Packaging 101

Packaging 101 

 
[00:00:00] Peter: Hello and welcome to our webinar for today. We're going to be talking about the fundamental parts of packaging in the retail industry. Packaging 101. And I am Peter Spaulding and Allie will be leading our content today. We're on the SupplierWiki team. And we'll have our contact information on the last slide as well. 
 
So you can reach out to us with any lingering questions that you have, but our job is to basically curate content like this, the webinars. we have a bunch of articles as well that we're always pumping out and, eBooks and cheat sheets as well. So. That's what we're doing on the SupplierWiki team. 
 

a little bit covered that already. but please go to our website. You can check it out. we've got a bunch of different stuff that's relevant to suppliers. but also stuff that kind of goes beyond that today, we're talking about stuff that is totally relevant to suppliers, but also has its own kind of niche audience in the industry too. 
 

So, yes, if you're curious about, any of that other content, you can check that out there as well. Our agenda for today, we're going to, start with a little introduction. Shouldn't take, too long. Then we'll talk about retail ready packaging, something that was really pioneered by Walmart back in the day, but has grown well beyond that to a lot of different brick and mortar retailers in more, recent years. 
 

Then we'll talk a little bit about pack sizes, labeling and documentation and packaging compliance. 
 

Some FAQs that we usually get in these webinars. Big one is will we be getting a copy of the slide deck? Yes, you will. it'll also live on the landing page for this webinar on our website later on too, so that, if there's any of our webinars in the past that you, would like a slide deck for, you can find them there too. 
 

But those usually take three to four day, three to four business days from the, conclusion of the webinar, and those will be sent via email as well. To the email that has signed up for the webinar, so look out for that in the next couple of days and then we have a Q and a tab and a chat chat is for the more kind of like public discourse that will do if we do like a fun question. 
 

That's where all of that information goes. And then if you have any questions, you can put those in the Q and a tab as well. Okay. So, we also, the SupplierWiki team belongs to supply Pike. and what we do is not really packaging related, although, packaging can definitely have a big impact on deductions. 
 

but yeah, supply Pike, we got our start doing deductions for the retail industry originally with Walmart. And then we've now expanded into other major retailers. but basically. Our goal is to help suppliers get paid and get better. By that, what we mean is, sometimes there will be invalid deductions. 
 

We can help you track those and help you dispute those to win that money back. That's what the get paid side of things is. And then the get better side of things applies to a bunch of different things that can have, that can be related to, pulling reports, doing data on, on revenue, but also, or revenue loss. 
 

but also helping you to improve your, deduction scores, your OTIF scores, whatever those are so that you can avoid those fines in the first place. and so, yeah, I like to think of it in terms of basically deductions and compliance. but get better again is a much more kind of wholesale sort of concept. 
 

It applies to a bunch of different areas like packaging, for example, is a big one that Suppliers don't tend to win back a lot of packaging related deductions. that's because, well, it could be for a lot of different reasons. So in that case, it's better to just avoid those fines in the first place as best as you can. 
 

so that's why we're talking about this today. but SupplyPike, we have a bunch of different partners. the coolest part about our job is that we get to interact with a bunch of different people all over product categories. and of a wide variety of sizes as well. So we work with, mom and pop CPG brands who are in a couple of stores. 
 

And then we also work with some of the biggest suppliers, as you can see, displayed there. but yeah, that's SupplyPike. And I believe with that. I'll hand it over to you, Allie. 
 

[00:04:38] Allie: Awesome. Thank you, Peter. What a great segue talking about packaging and deductions. That's later down the road. Starting with packaging basics and some of the stuff we're going to cover today, that's the foundation to ensure that you're avoiding any issues in your compliance, any chargebacks, any deductions that can come from that. 
 

