Reusable Packaging for Online Shops and Mail Order

Online Shops and Mail Order

Online retailers ship every day, often thousands of times over - and every parcel creates packaging waste at the customer's end.

To say it straight away, because it is often misunderstood: wherever goods go back anyway, there is no additional cost compared with cardboard. The return happens, it is paid for, and the reusable packaging simply travels along that route. Additional cost only arises in the one case where the customer keeps everything - every retailer's ideal scenario, which in reality by no means always happens.

That is exactly what lets you steer where it is used, because the likelihood of a return can be estimated well statistically: if the same product is ordered in several sizes, experience shows that only one of them is kept. And with a high basket value the return rate is above average anyway. Many shops enable reuse from exactly these thresholds.

For all other shipments the deferred deposit solves the return leg: it is only charged if the packaging does not come back.

And where additional cost does remain on balance, it does not arise with us but as return postage with the parcel carrier. Against that stands the environmental gain: according to the life cycle assessment, Box L is below the single-use cardboard box in CO2 terms from the 10th cycle, the M bag from the 6th cycle - every piece of packaging that comes back replaces a single-use pack.

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Box L compared with a single-use cardboard box of the same size containing 80 % recycled material, calculated over 50 cycles. Data source: Ökopol life cycle assessment. The 53 % are an average from real customer calculations.

How the loop works

The order goes to the customer in reusable packaging, the customer folds it flat and sends it back with the enclosed label. Once it arrives back it is ready for use again straight away, for an average of 50 cycles.

To make sure the return leg actually happens, we work with the deferred deposit: it is only charged if the packaging does not come back. Your customers face no barrier to purchase in the basket, you carry no risk of loss - and the return rate for the empty packaging is very high.

Pack & close
Pack the order into a box or shipping bag - sizes S to L cover the usual shop range
Enclose the return label and explain in two sentences what the customer should do
No cardboard box, no filling material, no tape - that saves time at the packing stage already
Ship
Shipping with your existing parcel carrier, with no surcharge
No changes needed to your warehouse, picking or shop system
Approved by all major parcel carriers and conveyor compatible
Return
The customer folds it flat and hands the packaging in - or puts the return straight into it
If it does not come back, the deferred deposit applies - no loss for you
Every cycle is traceable via the GRAI code, so the rate can be evidenced at any time

Use case in detail

Single shipment with no fixed return route

Online Shops and Mail Order & reusables: a dream team

Which shops it works out for
Now that the return problem is solved through the deposit, only the postage calculation decides. Shops with a good parcel price, and therefore with the corresponding shipment volume, are in the black fastest. Ranges where the protection and the appearance of the packaging matter also fit well, as do shops with a sustainability commitment whose customers actively reward the loop.
Deferred deposit
The classic objection to reuse in online retail goes: a deposit in the basket puts buyers off, and without a deposit nothing comes back. The deferred deposit solves both - it is only charged once the deadline has passed and the packaging has not come back.
Anyone who sends it back notices nothing. Anyone who keeps the packaging has paid for it. No barrier to purchase, no risk of loss for you, and a very high return rate.
What it costs, frankly
hey circle saves packaging material and packaging costs; return postage adds cost. The only additional cost is the postage for the empty return shipment - and that money does not go to us but to the parcel carrier. The deposit covers the risk of loss.
This return postage is lower than many expect. When empty, all packaging folds flat and then takes up only a fraction of its volume - in the parcel carrier's vehicle it accordingly takes up very little space. With the shipping bags the return leg even falls into a smaller size category and becomes immediately cheaper.
If you have good parcel rates, or negotiate a special rate for the return leg, you are quickly in the black. If you pay standard prices, you should work through the figures with us beforehand.
Ecologically the calculation stays positive even when additional cost remains financially: every piece of packaging that comes back replaces a single-use pack. According to the life cycle assessment, Box L is below the single-use cardboard box in CO2 terms from the 10th cycle, the M bag from the 6th cycle.
When reuse is cost neutral
A return because the goods are not liked costs exactly the same with cardboard as with reusables. In these cases reuse is practically cost neutral, because the return leg is paid for and the packaging travels along with it.
This can be used deliberately. Two signals say a lot about the likelihood of a return as early as the shipping stage: the same product in several sizes in the basket - typically only one is kept - and a high order value, where the return rate is above average. If you offer reuse from these thresholds, you hit exactly the shipments where the return leg happens anyway.
Calculate first, then switch
We recommend a limited trial run instead of a complete switch: one product group, a few weeks, measuring real figures. After that the calculation rests on your values rather than on assumptions.
Where the postage eats up the saving, we say so openly - an honest no at the start is better than a disappointing evaluation after six months.