The e-commerce industry is booming, especially due to the global pandemic in which more and more people are ordering from online platforms.
As a result, companies and suppliers are looking for modern methods of packaging to make it safer and more reliable.
The traditional carton boxes provide significant protection to the products, but the trend of using air pillows and cushioning in such corrugated boxes is also rising.
Amazon, the most popular e-commerce platform globally, uses air pillows to ensure safe shipping, as well as benefits like eco-friendliness and cost-effectiveness.
In addition, more and more customers now expect companies and shopping websites to provide easy and user-friendly packaging.
Before discussing the various benefits of air pillows, let’s start with some basics.
What are Air Pillows?
Air pillows or air cushions are plastic pockets filled with air and properly sealed. The purpose of using air pillows in carton boxes for shipping is to fill the void in shipping boxes and provide much-needed cushioning to the products.
Both big and small companies are now using air pillows for packaging to reduce waste and ensure maximum customer satisfaction by delivering the products in the best condition.
Benefits of Air Pillows
Following are the top 5 reasons why we should use air pillows and cushions for packaging:
1. Affordable
It is very important to consider the affordability of the packaging materials when you are running an e-commerce business.
Air pillows are light and add almost no additional weight to your cargo, saving you money on transportation charges.
Air pillows don’t take up much space, even in small corrugated boxes.
You can simply adjust each product’s protection because air pillows come in various sizes and don’t require complete inflation.
Multiple layers of package protection are no longer required. Therefore, you will not spend too much money on air cushions.
2. Protection
When companies are looking for ways to enhance and simplify their operations, one of the first things they look at is how to reduce product damage during shipping.
Air cushions offer exceptional transit protection for your product by keeping the products away from the outer side of the packaging.
In such packaging, the product can’t move in the cardboard box because it is protected by the air pillows. This type of protection is not possible in bubble wrap or paper filters.
Damaged items are frequently the result of collisions during transit and rough treatment, which, of course, costs you money while also adding costs and pressure to the whole delivery process.
Protective air pillows are a suitable packaging method if you have a high rate of damaged items in your business when you’ve used another method of packaging.
You can put air pillows above the product or around it to get maximum protection. Generally, a non-abrasive material is used to make the air pillows to facilitate impact resistance.
This makes sure that the product is delivered to the customers in a safe and secure condition.
3. Easy to Use
Material waste reduction is an integral part of overall business efficiency and can result in significant cost savings. Air pillows are convenient for the distributors and suppliers to reduce waste and easily handle them.
Customers also get the benefit of enjoying the ease of opening, as well as the reduced mess and ease of disposal.
4. Eco-Friendly
Unlike many other types of packaging materials made from plastic and recyclable things, air pillows are eco-friendly and easy to manage. Companies can easily dispose of them and recycle them without worrying about too much waste.
Air pillows are so effective at removing waste that they only take up 1% of their inflated size when not in use. They’re also composed of HDPE film, which is a renewable resource.
5. Customer Satisfaction
Since air cushions provide optimum protection to the products, you will not have to worry about the products getting damaged.
Corrugated boxes padded with air pillows will definitely restrain products from moving and prevent any kind of damage.
Hence, the customers will get the products in perfect condition, so they will be likely to buy from you again.
All in All
The bottom line is that air pillows are definitely an ideal choice to get maximum product protection in carton boxes and deliver the products safely to the customers.
It will help you in saving a significant amount of money and waste management. Nowadays, customers also prefer such eco-friendly packaging materials, so you will be able to make your customers happy by using air cushions.
