Jewelry sales in the U.S. continue to skyrocket. GIA, a leading worldwide authority on diamonds and other stones, quoted a Mastercard-SpendingPulse survey in noting that holiday spending in particular increased nearly six percent last year. If your company seeks to capitalize on rapid jewelry industry growth, how you pack and ship your merchandise is critical.
Safety and Security: What’s at Stake When Shipping Jewelry
When shipping jewelry, online retailers must contend with the risk of significant financial consequences in two primary areas. The first is damage to the merchandise. If a customer receives jewelry that has been damaged in transit, there can be a number of negative repercussions. The customer may request a replacement, in which case the retailer must pay both for return shipping and the shipping of the new item. This is on top of the expense associated with either repairing or scrapping the damaged piece.
What’s more, hard costs aren’t the only type that retailers face. There is also the “reputation cost” if the customer shares his or her negative experience with family and friends and a broader social media audience.
The second area of risk is theft. When a piece of jewelry goes missing somewhere between the retailer and the customer, not only are there the costs noted above, there may be additional expense associated with any investigation that takes place, insurance claims that are filed, etc.
5 Ways to Protect Your Jewelry Shipments
To help ensure that your merchandise arrives undamaged and doesn’t fall victim to thieves, use these proven best practices:
- Use a strong shipping carton and proper padding. Corrugated cartons are durable and lightweight, making them an excellent option. Ensuring that the merchandise within the carton has ample padding on all sides can help protect it from the rigors of shipping and handling.
- Include no branding on the shipment. Thieves target packages from high-end retailers, and branded cartons are more likely to get their attention. Be sure that the shipping label is also free of anything that would indicate the package contents are valuable.
- Use water-activated tape (WAT) to seal cartons. Not only does WAT keep packages firmly sealed to protect the contents from damage, it also helps prevent theft. WAT creates a physical bond with the carton surface, which means the only way to get at the contents is to cut or tear off the tape. The tamper-evident nature of WAT discourages “press and grab” thefts, where the thief pushes in on top flaps sealed with less-secure tape, removes merchandise, and lets the flaps flex back into place, leaving the crime undiscovered until later.
- Take steps to protect jewelry from inclement weather. There are many ways to prevent merchandise from suffering water damage, including taping interior seams and using watertight interior packaging.
- Consider more secure shipping options. Packages that can be tracked, are hand carried, or that require a signature upon delivery are less likely to be the subject of theft.
The Lesser of Two Costs
Shipping jewelry more securely certainly comes with a cost — whether that is purchasing better shipping materials or choosing a different shipping method. However, those costs are small and well-defined. The expenses incurred when merchandise is damaged or arrives late, because the original shipment was stolen, are higher and carry the unknown of reputation damage and potential loss of future business.
All it takes to improve your shipping practices going forward is a few phone calls today! If you have questions about our water-activated tape, water-activated tape dispensers, and other products, please contact us to learn more.