Why WAT is the Best Choice for Automotive Aftermarket Retailers

Are you meeting your customers’ expectations? The automotive experts (whether they are professionals or enthusiastic amateurs) who use aftermarket parts and accessories to repair or enhance their vehicles are people who value quality workmanship. Not only do they have high standards for their own projects, they apply those standards to the vendors they work with. They expect the packages they receive from automotive aftermarket retailers to reflect the investment they made in the parts.

If you are not ensuring that your merchandise arrives in excellent condition, you may be losing business. And in a highly competitive industry like automotive parts, even a few shipping mistakes can have a long-term impact on your reputation and your success.

As an automotive retailer, you know that shipping parts is difficult. So, how do you create a positive impression with the customer who receives your shipment? It starts with using quality packing materials and practices. That means you need to choose high-quality cartons that are the right size and shape for the items you are shipping. It also means you need to be sealing them in a way that looks neat and clean, and that keeps them secured until they are opened by the recipient.

“In a highly competitive industry like automotive parts, even a few shipping mistakes can have a long-term impact on your reputation and your success.” TWEET THIS

Why Successful Automotive Aftermarket Retailers Use Water-Activated Tape

To succeed as an automotive aftermarket parts retailer, you can’t leave anything to chance. Using whatever materials you have lying around in the warehouse to package your merchandise and then hoping that the items arrive undamaged is not a good strategy. Instead, you need to look closely at your shipping practices to see what you are doing well and what you could be doing better.

For many companies, a significant source of issues is how they seal their packages. Some types of tape simply don’t produce the results needed. What these companies discover when they do a little research is that water-activated tape (WAT) delivers benefits on many levels.

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Interested in learning about an automotive company that made the switch? Read our case study.

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First, WAT (also called paper tape, gummed tape, and Kraft tape) helps automotive aftermarket retailers address their physical packing challenges. Its strong seal keeps packages from opening accidentally during shipment and protects their contents. The physical bond it creates with the carton’s surface is also tamper-evident, which helps prevent “press and grab” thefts.

WAT is also a very cost-effective option for sealing packages. Its one-strip-sealing capability means you use less of it as compared to other types of tape. And, a high-quality water-activated tape dispenser will last for many years, producing significant return on your investment.

Finally, WAT can help you present a polished image that impresses your customers. Packages sealed with WAT have a “finished” look that is difficult to achieve with other tape. Plus, WAT can be printed with your logo or other branding to help spread the word about your company. This lets you do some “mobile advertising” without having to pay for expensive printed boxes. And, ultimately it can create a positive loop: as people see the cartons with your branding and check out your offerings online, your business grows and you ship more cartons, which are seen by even more people… and so it goes.

Leveraging Every Competitive Advantage

When you look at the business leaders in any industry, it is the companies that pay attention to the details that are at the top of the list. Automotive aftermarket retailers are no different. From saving money to creating brand awareness, the way you ship your merchandise can have a positive impact on your business. And, it is easy to make changes to your shipping procedures to start capitalizing on the many benefits of water-activated tape.

If you have questions about our water-activated tape, water-activated tape dispensers, and other products for the packing and shipping of automotive aftermarket parts, please contact us at your convenience.

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[This post republished from the Better Packages Blog]

How to Improve the Safety of Packing Stations

If someone told you that workplace injuries and illnesses cost U.S. companies over $1 billion per year would that number surprise you? How about if you learned from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that the actual number is close to $1 billion per week? That would surely get your attention!

And those are just the direct workers’ compensation costs. On top of that, there are expenses associated with accident investigations and safety issue mitigation, hiring and training replacement workers, lost productivity, and more. If your company packs and ships products, your packing stations can be a hotspot for workplace injuries. Thankfully, there are steps that can help keep your organization from contributing to that $1 billion per week figure.

Packing Station Safety and Your Bottom Line

In addition to the financial impacts, allowing your shipping team to work in unsafe packing stations can have a negative impact on your bottom line in other ways. For example, employees who have to take extra care to not get injured because they work in poor conditions are likely less productive.

They are also more inclined to leave your company to find an employer that is more concerned with their well-being. Plus, as word gets around about people being injured and/or quitting, you will probably find that it becomes harder to hire good people. All of these factors can increase your operational costs and take a bite out of your profits.

