Cardboard is great in so many applications, but it’s many benefits make it particularly ideal for plant packaging boxes. Live plants aren’t straightforward products to ship and cardboard might just be the answer to your predicament.

1. Choose your style

Cardboard is one of the most versatile packaging materials. Not only can it be easily mass produced, it can also be tailor made in a huge range of styles to suit varying requirements.  This brings a number of benefits when packaging plants. Trays can be used to transport large quantities of smaller plants, whereas a medium sized shrub could be packaged in a more standard box style to give 360 degree protection and allow the products to be stacked.  The obviously unique nature of all living plants means that telescopic boxes can be a great option too, as these slide to fit each plant perfectly and provide the best protection, whilst being purchased in bulk quantities.

2. Customise your size

The right size box is always an advantage when shipping a product. Not only does this give the best protection from damage, but it saves on shipping space and avoids excess packaging material. The highly customisable production of cardboard boxes means that the size of all box styles can be specifically designed to fit particular products or carrier specifications.  This gives an immediate advantage when packaging something with as much size variety as plants. Anything from a packet of seeds to a potted houseplant to a small tree can have its own made to measure box, giving it the best chance of reaching its destination fully intact!

3. Add hand or breathing holes

Another great customisable feature is the addition of breathing holes. Or even better than that – on larger boxes hand holes can be added for easy handling, which of course double up as air holes to give the plant the best chance of survival. Small holes can also be included in the design to tie back the product and give extra stability.

4. Your marketing opportunity

Cardboard packaging is a great opportunity to convey your brand message, not only to the end user of the product but also to anyone the package comes across on its journey there.  Plants aren’t known to have numerous printable surfaces so the packaging might just be your perfect stand-in.  The print options are virtually unlimited. The ease of printing cardboard means the box is a blank canvas for your marketing dream.

5. Keep your plants safe

Plants aren’t the easiest products to ship, and damages can be fairly common.  The challenge is in their often delicate exterior and their need of oxygen to survive.  This makes wrapping out of the question and bagging just doesn’t offer enough protection for a long journey.  The strength in cardboard plant packaging boxes offers not only protection for a plant, but enables them to be stacked.

6. Create an unpacking experience

The packaging is the first thing your customer sees, and it’s well known that first impressions last.  Unfortunately it’s normally had to make it through a fair few scuffs and bumps to get to that stage, but it doesn’t change the impression that sticks!  We’ve all spent 5 minutes unwrapping a parcel before now, even if only in a game at Christmas – it can be pretty frustrating!  It’s actually quite scary to think that’s the frame of mind your customer is in the first time they see your product, but flip that on it’s head and think about the positive experience you can create.

Unboxing builds excitement – it’s the anticipation and joy of the unknown that awaits you.  Even when you know what you’re getting there’s still a desire to see your purchase for the first time.  So it’s more than just about looking good – consider the packaging as an opportunity to express your brand’s personality, to deliver your brand story.  It speaks volumes.

7. Prove you care

These days it’s common knowledge that cardboard and other types of paper-based packaging are the most sustainable options available.  Not only that, they fulfil all the requirements customers need packaging to achieve.  They are the definition of sustainability: meeting our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.  But as I said earlier; at Quickbox we see sustainability not as a new fashion but as a basic obligation.  Removing staples from the production process and offering only paper-based products are just some of the commitments we’ve made towards a brighter hope for future generations.