How can we Enquire
Request a call back
Send a message
Request a Meeting

How Smarter Packaging Can Reduce Shipping Costs

Published: September 15, 2025

For many UK businesses, primarily e-commerce and transit boxes, the most significant cost of a shipping invoice isn’t the product weight: it’s the size of the box the item is delivered in. So, although packaging is often thought of as a basic operational expense, it is in fact a lever with the power to increase or decrease your shipping spend significantly.

Shifting to a more innovative, strategic packaging approach, with a move away from basic, off-the-shelf stock boxes to an intelligent packaging strategy, can provide real long-term savings. Make your packaging work for you, not against you, with Fencor Packaging Group.

The Hidden Tax on Your Shipments: A Guide to Reducing Costs

To manage your shipping spend, you need to know how it is calculated. Delivery vehicles have limited space, and ‘dimensional weight’ (DIM) ensures that carriers are paid a fair amount for lightweight but bulky items that take up valuable space. 

Carriers base their charges on whichever is greater, the actual weight or the DIM weight of a package. This means a lightweight product in a large box can cost nearly 400% more to ship than its actual weight would suggest. With the average e-commerce box containing 40–50% space, most businesses are effectively paying a hidden tax to ship “air” thousands of times over.

The Solution: Bespoke Packaging Engineered for Efficiency

The most effective way to combat these unnecessary expenses is to use bespoke packaging that is precisely engineered to fit the dimensions of your products. This approach combines two key principles: right-sizing and lightweighting.

Part 1: Right-Sizing to Eliminate Wasted Space

Right-sized packaging is the direct countermeasure to DIM weight penalties. By creating a package that fits your product snugly, you eliminate any wasted volume and ensure you are not overpaying on your shipping. This strategy delivers multiple financial benefits:

  • Lower Freight Charges: On average, right-sizing reduces package size by 40%, resulting in immediate savings on your shipping bills.
  • Reduced Material Costs: An optimally-sized box does not require costly and wasteful void-fill materials, such as bubble wrap or plastic air pillows. This can lead to an average reduction in material costs of 26%.
  • Less Product Damage: Research shows replacing a damaged item can cost a business up to 17 times the original shipping cost, and space inside the box is the primary cause of in-transit product damage. A secure fit immobilises your product, reducing the risk of costly returns and replacements. 

Moving to a bespoke custom packaging solution is a straightforward way to Right-Size Your Packaging to Cut Shipping Costs and stop paying for inefficiencies.

Part 2: Lightweighting with Performance-Grade Materials

For dense, heavy products, the actual weight of your package is often the chargeable weight. In these cases, ‘lightweighting’, using the lightest possible material without compromising on strength, is crucial. Performance-grade packaging board is engineered with flute profiles and paper combinations to provide superior strength and rigidity, using significantly less material and shaving parasitic weight off of every shipment. Every gram saved per box compounds across thousands of shipments, delivering substantial savings at scale.

How Smarter Packaging Can Reduce Shipping Costs
How Smarter Packaging Can Reduce Shipping Costs

Beyond Shipping: How Smart Packaging Optimises Your Entire Operation

The benefits of a smarter packaging strategy improve efficiency in all aspects of your business.

  • Improved Product Protection & Brand Experience: Packaging that’s designed to protect your product also protects your brand reputation. Sleek, non-wasteful packaging that looks and feels great to open creates a positive unboxing experience, increasing customer loyalty. For Firetree Chocolate, we created an innovative shelf-ready pack that used 80% less material, with a design and finish that enhanced Firetree’s premium brand impact. For a horticultural client, we utilised  a special corrugated cardboard material that has enabled them to stop using plastic trays, so they can ship their damp plug plants in a fully recyclable, but just as effective, alternative box solution.
  • Optimised Warehouse and Transport: Lighter and more uniform packages take up less shelf space, meaning more units per pallet, fewer trucks on the road, and a direct reduction in fuel consumption and your carbon footprint. A Just-in-Time Packaging Management system can also free up valuable warehouse space and working capital.
  • Faster Packing & Reduced Labour: Many of the features we design into Bespoke E-commerce Packaging Solutions, like crash-lock bases and self-sealing strips, dramatically reduce packing time. And those faster pack times can increase the labour productivity and throughput in your fulfilment centre.

Why Partner with Fencor Packaging Group for a Smarter Strategy?

Making the transition to bespoke packaging requires a partner with true expertise in design, manufacturing, and supply chain logistics. At Fencor Packaging Group, we provide more than just boxes; we deliver a comprehensive packaging solution tailored to your business.

A Consultative, Design-Led Approach

Every project begins with a deep dive into your operations to identify hidden costs and inefficiencies. Our Expert Packaging Design team then engineers a data-driven solution that protects your product, minimises your shipping costs, and enhances your brand.

Unrivalled Reliability and Security of Supply

Our world-class On-Time, In-Full (OTIF) performance, at 96–98.5%, and our 30% rolling capacity headroom policy ensure that our clients never need to worry about late or incomplete deliveries, totally removing one of the most significant risks in your packaging supply.

Genuine Sustainability That Delivers Value

Our sustainability efforts are fundamental to what we do, and that is why we are part-owners of CorrBoard UK, so that we can offer you certified  corrugated board where the manufacturing process is carbon-neutral. Our innovative packaging also ensures that you are fully compliant with EPR and Packaging Waste Regulations, avoiding penalties and reducing your overall packaging costs. Using Smart Packaging that Reduces Costs and waste demonstrates the level of genuine commitment to environmental sustainability that speaks to consumers today.

Stop paying to ship air. Schedule a free packaging audit with Fencor Packaging Group to discover how smarter, sustainable packaging can reduce shipping costs, protect your brand, and help maintain a secure supply chain.