“In addition to the financial impacts, allowing your shipping team to work in unsafe packing stations can have a negative impact on your bottom line in other ways.” TWEET THIS

7 Proven Steps for Improving Packing Station Safety

Here are some things you can do to make your packing station safer and your shipping team happier and more productive:

1. Use water-activated tape (WAT) and water-activated tape dispensers to reduce the risk of repetitive motion injuries. Not only can excessive use of a handheld tape gun cause injury, but trying to get the proper angle for applying tape from a tape gun can put workers in awkward and sometimes dangerous positions.
2. Provide your team with UL-listed water-activated tape dispensers. While using WAT can make your team more productive, a poorly designed and manufactured water-activated tape dispenser can put them at risk for injury.
3. Have appropriate safety equipment available. Hard hats, back support belts, gloves, goggles, and other protective gear should be readily available in or near your packing station.
4. Document and enforce rules on how much weight workers can lift. Back, neck, and shoulder injuries are common in environments where workers attempt to lift or move heavy cartons.
5. Train staff on how to safely handle potentially harmful items. Packing items like glassware, firearms, and hazardous materials exposes employees to greater risk. Be sure they understand best practices for preparing dangerous items for shipment.
6. Develop, test, and document safe packing procedures. This includes laying out your packing stations in a safe configuration and integrating them with your material handling system. Be sure that all your processes are in writing and easy for team members to find and follow.
7. Perform regular safety trainings. In order for employees to stick to your safe packing procedures, you need to provide thorough initial training for new employees and regular refreshers for all employees.

The Last Word on Packing Station Safety

The final reason that it is critical to ensure that your packing stations are safe is that nobody wants to see a coworker get injured. Whether they suffer a minor laceration or a major, life/limb-threatening trauma, it is especially unfortunate if it is an injury that could have been prevented by a proactive approach to workplace safety. 

If you have questions about our water-activated tape, water-activated tape dispensers, and other products that contribute to safer, more productive packing stations, please contact us at your convenience.

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[This post republished from the Better Packages Blog]

How to Save Money When Shipping Automotive Parts

If you are an online automotive aftermarket retailer, you don’t need anyone to tell you that your industry is highly competitive and getting more so every day. How can you gain a strategic advantage in this environment? One way is to reduce your expenses, which gives you more capital for everything from expanding your product line to doing more marketing.

What’s a surefire method for cutting back on expenses? Lowering your shipping costs.

This expenditure tends to be significant for online automotive retailers because the items they shipare often:

• ✔ Heavy
• ✔ Oversized
• ✔ Unevenly weighted
• ✔ Irregularly shaped
• ✔ Fragile
• ✔ Susceptible to scuffing or scratching

Or, some combination of the above. And since these businesses can’t change the physical characteristics of their merchandise, they need to pay special attention to how they pack and ship it their automotive parts.

“As much as any other type of online retailer, companies in the automotive aftermarket space can improve their bottom line by lowering their shipping costs.” TWEET THIS

Proven Strategies for Minimizing Shipping Costs

For online automotive aftermarket retailers, the fastest way to grow the bottom line is to increase sales while simultaneously decreasing costs. While your marketing and sales teams are working on the first task, your shipping team can be working on the second. Here’s how:

1. Negotiate an advantageous rate with your shipper. There are many factors you can use to bring your shipper to the bargaining table, including your growing shipping volumes or a quote from a competitor.
2. Find ways to reduce package weight. When it comes to shipping costs, every ounce counts. You can minimize the weight of your packages by:
• ✔ Using strong, lightweight corrugated cartons
• ✔ Selecting cartons that are just big enough to do the job
• ✔ Using a carton custom designed for the item
• ✔ Filling empty spaces in cartons with lightweight packing material
• ✔ Using customized foam inserts
• ✔ Sealing packages with a single strip of strong water-activated tape (WAT)
3. Eliminate expensive printed boxes. WAT (also known as gummed tape, Kraft tape, or paper tape) can be printed with your branding, making it a cost-effective way to increase brand awareness.
4. Minimize theft. Another benefit of sealing packages with WAT is that the durable, tamper-evident bond it creates helps keep thieves from pressing in the top of a carton and removing items in a way that isn’t detected until later.
5. Increase packing station productivity and safety with a UL-listed water-activated tape dispenser. These devices make it easy for shipping staff to get exactly the amount of tape they need quickly and efficiently. Plus, they help prevent repetitive motion injuries.
6. Keep adequate supplies on hand. Having to rush order shipping supplies to meet customer demand because you let your inventory of cartons, tape, and packing material dwindle can be very costly. Be sure that someone on your shipping team is tasked with keeping an eye on supply levels.
7. Minimize returns. Any time a customer must return an item, your shipping costs increase. In fact, they may triple if you must pay the shipping cost on the returned item and then send out a replacement. In addition to properly packing items so they arrive in good condition, you should also have processes in place to ensure that the correct items are shipped in the first place.

Immediate Improvement in Your Financial Performance

The great thing about cost cutting to improve your bottom line is that it is completely within your control. Your ability to attract new customers and grow sales is affected by several market dynamics, but you can start reducing your shipping costs today. All it takes is a little time and effort to assess your shipping practices and make the necessary modifications. Then you can enjoy the financial benefits from that point forward.

If you have questions about our water-activated tape, water-activated tape dispensers, and other products for the packing and shipping of automotive aftermarket parts, please contact us at your convenience.

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[This post republished from the Better Packages Blog]