Because like, Peter said it can be hard depending on the retailer you're disputing it with in their compliance program, how you're actually able to dispute that and the win rate for those deductions. Packaging, again, I'll reiterate is one of those harder ones. It can be, difficult to prove what's happened and whose responsibility it is. 
 

and that often lies, with the supplier unless there is proof. So let's get into talking about that foundation of packaging and how you can ensure. That you're not incurring fines because of your packaging. Alright, so the foundation, the basics, is understanding the types of packaging. So, first off is your primary packaging. 
 

That's the layer of packaging directly surrounding the product. So, we all know, what that looks like, with a cereal box. It's, it's the one that you set on your breakfast table, a soda can. If it is in eaches, it is going to be that, that soda can. That's what the consumer is going to touch. It typically has a marketing purpose as well. 
 

And then there's the secondary packaging. And just to be clear before I go through all of these, the packaging will depend on the product. So some packaging will have primary packaging, secondary packaging, and tertiary packaging. And then some will just have, a combination of some of these. So with secondary packaging, that's the outer packaging that groups the products together for easier handling. 
 

If we take our soda can as the primary packaging before, that secondary packaging would be, let's say, a six pack. You've got that cardboard with the handle, that would be your secondary packaging. It can also look like cardboard trays or shrink wraps. It keeps, it keeps your eachs together essentially, for distribution or retail ready packaging, which we'll talk about here in a second. 
 

And then tertiary packaging. That's that bulk packaging used for shipping and distribution. That might include, pallets or crates, shrink wrap around those pallets or crates. So you can see the different levels as you go in. You have to consider each of these in your stages because they all serve different purposes. 
 

tertiary packaging is to ensure that your packaging isn't breaking. Secondary, the primary focus is going to be making sure that you have the right quantity of packaging. Each is together to then distribute and then primary packaging is holding whatever your product is, but it also typically has a marketing purpose as well. 
 

All right, I've covered some of these, but let's talk about what all packaging has to consider the amount of function that it is bringing. Depending on what layer it is. So, first off, the first thing we think of is protection. If you have cereal, you cannot give your retailer a handful of cereal and say, Here you go, this is my product. 
 

You have to have something that prevents damage during transportation, handling and storage. preservation. Another huge one with food. Is ensuring that that product remains fresh and, or functional until it reaches the customer, which can kind of go under that protection as well. Information, so making sure that you have the correct details like description, ingredients, barcodes, or compliance labeling, which we'll talk about today. 
 

And then marketing, and I'll pause here for a second. Information and marketing serve two different purposes. Typically that information is going to be used by Warehouses, the retailer, your, 3PL that you're working with, typically people in the supply chain, although it can be used for, on that primary packaging, like a, barcode, and, a consumer may use that when they're scanning it, but they have less insight into what, All the information is, being collected in some of those stages. 
 

And then lastly is marketing with, I think we all understand this one as a suppliers, but also as consumers. It, it's going to attract the customers with visual appeal and branding. You want to think about how that product looks in a commercial, but also how it looks on a shelf, how it looks against your competitors, where it's sitting on the shelf and how it's designed can really make an impact on if your product gets picked up and put in a cart or not. 
 

And like I said before, primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging can fulfill one or more of these functions depending on the product's needs. Some of the common packaging materials, is corrugated cardboard. So, lightweight, sturdy, ideal for that secondary or tertiary packaging. Makes it easier for things to not move when you're shipping. 
 

And also, if they are moving, they're bumping up against something that's not going to break them or damage them in any way. Another big one is plastic, and that can be used in several different ways. It's often in primary packaging, so if we think about Some toys in the toy aisle, maybe just like some collectibles or like army men. 
 

They're typically in a plastic that you can see, but also it's keeping them held together. And typically there's a piece of cardboard that then hangs, that product up. So that's one way that you can use plastic, but you can use it in Primary, secondary, or tertiary, if you count shrink wrap as plastic, which I do. 
 

glass is another one. This is typically for premium items. I always think of Topo Chico. that's gonna have, you know, in the eaches are glass bottles that can signal, Luxury or premium, and it is mostly used in beverages, but I'm sure there are home goods that also, use glass, and that's probably going to be primary packaging or the product itself. 
 

