One of the UK’s leading polythene manufacturer and packaging supplier, Duo UK, has invested £25,000 in machine modifications to meet increasing demand for ‘click and collect’ bags.
Duo UK has seen a significant increase in demand in the past 18months for mailing bags with a handle that firms such as John Lewis and ASOS use to fulfil ‘click and collect’ orders.
The investment has been made in modifying a current machine to enable it to produce an additional 20m mailing bags of this style a year, after customer insight revealed a surge in demand.
Operations director, Dale Brimelow commented: “Listening to our customers and being able to react quickly to trends we see in their industry has always been something we pride ourselves on.
“Many of the brands that we work with are significantly extending their delivery and collection services, and as such ‘click and collect’ is becoming the preferred way to shop for many busy internet shoppers.
“The beauty of the specially designed bag is that the retailers only need to order one style of bag to fulfil both online orders and ‘click and collect’. This means that orders for both can be picked, packed and shipped from one location in one style of packaging.
“This is attractive to retailers as it offers costs savings from larger order volumes; less investment in artwork; a streamlined packing process, and reduction in storage space required to store the packaging.”
According to the company, the handle allows shoppers to take their purchase from their collection point and carry it like a standard shopping bag, making life easier for the customer and increase their satisfaction with the company.”
Brimelow continued: “The investment means we’ll now be able produce 14% more of this style mail order bag each week resulting in significantly improved productivity and faster lead times for our clients.”
The Manchester-based firm has also seen a rise in the number of brands requesting a second glue strip on their mailing bags to help make the returns process easier for their customers by providing the ability to reseal the original mailing bag to send goods back in.
Brimelow explained: “We know from our own research that one of the biggest bug bears for people shopping online is having to buy packaging and repackage the items they want to return, so it’s great to see brands placing customer convenience and satisfaction at the heart of their decisions and delivering an enhanced shopping experience.”
