Let's go through our new product, our 500ml refillable bottles, and explain the journey of how we went from designs, chats and sketches, to a finished item.
Launching a new product is no easy task. If you get it wrong, it can be a lot of heartache and money lost. But if you get it right, it can be an extremely rewarding experience.
To begin with, I wanted to sell a set of two amber glass refillable bottles. The kind that are perfect for 500ml liquid soap refills that are becoming widely popular for environmentally conscious households who wish to avoid single use plastic.
The bottles themselves can be sourced reasonably cheaply and easily. At first we aimed for 100% recycled glass. The pumps needed to be the highest possible quality, so they are durable, efficient and nice to look at. After some discussion, we came up with the idea that we would also design some wooden trip trays, made from sustainably sourced bamboo. This began with a paper sketch, however factories require a little more accuracy to design things, so I eventually ended up using 3D software:
The language barrier between english and mandarin can sometimes be quite challenging! In particular, explaining the tray needed a "dimple" to catch drips, and not a hole drilled straight through was a challenge! It required me taking a picture of a spoon! (See pic inset) Once we were all on the same page, we went through a sample process, and then I received a sample in the mail. We wanted the trays to resemble the phone stand material, which is waterproof and finished to a high specification. It would also keep things on brand.
We also decided it would be a good idea, like the phone stand, to put a set of rubber feet on the tray, to stop it from sliding around.
NEXT: PACKAGING
The next thing we needed to do, was work out how to package it. Glass can seem extremely cheap when you look at a wholesale price, however, you quickly learn the cost begins to increase dramatically shipping and packaging it safely. We went through a litany of different designs. Custom packaging design can be extremely costly, and we wanted the finished product's packaging to be completely plastic free, and recyclable.
I got back to 3D designing and made a few drafts. In the end, it worked out far cheaper, safer and environmentally friendly to use a simple box, instead of designing a custom bottle holding box from scratch. We managed to source some flat packed boxes that had already been manufactured, and were sitting in a warehouse. This negated the need for sourcing fresh raw materials.
The next challenge was how to pack the boxes so the glass didn't smash, but also how to keep things under control cost wise, make the product stylish and also keep it sustainable. We came up with a combination of recycled shredded paper (which I call hamster bedding) reclaimed tissue wrap for the trays (saved from landfill) solvent-free tape, recycled stickers and recycled stock thank you cards. Every part of the packaging can go straight into paper recycling and used again.
I also came across a genius contraption called "hive wrap" which is an interlocking kraft paper mesh usually used for wrapping wine bottles. This is non-bleached and completely recyclable. We had to do a "drop test" which means throwing the item onto a hard floor on each angle to make sure it would survive the rigours of postage. It did.
There still was a lot to do! We had originally ordered 1000 units, so with two bottles per pack that was 2000 bottles. In total, with packaging, it was over a metric ton of stuff! I started a packaging factory in my dining room and started packing. I estimate the final product to be around 25 cubic meters of stock. Quite a lot to fill in your home!
The first batch was 200 boxes, and was almost five cubic meters. To make things even more environmentally friendly, I chose second hand shipping boxes. They had another firm's logo on, but this didn't really matter, as it would only be amazon warehouse staff who saw it. Boxes can not only be extremely expensive, but extremely wasteful if only used once. Fortunately, we found some that fit the product almost perfectly.
To finish off the product, we put a Boho Panda sticker on the front (recycled stock of course) plus sealed it with solvent free tape. It also got it's barcode sticker and a fragile sticker on the side as it was glass. The product is now complete and ready to go to the warehouse!
To recap. For this product we used:
- 'Hivewrap' folding lattice paper packing
- Wool wool, sourced from timber waste
- Reclaimed tissue paper roll
- Recycled stock boxes
- Recycled stock thank you cards and stickers
- Solvent free tape
- 100% paper packaging, 100% plastic free
- Reclaimed cardboard outer shipping boxes
If you'd like to purchase a bottle set, go ahead here and remember to use your code for a 25% discount with checkout code BOTTLESALE