box types and materials, consult their Box Types and Materials FAQ page.

Customizable Features

One of the best aspects of Packlane’s service is that they’re able to customize so many aspects of their products so you can create the box that works the best for your brand. Here are the main parts of the box you can customize:

• Dimensions
  • Use Packlane’s default dimensions or create your own, it’s up to you and what best suits your product.
• Double-sided printing
  • Print on the inside of the box, as well as the outside.
• Any area of the box
  • Top, bottom, right side, left side, inside and anywhere else in between. If you can see it, they can print on it.
• Glossy/matte box finish
  • Whether you want a smooth matte finish or a glossy finish, it’s up to you. Their Kraft and Standard
  • White printing options are matte, and the Dreamcoat printing option leaves the printed area with a glossy finish and the unprinted areas matte.
• Materials
  • Their materials include Kraft (matte brown), Standard White (matte white) and Dreamcoat (glossy) and includes a thin, flat paperboard to a thick, corrugated cardboard.
• Colors
  • Packlane prints in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK) ink which enables them to print virtually any color option. The only options the can’t print are white, metallics, and foil.
• Designs
  • The artwork, designs, visual branding, and placements are totally up to you so feel free to customize your box exactly how you want to.

Minimum Order Quantities

Their minimum order requirement for their box styles are as follows:

• Mailer Box: 1 unit
• Folding Carton: 25 units
• Shipping Box: 1 unit
• Sample Boxes: 1 unit
• Customized Box Styles: 1000 units

This makes Packlane an extremely viable option for new businesses that are operating on a small budget or simply just don’t have many orders to fill. You can start small and order a lower quantity of boxes from Packlane when you’re just starting out and as your business grows Packlane can support your requirements as you scale and need more boxes. It’s the best of both worlds because it can support small businesses that have small requirements but it can also grow and scale with your business as it grows and scales.

Packlane is the best of both worlds because it can support small businesses that have small requirements but it can also grow and scale with your business as it grows and scales.

Timeline & Shipping

How long it takes for you to receive your order from Packlane depends on many factors such as:

• How long the proofing stage takes you: The time in which you can make adjustments to your order, finalize your design, and make changes.
• Your box size, the quantity of your order and your chosen materials
• How long the production takes: This includes printing, cutting, folding, quality assessment, and packing for shipment. Standard production turnaround takes 10-20 calendar days, expedited production turnaround takes 8-10 calendar days.
• Shipping transit time: The time in which it takes to ship your order from Packlane to your desired destination and depends on whether you’re located in the USA or internationally.

Upon checkout, you’ll be able to see an estimated shipping date for your order that is calculated based on a 24 hour proofing period and the assumption that your order has no unusual requirements. It’s only an estimate, but it can give you a rough timeline to expect. Packlane expresses on their website that they may be able to cater to critical deadlines and to contact their customer support as early on in the planning process as possible if this is the case.

In terms of shipping, they ship both domestically as well as internationally and ship most orders via UPS, however, orders over 200lbs are shipped on a pallet via LTL freight. You can estimate your shipping costs via their website’s shipping calculator and for more information on shipping, checkout Packlane’s Shipping FAQs page.

Packlane Plus

Packlane Plus is a packaging solution for high volume or custom-tailored designs. For businesses exceeding 2,000 units per month or require different box style specifications than Packlane’s mailer box, classic carton or shipping box, then Packlane Plus could be the best option for your business.

With Packlane Plus you can work directly with an account manager to assess your options and work through any of your questions, you receive the advantage of custom structural design for your boxes, custom samples, and prototypes to test your creation, personalized quotes in as little as 1 business day, free proofing and file preparation, easy restocks, tracked order history, and more. Packlane Plus allows you to manage large orders from Packlane easily so you can design, create, order, and reorder your boxes from Packlane with as little hassle as possible. Definitely a useful feature if you’re operating at scale.

Pros & Cons

The main advantages of working with Packlane is that their products are almost entirely customizable and they’re more than willing to work with businesses to adjust their products to meet their specific needs. The main disadvantages with Packlane include some features that they don’t offer right now, but could potentially be added in the future.

Pros:

• Customizable box dimensions
• Customizable materials
• Low MOQ (as low as 1 unit)
• Double-sided printing
• Glossy & matte box option
• Can print on boxes in white ink
• Digital preview
• Rushed order option
• Packlance Plus option for high volume orders over 2000 units
• Boxes are printed & produced in the USA
• All of their products are recycled and in some cases made of recycled materials
• Ships domestically & internationally

Cons:

• International shipping (anywhere outside of USA) may be costly
• Unable to print foils or metallic ink onto the boxes
• They don’t offer any design services for box artwork
• Cannot print on the inside of the Folding Carton box

Packlane’s Pricing

As a high-volume producer with scale economies, Packlane provides the industry’s most competitive prices on custom printed boxes available. Pricing is generally a factor of five things: dimensions, box style, ink coverage on the box, box material, and quantity (higher quantities = bulk quantity savings). If you have questions about pricing or choices that can affect your order, our customer support team is happy to help! –Packlane

The pricing of their boxes are affected by these choices:

• Dimensions: Depth is the most influential measurement for cost
• Box Style: Whether it’s a Mailer Box, Folding Carton or Shipping Box
• Ink: The percentage of ink coverage on the box
• Material: Their Kraft, Standard White or Dreamcoat options
• Quantity: The higher the quantity, the bigger the cost savings

Since there are so many aspects that affect the cost of the boxes, the best way to find out how much boxes may cost for your business’ needs, or to work within a budget, would be to request a quote from Packlane or simply start customizing your own Mailer Box, Folding Carton or Shipping Box on their website.

Conclusion

If you’re an ecommerce business looking to create a positive first impression on your customers, your shipping box and product packaging is the first place to start. With Packlane’s customizable options down to the size, style, color, and material of the box you’re able to create packaging that meets your exact specifications and represents your brand down to the finest details. Whether you’re a small business that wants to create a connection with your customers that extends offline, or a big business that has a high volume of orders to fulfill, Packlane can work with you and create packaging that fits your needs, and they can scale and grow with you as you grow. For on-brand packaging that’s bound to make a memorable unboxing experience for your customers, consider working with Packlane.