And then there also are sustainable alternatives like recycled paper, biodegradable plastics, or plant based options that are available. If you're interested in some of those sustainable alternatives, there are different suppliers who have that packaging. And if you use that, please look at the secondary packaging guide that Walmart has because they do have, call outs to what they prefer you to use. 
 

If you're going to use sustainable alternatives, or if not, there's all call outs for what they prefer and what is compliant for them. But if you are interested in that sustainable alternative, you may be interested in seeing if there's any, benefit with Walmart's Project Gigaton, which is their sustainability effort. 
 

And they work with suppliers on that as well. All right, let's get into retail ready packaging. So we've covered the basics and I've kind of alluded to what retail ready packaging is, but if you're unfamiliar, it's also known as shelf ready packaging, or you may see the acronym RRP. It essentially just refers to packaging for retail products where it's The supplier can cleanly transport the container, and it can go straight on the shelf. 
 

So essentially, a store associate can go in the back, they can pull it right off the pallet, and then stick it straight onto the shelf with very minimal removal of packaging and handling, not taking each of the eaches and putting it on the shelf. It's already ready to go. This is something that's not new to the retail industry, although it's surprising that it was only about 15 years ago that Walmart introduced this. 
 

And since then, the practice has essentially been picked up by almost every other retailer, because there's lots of advantages. To retail ready packaging. And we'll talk about those. So here's an example of retail ready packaging. You can see on the Tim Tam, boxes. Some of those are not sitting in retail ready packaging. 
 

You can see over here on the original, you've got that black box. It's got Tim Tam. It's presented a lot nicely, nice, more nicely. and also you can see the stacking of those, those cookies. the biscuits are. collected and they're just a lot more structurally sound. You can also see with the biscuits down here, they're easier to see what goes all the way to the back rather than if you didn't have this RRP. 
 

They may kind of be scattered, and organized differently. You can also see the flavor that's on the front of these, which is helpful for Shoppers and store associates when reorganizing shelves or picking up the flavor that they want to make sure is in their cart. So that's a great example. What's the purpose? 
 

One of the reasons, Retail Ready Packaging was born was because retail staff were constantly restocking and having to organize shelves. Retail Ready Packaging simplifies that. You could see that from our example. It's a lot more organized and it's obvious when things are out of order. You can even see here, these are the mint slices, obviously. 
 

And this flavor is someone has moved it out of order. That'd be easy for a store associate to see, and then move back. So the shelf looks nice and clean. It is easy for customers to shop. Also reduces labor costs and replenishment time because essentially the way that you're ordering retail ready packaging, you know, how much is in that. 
 

specific order. And so if one of those is on the shelf and you have one of them in the back room, and then you see that you have none in the back room, you know it's a great time to restock, but also, you know, exactly the amount that is in that retail ready packaging, and you can organize that to the forecast of when you need to replenish your product. 
 

And then lastly, we've touched on this, but it improves the shopping experience for customers. I know as a customer myself, When I've been shopping, I do love looking at retail ready packaging. I do think that, we've gone over some more simple examples, but suppliers have gotten really creative and it's even made the shopping experience more focused on that experience when thinking about, How the shelf is organized. 
 

What are some other benefits of retail ready packaging? It encourages holistic design. So essentially you have more surface area to optimize your packaging for the consumer and for the store associates or any of the people that are working on the supply chain. And it's going to ensure that durability. 
 

So you may see, I'm thinking back to our Tim Tams that we just looked at, less crumbled cookies, because your retail ready packaging kept those boxes together and you're not, you know, in that last mile seeing damage to the product, it reduces packaging waste. So you're minimizing waste, because it cuts material costs. 
 

So, saving you money, but it also simplifies disposal. It's easy for a store associate to see an empty retail ready packaging box, and then pull it off the shelf and throw it away in the back room. And, makes it easier to recycle, which then goes into some of the retailer's sustainability efforts. It also avoids stock outs. 
 

