Shipping boxes have become the symbol of India’s e-commerce boom

With etailers sending out thousands of orders per day, shipping boxes have become the symbol of India’s e-commerce boom. Even the recent television ads of Amazon, Jabong and Flipkart feature these utilitarian boxes with Amazon’s ad (released and shown during IPL) showing the journey of a box from a fulfilment centre to the centre of a stadium where a ball is taken out from the box to start/continue the match.

Recognising that these shipping boxes are an extension of their brand, Jabong has chosen a slightly different way to communicate to customers that they deliver products at doorsteps. The TV ad shows people cheering whenever Jabong boxes arrive in the courier.

Shipping/courier boxes today

With the rise of e-commerce, a number of products of different shapes, sizes and weights are being shipped to customers across the length and breadth of the counttry. Accordingly, the need for different types and sizes of shipping boxes have led to better and stronger boxes that protect all kinds of shipments.

Depending on the size of box, makers have to spend anywhere between Rs 3 (for something like a mobile phone) to Rs 30 (for large toys or high-end products like cameras, jewellery etc.) per box (source: ETRetail). Obviously, the increase in e-commerce sales leads to a proportional increase in the demand and need for these boxes, thus enhancing the business for their makers.

Major players and their requirements

• Amazon – Half of the shipments are packed into boxes of 20 different sizes, sourced from 3-5 vendors located around fulfilment centres in Mumbai and Bangalore.
• Flipkart – 60% of shipments are packed into boxes of 40 different sizes, sources from around 20 local vendors.

Although most players, including market leaders like Flipkart, used to source boxes from local vendors, the recent upsurge in orders have led to the increase in demand for established manufacturers.

Meghdoot, an established box manufacturer with clients like Pepsi, Heinz, Colgate, Nestle etc. received Flipkat’s order for 12-15 lakh boxes per month recently. Overtaking Nestle, Flipkart has become Meghdoot’s top client with just one order.

Good news for Manufacturers

Meghdoot’s CEO, Rohit Kapoor claims that e-commerce has made things very interesting for them. Similarly, other manufacturers will benefit too especially considering the sluggishness in the packaging material industry in the past few years due to the economic slump.

Indian Online Seller and the Shipping Box

Irrespective of the scale of your online selling business, you would be handling shipping or packing boxes of one or more sizes, depending on your product portfolio, everyday. Understand and recognise that it is a part of your brand identity and ensure that the boxes you send out are not shabby. Selling through marketplace may not give you the flexibility of having your own branding. However, if you are an independent online seller, you could think of branding your box the way marketplaces like Flipkart and Amazon and others have done.