Hachette Partworks Case Study

The Challenge

Hachette is one of Europe’s largest publishing groups employing 7,000 people with high volume postal sales via mail-order and online.

There are many problems associated with the packaging of a book as mentioned in our Ultimate Book Packaging Guide.  With Hachette’s books being no exception, they were looking for a packaging solution that ticked all the boxes.  Most importantly, they needed packaging products that were able to withstand the impact of the postal system.  Hachette wrap both single books and book collections, however, their former packaging method did not take into account the differing sizes in terms of postal tariffs.  They were therefore looking for a reduction in their postal costs as well.

The Problems

Their Marvel book range is hard backed, and as many of our customers have found, one of the most common problems with hard backed book postage, is damage to the corners of the books during shipping.

Hachette were being charged by their fulfilment company for the number of processes in their former 9-step book wrap process: 1) place book in middle of book wrap 2) fold left flap 3) fold right flap 4) pick up tape gun 5) tape left and right flap 6) fold bottom flap 7) fold top flap 8) pick up tape gun 9) tape bottom and top flaps.

The Solution

• Our award winning Bukwrap brand of book wraps. This product provides superior strength and protection for the corners of those all important contents, thanks to the buffer-edge protection that the sides provide the book.
• The fulfilment company deemed the Bukwrap a 5-step book wrap process: 1) open internal flaps 2) place book inside book wrap 3) close internal flaps 4) fold backwards 5) peel & seal self adhesive flap.
• No tape is required. The handy self sealing nature of the Bukwrap, make it both quick and easy to pack, and simple for the customer to open on receiving their books.  The Bukwrap can even be used again as the red plastic tear-strip opening provides a clean edge which can be re-sealed with tape.
• Lil Packaging were able to go the extra mile, by designing the product to fit into the large letter category with single books, helping to reduce their postage costs.

The Outcome

Hachette are very happy to have a quality packaging product that reflects the quality of their books inside. The buffer-edge of the book wrap provides advanced protection for the corners of the books, and the variable depth creases provide a snug fit for both single and multiple book orders, saving on postal costs. By reducing their fulfilment requirement from a 9-step to a 5-step book wrap process, Lil Packaging provided Hachette with significant savings. As for Lil’s free upgrade to frustration-free red tear-strip opening…that was just the icing on the cake.

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