So it is efficient for restocking. It's easy to see, it's easy to spot, and it's also easy to replenish. And it can help suppliers, like I mentioned before, maintain that on shelf availability. So you're avoiding lost sales and increasing brand exposure. Last is it enhances the product presentation. Again, we already talked about this and you saw it in the example, but it's stackable, it's sturdy, and it maintains that visual appeal on shelves versus a customer that may not have that. 
 

You may catch your customer's eye before your competitors, which is also great, helps drive sales. here are some of the components of effective retail ready packaging. And this is Walmart language, essentially, but those five EZs that, is used when it comes to retail ready packaging. You need it to be easy to identify. 
 

You want to make sure that you're clearly labeling the pack. packaging, that's holding those eaches with product details, barcode, barcodes, but also visuals on multiple sides, like your logo with the Tim Tams, they had that on several sides that makes it easy for shoppers or store staff to look at the shelves as they're walking down and spot your product, but also to make sure they can see, okay, great. 
 

I see that the Tim Tam. retail ready packaging is out, I'll go grab one in the back and then recycle that box. It's also easy to open, so packaging with perforations, the finger holes, require no need for tools and enables faster and safer unboxing for, stocking shelves. And if you design those well, you will also be saving your retail ready packaging. 
 

I have seen before, and I'm sure you have in the store, when a store associate or someone else has opened it up, but the design of the retail ready packaging wasn't easy to open. So it kind of defeats the purpose because you've got this mangled box, and it's not visually appealing. So remember those, There's user experience things on those boxes as well. 
 

It's easy to replenish your stock. They're stable. They allow for quick transfers. multiple products can be moved directly onto the shelves. It saves time and effort. It's also easy to shop. Visually appealing. We talked about, you can add more things, like clear product descriptions, and make it accessible. 
 

You can make it accessible. There's also ways to do retail ready, ready packaging, not just on the shelf. So thinking about an impulse section, thinking about it, in the center aisle, you can kind of play around with, all the locations and ways that you can, implement retail ready packaging to make it successful and catch customer's eyes. 
 

And then again, back to our recycling, minimizing, environmental impact and labor. All right, let's get into understanding pack sizes. Okay, we've talked about primary, secondary, and tertiary packs. packaging. The additional layer on this is those pack sizes. And pack sizes are really important to understand, because this is how Walmart's going to be talking about it. 
 

They're not going to say, hey, where's your tertiary packaging? They're going to say, hey, your vendor pack was damaged, or your warehouse pack So let's talk about that vendor pack is essentially that outer box that should be easy to scan. And then inside that would be a smaller grouping of products called a vendor pack. 
 

And then each warehouse pack should only hold one type of skew. So you might be asking, do I need all of these? Not necessarily. We'll get into it. Vendor pack is the pack that goes by many names. it could be called the master pack, the case pack or the break pack. But essentially that is gonna go from the supplier to the retailer's distribution center or fulfillment center, and then be broken or broken into cases, to then be distributed to different stores. 
 

So these are the maximum and minimum requirements, which is really important and are pulled from the secondary packaging guide. So if you haven't. located that, or you're not familiar, please go download every retailer that is a major retailer has a packaging guide or compliance standards. If you're not shipping to the standards of those, those retailers, you will see issues on your supply chain. 
 

You may see a supply, a retailer, not pick up your business again, if you continue to be out of compliance, because it does create bottlenecks or other issues in their supply chain. So. These are not arbitrary numbers, they're, these are requirements for a reason. All right, so we talked about the vendor pack. 
 

So let's say we've shipped it, from your manufacturing's warehouse and you have, put a huge pallet, a couple pallets of vendor packs. It's on a truck and it's going to the retailer's, distribution center. Once it gets to the distribution center, it's probably going to get opened up and the inner packs or the warehouse packs are going to be pulled out of that master pack. 
 

And those are going to be split up. Again, that's going to depend on the type of product you have and how you're packaging that. So again, you kind of have to reverse engineer. Let's say I have. sodas. I may be packaging that differently and it may need different needs, and different, layers of packaging depending on what I'm shipping. 
 

