As part of our eCommerce inside print packaging series, the following customer spotlight highlights how packaging can offer a unique opportunity to make a tangible brand impression and stresses the importance of having a knowledgeable packaging expert who can add value to a company’s fulfillment process.
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams is on a mission to make the world’s best ice cream—and to make the world a better place. Not only do they serve their trendsetting ice creams in 32 company-owned scoop shops across the country, they also ship their ice cream direct to consumers’ doorsteps across all 50 states through their online shop at jenis.com.
Pratt Industries was asked to help enhance the performance and refine the details of the Jeni’s shipping box experience. Prior to Pratt, Jeni’s was using a traditional brown corrugated box with a cooler inside, and a block of dry ice wrapped in butcher paper inside a plastic bag to keep the ice cream frozen. Once the packages leave the Jeni’s fulfilment center, how they are handled is totally out of their control—sometimes the boxes arrive with clear signs of travel-related trauma, or are left on doorsteps upside down or sideways.
In order to meet the Jeni’s need for absolute safety and for making certain the ice cream is always delivered perfectly frozen, Pratt designed a ventilated, corrugated overwrap for the dry ice packs and did extensive testing to ensure that the ice cream would survive hours on a customer’s doorstep even under the hottest summer temperatures. These corrugated dry ice casings also offer additional branding and messaging opportunities via print.
In addition, the details of the customer experience were very important to Jeni’s. The company wanted receiving the ice cream to be as fun and as exciting as eating your favorite flavor in one of their scoop shops. To improve the unboxing experience, Pratt highlighted the bright-orange lids on top of each ice cream container by designing an insert that would not only secure the ice cream containers to keep them from shifting during transit but also position them in a way that showcased the product’s branding as soon as a customer opened the box.
Another benefit to working with Pratt is improved sustainability. Jeni’s took it a step further and closed the loop by working with Pratt’s recycling division to install a vertical bailer at their warehouse, so that they could take the old corrugated containers (OCC) that had been previously thrown in dumpsters and instead get money back by recycling the OCC. Overall, Jeni’s packaging redesign is a win-win for both Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams customers and the environment.
“THE PERFECT UNBOXING EXPERIENCE.”
– @whiteboard