Box of the Month – Customers love MIGHTY’s new packaging from ASC Direct

When brands are thinking about growing their business, product packaging may not be one of the first considerations. Yet making sure goods are delivered safely and securely is a primary requirement and provides an opportunity to impress customers and reinforce the brand message.

Mighty are one of the fastest growing and most successful dairy-alternative drink brands, selling both through retailers and online. Sam Cordwell, Sales Director, spoke to ASC Direct when he needed to revisit the product packaging used for their online customer deliveries.

The Client: MIGHTY

With a background in health and wellbeing at companies like Holland & Barrett and Boots, Sam has a lot of experience in this space. “Over the past 5 – 10 years, we’ve seen a huge increase in the trend towards a more balanced and healthy diet, and plant-based alternatives to cow’s milk has been one of the leading trends. There are many reasons for wanting to choose a dairy-alternative: it can be an ethical or environmental choice or because of health issues, like allergies and intolerances. Some people just prefer the taste. What we do know is that more and more people want the choice.”

The majority of MIGHTY’s drinks are being sold through supermarkets and in 2021, they started to sell online too. “Our most loyal customers want to make sure they always have a stock of our products at home so choose to buy in bulk, either weekly or monthly, direct from us. We really value these customers, so it is essential for us to make sure they get the product and service they need. They are our biggest advocates.” 

The Challenge:

Sam confirms, “Customers who order through the website usually order in bulk. Obviously liquid is heavy and difficult to handle and shipping 6, 12 or even 20 kilos of individually packed drinks is difficult. We had been using standard plain brown single walled boxes. Sometimes the boxes were actually dropped over gates or hedges meaning the packs were at best slightly scuffed and soiled and at worst damaged and spilled. We had issues having to replace these, not to mention dealing with the disruption and disappointment of our customers.”

Concerned about the ongoing problems, Sam wanted to find out what options he could consider. Improving the packaging was important, but so was the cost. “As well as needing to improve the packaging, we had to bear in mind there is a limited budget we could spend additionally on packaging for it to be viable. We did need the products to be delivered in a much better way but had to do this at a reasonable cost.” 

Sam approached a number of packaging specialists including ASC Direct.

The Solution:

The team at ASC Direct love to improve on current packaging solutions and have the knowledge and expertise to help. Sam confirms, “We did speak to several companies and the team at ASC Direct provided the best ideas and service, along with samples for checking and testing. The first requirement was to improve on the strength of the packaging, so we went with double walled cardboard – much more robust.”

Another benefit of using custom packaging was the ability to print on the boxes. “We loved the idea of being able to include simple but effective branding on our packaging. Our customers could know their delivery of MIGHTY had arrived just by seeing their boxes.”

The cost requirement was met too. “Even better, we have been able to upgrade our packaging without it changing our cost model.”

The Result:

The whole team are really pleased with the boxes – and the great comments they are getting.  Sam continues, “We started getting positive feedback almost immediately. A survey of our top 1000 most loyal customers had cited packaging as one of the most critical issues so once we had addressed that it was extremely gratifying to see the great reviews coming in.”

Sam has some important advice for other businesses in the same position. “First and foremost, make sure your product is the best it can be. After that, look at the packaging. Getting your product delivered in perfect condition is actually a must-have and is a simple and cost-effective way of impressing customers, cutting churn and eliminating the cost of fixing problem deliveries. With the new packaging we can now continue to focus on improving the product lines and scaling the business.”

“Thanks to the new packaging design from ASC Direct, our customers are happier than ever – a brilliant job from a brilliant team  - highly recommended.”

As MIGHTY goes from strength to strength, so the team at ASC Direct will continue to support them with high quality packaging that fits their products and meets their brief. It’s brilliant when our customers are happy with their packaging, and we know it’s contributing to their success.