So the inner pack would then, contain those, those eaches. and in the case of soda, a warehouse pack may be, The eaches may be either that, 12 pack of sodas or maybe you're, you're shipping individual bottles to be sell, sold on like the impulse buy. So depending on how you're shipping that, the same product, it may be packaged differently. 
 

So considering that as well. And then, like I said, you may, you will definitely have a master pack, but you may not have warehouse packs, or you may have, you may or may not have warehouse packs. Essentially, When we're talking about vendor packs, a break pack is going to be when you're breaking apart that master pack and you're pulling out the warehouse packs to then go to those separate stores. 
 

A case pack is going to be when a, essentially a master pack has those individual SKUs and you're not necessarily needing the warehouse pack because of the packaging that you've, you've chosen for your SKUs. 
 

And then the, probably the unsung hero of packaging is pallets. Pallets are extremely important because they are the backbone. They're holding everything together. And I know that, if you've been a supplier for a while, dealing with broken pallets or having pallet issues can be one of those headaches that, are easily avoidable. 
 

so it starts with considering first how your package needs to be, how your product needs to be packaged. How many of your products can fit in a pallet while you're building that pallet. And then how it will be parsed out from the warehouse DC store to customer. It's also working with whatever your 3PL company or your logistics company is, to ensure that pallets are being loaded properly, that boxes, and packs are, Shrink wrapped or secured to the pallet in some form or fashion that the pallet is able to do its purpose to move large quantities Once it's coming in and off in and off of trucks and into DCs and into warehouses And if you're curious, we have our own interpretation of the Walmart Secondary Packaging Guide. 
 

This is straight from Walmart's documentation. We've just simplified it and made, some of the really important callouts, highlighted. So instead of a 200 page document, you can go download ours, which is a little bit more, succinct and the abridged version. So comment the link in the chat and we'll send it to you. 
 

All right, let's get into labeling and documentation. We've talked a lot about packaging, but if you are not planning on opening the box and you need to know where you're sending that box, it's important to have a label. And if you don't have a label, Or you have an incorrect label, you're going to have a couple issues. 
 

So if you're not able to accurately identify the label, then it's hard for a, warehouse, associate or anyone else handling your product to locate your, your pallet to sort it into the place it needs to go and stock products correctly throughout the supply chain. It also helps When you have proper packaging, retailers comply with legal and regulatory requirements. 
 

Proper labeling is gonna ensure adherence to industry standards and avoid fines or, recalls, which no one wants to deal with. And then lastly, it improves the customer experience. So if you have clear, informative labels on your primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging, Mostly for primary for our customers, that's going to help them understand what your product is and be able to make informed purchasing decisions. 
 

What are the key functions of a label? What needs to be included? Each retailer is going to have Generally the same information that is required, but make sure you're reviewing the key specifics of the labels you need for different retailers. Because if you're trying to send a package to Amazon, and you're using the compliance standards of a Walmart label, that's not going to work. 
 

Again, Lots of overlap, but there are key specifics that are important to identify when you're shipping to retailers. They require different information and in different locations. The general things that you'll need to include is basic product identification. So the name, the brand, the description. You need to include compliance information, making sure you have your certifications, warning labels, any regulatory symbols that are issued by the FDA, USDA, or other compliance programs. 
 

Another thing is making sure that you have barcodes or labels and the correct barcodes or labels for the packaging that they're being. Adhere to. This is required for inventory management. and we can get into some of the downstream issues that can happen if you're not labeling those correctly. The key word is compliance or deductions, fines that would be issues. 
 

Expiration or lock codes is another key function of a label making sure that if there are perishable goods or recalls that they have the correct item information to make the decision if we need to recall product or if it is fine to continue shipping through. Logistical information like weight, dimensions, or use instructions are also key functions of a label. 
 

All right, so when it comes to labeling by packaging type, primary packaging may include product specific information like branding, ingredients, how to use information, etc. Secondary packaging may include barcodes and primary packaging may have a barcode as well if it is kind of serving as that secondary packaging. 
 

