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Hanko Kiessner
Chief Executive Officer
Packsize International
Making Customer Alignment a Priority
From our vantage point, many fulfillment strategies are in
play. There is a lot of energy around increasing efficiencies,
expediting deliveries, and expanding product availability.
But for fulfillment to succeed in the long-term, tremendous
opportunities remain for companies to improve in the areas
of customer satisfaction and sustainability.
Today’s e-commerce business must develop strategies for
perfecting the customer’s experience. Despite a great deal of
focus on reducing friction for shoppers, excessive packaging
is still the number one customer complaint for companies
shipping directly to consumers’ homes.
There are a number of factors affecting a company’s ability
to be sustainable, including fossil fuel consumption along
the supply chain, the resulting pollution, the use of paper
and plastics, and the fact that the recycling supply chain is
over-dimensioned because too much material is involved.
Cost drivers must also be addressed by the industry. Primarily
the cost of the material combined with the cost of shipping.
Each is negatively impacted by the excessive use of packaging
material. They trigger again customer dissatisfaction and
also the lack of sustainability along the supply chain. The
fulfillment industry could gain a significant advantage by
bringing these cost drivers down.
Despite gains achieved by certain e-commerce players, the
industry is not moving fast enough to solve problems relating
to customer satisfaction and sustainability. The fulfillment
industry is not 100 percent aligned with its customers, as
exampled by continued use of excessive packaging and the
high cost structure of the shipping supply chain. The move
made by the small package carrier companies to charge for
excessive shipping volume will diffuse into the market over
next two to three years and cause further change to the
industry’s business and logistics structure.
There are solutions. They are developed and proven. There is
nothing that prevents anyone from scaling these solutions
today. Customers that have adopted On Demand Packaging®
are getting it right.
Mapping to Customer Satisfaction & Sustainability
On Demand Packaging uses less material and therefore provides an immediate competitive cost advantage. On Demand
Packaging makes it possible for Packsize customers to make
a custom-sized box for each individual shipment as needed,
ensuring against excess space. And the right-sized box costs
less based on weight and volume.
One thing that the industry can do is focus on solutions
for which very little capital outlay is required. Because
this software as a solution provides savings on day one,
On Demand Packaging presents an opportunity to solve
customer satisfaction and sustainability issues as well as
shipping charges—all without the need to make heavy
investments.
