Choosing the correct packaging materials in which to send off your products to your customers is a decision that is sometimes overlooked by retail companies, small or large. What a lot of people don’t realise is that there are a wealth of packaging materials available from specialised companies who know how important it is that a product is packaged correctly.

If a product is packaged incorrectly, then there is every chance that by the time it reaches the customer it won’t be in the perfect condition it was when you sent it. If the amount of padding used inside the package is not adequate, then the likelihood is that even the toughest products will have at least some bumps and scratches on them, and fragile products could be outright destroyed. The most common type of packaging, as everyone will be aware, is the everyday cardboard box. There are two main types of cardboard box and the difference between the two is essentially, thickness and durability.

There’s the single-walled cardboard box that is ideal for transporting goods that do not weigh very much. Then there is the double-walled cardboard box that is thicker and more durable and so is far more suited to transporting goods of a heavier weight. It can be tempting to just buy a load of double walled boxes, pad them out and stick everything in them, however the double walled boxes do cost more than the single walled, and they are more harmful to the environment when disposed of, so buying lots of them can be a bit of an unnecessary expenditure.

Then we come to padding. By far the most popular form of padding used alongside any kind of packaging materials is bubble wrap. It is popular not just among retailers, but also among the people who receive items packaged with it. We all know how satisfying it can be to sit and pop those plastic bubbles! Aside from this, bubble wrap is used as a very effective way of protecting the contents of a package. Another popular method of doing this is to use polystyrene “peanuts” which are small pieces of foam-like material.