Handling instructions or retailer specific labeling. And then lastly, that tertiary packaging is going to be focused on the logistical information like The labels for pallet information, the shipping destination, and other information that will meet compliance standards. Alright, so we've talked a lot about the what, but let's talk about how you get to be, aligned to best practices when it comes to labeling. 
 

I've already said this, but essentially, Make sure you know the retailer that you're focusing on, their expectations. They're all slightly different, even though they kind of, at the end of the day, it's 90 percent the same. you can still get a fine for an issue that's in that 10 percent that's varying between retailers. 
 

and some of the things to review are making sure you know how they want you to label your specific product for your specific category type. any adherence to secondary packaging, the packaging that they'll be most concerned with in terms of how they're going to be, Using it throughout the supply chain, and then also how they want you to label for shipments to ensure compliance and efficiency within the supply chain. 
 

So, if you're new to packaging, here are some of the checklist things you should think about before you start shipping your products. Make sure you're using durable, legible labels that are resistant to wear and tear during transit. Spending less money, finding places to cut costs is important in the supply chain, but if you're cutting costs in cheaper labels, you may have an issue with your labels being unable to be read by the time they get to your packaging. 
 

So consider how you save money in that area without compromising on having illegible labels. And ensure consistency across packaging levels to avoid confusion. Essentially, if you're doing something one way, Try to adhere to it across packaging. Don't try to change processes up at the different levels or for different products. 
 

If something is working and it's compliant, see how you can optimize that and not veer from that. Integrate digital tools like barcode scanners or RFID tags for efficient tracking, especially if you're in apparel. The suppliers that we have seen working in some of the larger retailers, I know RFID tags have been in department stores for a long time, like Macy's or Kohl's, but Walmart has moved to that. 
 

Target has moved to that more so, especially with shrinkage. So if you're not in that, it is coming to other areas of the store, not just, apparel. So consider investing or at least exploring what RFID may mean for you in the future in your products. And then stay updated with retailer requirements and regulatory changes. 
 

This industry, as you all know, changes very fast. So you can always check in with us on SupplierWiki. We try to keep up with those things. And the things particularly that affect the day to days for suppliers, but ensure that you're looking at the retailer portals and, understanding if there's any of those regulatory changes. 
 

What's a nice thing is typically because retailers are so large and have so many suppliers, they give long lead time to I'm going implement those changes, but to be a best in class supplier, you want to make sure that you are staying up to date with those and implementing those in a timely manner. All right. 
 

I think you all know the importance of proper documentation, but no matter how excellent your packaging is, how beautiful, how durable, if you don't have the documentation in place to get your products from point A to point B, your supply chain will not work. So proper documentation is going to ensure clear communication. 
 

So suppliers, carriers, and retailers are all aligned on the shipment details and expectations. And so you're avoiding any fines, deductions, or chargebacks that may be adhered to you as a supplier, if any of these partners are not aligned to those expectations. Seamless transportation, making sure that you're getting your products where they need to be at the right time in the right amount. 
 

So, adhering to OTIF rules. As well as making sure if your customers are expecting something, a product at. The store and you are out of stock, making sure you're able to answer that in a timely manner. Then last is just regulatory compliance. So ensuring that shipments meet the legal and industry requirements, and they avoid fines and delays in that process. 
 

Additionally, making sure that things are received quickly. The receiving process can be where a lot of suppliers incur fines, particularly if If there's more manual work when it comes to reading the labeling on your packaging or it's not able to go through automatic conveyor belts, a lot of fulfillment centers or DCs have more automation, so they're not having as much manual labor when it comes to the receiving process. 
 

If you're not adhering to some of those standards, a human's not going to be able to say, Okay, I I've seen this issue before, if it's, you know, technology, it's programmed to do one thing. And if you are not adhering to that, it will move your product out of the way. And there can be, inefficiencies in that. 
 

