Shipping & packaging

Have you ever got a package in the mail where more than half of the product is bubble wrap and unnecessary plastic packaging? I certainly have, and this really frustrates me. No one likes plastic. It’s damaging our world more as time passes. I don’t know about you, but carrying around my linen tote bag while I go shopping is a must, because I never want to have that guilty feeling of using a store plastic bag - luckily lots of shops don’t even give you the plastic option anymore. With this awareness and issue is spreading all over the world and these guilty plastic using feelings are becoming more and more common, having eco friendly packaging for our cookbooks was absolutely critical for us. 

Striking the balance of having beautiful packaging while being eco-friendly & cost effective

We’re hoping to have a decent number of online sales, so with this comes packaging. For us it’s important to have beautiful protective packaging, because the look and feel of opening a parcel adds to the overall product and the experience that customers get, which also contributes to perceptions of our product and customer satisfaction. We poured so much love into the making of our book, so we had to have packaging that complemented this. If we had low quality nasty packaging, this wouldn’t marry with the book and might not give off that same high quality product vibe that we’re going for. Of course we had to be careful about costs while keeping all of this in mind because it’s so easy to wish for the best option and then creep over budget - especially with eco friendly options which are unfortunately more expensive than plastic. However what I’ve found is through careful research and investigation, you can find the perfect beautiful packaging that’s not going to break your wallet while also being eco friendly. I had a recommendation from someone to take a look at eco packaging options overseas because lots of options are expensive here in New Zealand. After taking a look I was a little put off, especially with language barriers and also paying for samples to be shipped to us here in New Zealand isn’t fun. I did end up finding quite a few options that could be suitable, but after re-looking at options here in New Zealand, I found an amazing company in Auckland and went with them. I was so stoked to come across them because we’re supporting local business and they were also so easy to deal with. Another bonus was that if we ran out of packaging, we could get in touch and receive more boxes quickly given their close location. Their boxes are also very sturdy to protect the books just in case they get moved around while in transit with the courier - so yay for this find! 

The mission of getting our boxes home

Once we placed our box order, it was a mission and half getting the boxes home. I had no clue how big the order actually was, so when we went down to the Mainfreight warehouse in a little Mazda Demio, we found that the pallet of boxes was bigger than the car!!! There was no way they were going to fit! After an embarrassing drive back home in an empty car, we managed to get them delivered home and Mum unloaded them downstairs all ready for when the books arrive. Here’s what they look like:

Stickers and compostable bags to complete the look

To compliment the boxes and showcase our brand, we got some stickers made of our logo to put on the box, because who doesn’t love a sticker?! We also realised that when packages are delivered to people’s addresses via courier, they may not be home and we didn’t want packaged books sitting out in the rain in a soggy wet cardboard box that may potentially get damaged. So we found some beautiful eco friendly bags to slip the whole package in. What we love about these is that they’re transparent so you can see the branded sticker and package through the bag, and most importantly, they’re compostable! Here’s our final packaging for our online sales - we’re so happy with it! If you want this packaging, be sure to buy online ;) 

Keryn Kalyan