Address Ecommerce Packaging’s Complex Needs

As an ecommerce packaging manufacturer, it’s imperative to ensure that your closures can protect a package’s contents from the outside environment as well as other damage and safety risks. However, some ecommerce packaging applications have complex needs that can make it hard to find the right kind of closure. These needs include:

• Increased security: As more items are being ordered online,  heightened security may be needed for items like meal kits and medicines. These items may require mechanisms to alert end-users if the product has been previously opened.
• Heightened flexibility: Options like ecommerce bags and envelopes may require a double-sided closure that can keep two surfaces together and maintain a bond when the package flexes or folds.

However, these complex needs can be difficult to address. Find out how the right specialty packaging tape can make it easy to overcome them and ensure proper ecommerce package protection.

There are a variety of reasons why security is important in ecommerce packaging. You may want your packaging to protect against product theft or keep products such as food or medicine from being contaminated. To ensure the package is completely secure from these outside forces, it must have barriers that prevent it from being opened easily.

However, these barriers can make it difficult for consumers to open the package and access its contents, resulting in poor satisfaction with your packaging and possibly the product inside. Instead, the package must be both secure and easy to open.

Our Recommendation: Tamper-Evident Tape

Tamper-evident tapes can easily address security concerns associated with ecommerce packaging without impacting consumer ease of use.Designed to alert a consumer if a package has been opened, these tapes use a variety of methods to communicate if the package’s contents have been disturbed. For example:

1. Some tamper-evident tapes can be printed with custom messaging. These tapes can be designed to leave a printed message on the package such as “Void” or “Open”. If the consumer sees this message, they know the package has been opened previously.
2. Other tamper-evident tapes may rip or tear upon opening the package in such a way that they cannot be re-adhered after being disturbed. This can also alert the consumer to security issues.

Further, tamper-evident tapes can simply be peeled or cut off to access the package contents, making it easy to remove.

You also may be looking to include ecommerce packaging formats that have irregular, flexible shapes such as envelopes or fold-over bags that help reduce shipping weight. However, these formats may bend or flex during transport. This means the package closure must be flexible yet strong to avoid breaking. Additionally, the closure should be flat and discreet to avoid adding weight back into the package design. Finding a closure that can balance flexibility, strength, and lightweight properties can be difficult.

Our Recommendation: Transfer Tape

Transfer tapes offer an innovative solution to help you achieve a flexible, light closure while also maintaining strong adhesive performance. These tapes consist of a pressure sensitive adhesive with a liner on one side. When the tape is pressed onto a package, the liner stays in place until the package is ready to be closed for its end-use application. Once the liner is removed, the adhesive will be transferred onto the package to act as a closure. This tape offers several advantages:

1. Since there is no carrier (i.e., a strip of material separating one adhesive layer from the other as seen on most double-sided tapes) to stiffen the adhesive, the tape can easily flex and conform to irregular shapes without breaking.
2. Eliminating the carrier also allows the transfer tape to be completely flat after application, helping to keep weight down. 
3. The release liner can help preserve the adhesive’s strength until the package is ready to be closed and transported to the end-user.

Bostik offers adhesives for tamper-evident and transfer tapes to help you meet the complex needs of ecommerce packaging. Reach out to your tape supplier, or contact a Bostik representative for more information.

You can also learn more with this other relevant content:

• Smart Tape Adhesives for Many Markets
• Thermogrip® 4185 Data Sheet
• Thermogrip® 20103 Data Sheet