I've already talked about it, but the all roads lead to all issues lead to reducing and disputing chargebacks. You don't want to be spending your time, If you can avoid any chargebacks, so minimizing errors and making sure that you have the correct proof documentation can help you actually dispute those inaccurate deductions. 
 

And then the ability to do root cause analysis, that's a huge part of anything in the supply chain, whether you're fighting deductions or you're just wanting to learn how to make it more efficient or work. Or understand where things break down. If you don't have the right prop, the right documentation, there's no source of truth and it's hard to fix the problem when there's no data to then go dig into. 
 

All right, when it talks, when we're talking about the language of communicating, it's important to talk about EDI. Here are some of the most common shipping documents. We do have articles on these on SupplierWiki. You can search for them on SupplierWiki or we can send them to you. if you're unfamiliar with EDI, it's basically the tool that you use to communicate to suppliers without having to email or call or talk to them. 
 

it's the electronic data interchange. Basically each of these codes, is kind of like Morse code in a way where you're If I'm sending you an EDI 850, you know it's a purchase order. And we all know that that's that buyer generated form authorizing the purchase of goods for suppliers. And then a supplier would send back, a similar form. 
 

And this is all being done, through EDI. So, a couple of the most important ones to think about if you haven't heard of them are the purchase order, The bill of lading, the ASN, or advanced ship notice. That's really key at Amazon, especially. That's one of the most important disputing documents. An invoice, we all want to make sure that we get paid the right amount. 
 

And then proof of delivery, which is also going to help you when it comes to disputing as well. All right, here's some best practices that you can reflect on your business to see if you're doing these, or for the don'ts, making sure that you're not doing those, to assess if you have some of the healthy practices when it comes to shipping documentations. 
 

So do make notes of damages on PODs or BOLs. Do ensure that your product's, replacement value. Do ensure your product's replacement value. It's not going to be the same as retail value. So if you do have a lot of damaged goods, you can work with your supplier on having allowance on that, or figuring out a process to make sure that you're not stuck with a lot of damaged, materials, and no cash flow to show for it. 
 

Last thing is, do follow proper packaging guides. And I've alluded to that throughout this whole webinar that is worth, glimpsing through those documents and making sure that you're adhering to that. Couple don'ts. Don't sign a freight shipment without inspecting. That's going to be really hard to dispute if you do have damages that weren't signed for, and it will be on you as the supplier to then incur that cost. 
 

Don't leave BOLs unsigned without documentation. That will also create an issue in the disputing process. And then don't wait to dispute any damaged or short shipments, do it, as fast as you can. and as, as, as efficiently as you can. And we have lots of resources on that. It's kind of our bread and butter here at SupplierWiki. 
 

So if you're interested in how you can actually, dispute and win, go check out our resources. Speaking of resources, we have a EDI for retail supply chain cheat sheet. It has over 200 EDI codes and what they actually mean and why you would send them. So go check that out. and those are used across the industry. 
 

So if you're new and you're only in one retailer, learning EDI or at least working with some EDI company, that can give you a full service, EDI solution is, Honestly, an easy way for you to start growing your business rather than focusing on EDI. All right. Lastly, we'll get into packaging compliance. 
 

We've been talking about this, kind of the whole. The whole webinar, because if you're not thinking about the foundation and building your packaging right from your inventory setup, looking at your eaches and then going out from there and where it needs to go, you'll incur fines and that will, that can affect, affect your cash flow. 
 

So Each retailer is going to have their own standards and requirements. Some of those may be driven from compliance from the FDA or USDA, depending on your product category. that will be more or less important. but every retailer is going to have their own. For labeling, packaging, and shipping that works in their ecosystem. 
 

And they may all be a little different. These requirements often come from making sure that logistics are running smooth, that inventory is accounted for and, labeled correctly, even at the item setup level and so that shelves digital or brick and mortar are stocked correctly, also brand alignment, making sure that. 
 

Whether it's digital, it's omni channel, it's in the store, it's on the pickup app that you're using, you're maintaining consistency in the presentation for that product, visibility. legal compliance, making sure that we're meeting those industry or government requirements for product safety, and then sustainability goals. 
 

A couple other ones, specifically to the, if we're not meeting them, the failure to meet those requirements is chargebacks, which we've talked about. Essentially that's just going to be money that you were supposed to be paid, by the retailer. You're not getting the full amount or you're having to pay the retailer additional fees because of non compliance, delays or other shipping issues will then, which will then, kind of snowball into chargebacks, particularly at some of those bigger, retailers. 
 

They have a lot of, programs set up to make sure suppliers are adhering to those. supply chain inefficiencies. So increased labor costs for store associates, warehouse staff, which will then snowball into typically chargebacks or a fine for a, from a compliance program. And if those are persistent and, they're chronic and severe, you may either A, lose a ton of cash flow to the retailer that you're unable to work with them anymore, or your merchant sees that you're problematic, you're not able to meet the needs, you're, you know, consistently not packaging correctly, which results in chargeback fines, you're late, that they're, they end up. 
 

Not working with you. So that can also affect the customers as well. You can have damage to your brand from the retailer perspective that retailers don't want to work with you. As well as customers who are not interested because they've had negative customer experiences with your product. Here's an example of a compliance program. 
 

I've been alluding to these, Again, think of any major retailer, all, all retailers should have them, but the major retailers are the ones that have really extensive ones, which can incur more time and resources and your money, if you're not adhering to them. Walmart has a compliance program that rolled out around 2021 called the Supplier Quality Excellence Program, and it's a compliance program around, PO accuracy and ASNs. 
 

Barcode and labeling, load quality, label quality, packaging, sound familiar, all stuff we've been talking about today, as well as scheduling and transportation. Excuse me. Walmart secondary packaging standards is essentially the guideline of what to do, so that you are not incurring fines from the SQEP or SQEP program, and I've mentioned that several times, and it's really easy to find on Retail Link, or you can just Google it and, it will pull up. 
 

The PDF. I also have alluded to a couple industry wide regulations in the U. S. and in the U. S. there are several key regulations that govern packaging materials and labeling. and with where we are in our political climate right now, this is important to follow just to see if there are any industry changes. 
 

but currently the F PLA, lots of acronyms here, the Fair Packaging Label Act. This is implemented by the FTC and it sets labeling requirements for consumer goods to make sure that there are value comparisons and that there's no misleading packaging claims that are made. The other, one is the Poison Prevention Packaging Act, the PPPA. 
 

This mandates that packaging for hazard hazardous products must be child resistant, preventing children from easily accessing them to, harmful substances. So, think of, bleach, the tops, they are the, like, press down and twist tops, so it's Even hard for an adult like me to open sometimes. this just helps reduce accidental poisonings, from common household products. 
 

And then also the California Proposition 65 restricts over 900 chem chemicals and heavy metals in consumer products and packaging. Products must be lab te tested for compliance or a warning label. So if you're unfamiliar with all of these and you believe that your product may fall into one of these categories or more than one, it's It's vital that someone, you have someone on your team that's reviewing this and ensuring that, you're not making misleading claims, your packaging is packaged correctly, that you don't, you know, suffer a lawsuit or create harm to the consumers that are buying your products, whether that is with chemicals, heavy metals, batteries, et cetera. 
 

All right. Well, we've come to the end of our content. I have called out a couple of our e books here. Thank you guys for joining. If you are interested in looking at any of our resources, here are a couple. But I encourage you to explore SupplierWiki. We're creating relevant, always free supplier resources, all the time. 
 

So, check those out and see. You can see here, we've even, we even update them to make sure that they are, helpful and accurate resources for you. All right, Peter, take us away. 
 

[00:44:47] Peter: This is us, these are our emails, so please reach out to us if you have any further questions about Packaging 101 or really just anything kind of supplier related, we'd love to, help you find a good answer to that question or, answer them ourselves. 
 

So please feel free to reach out to us and we'll see you next time. 
 

[00:45:07] Allie: Awesome, thank you guys. Bye.