Recently, I received a package from my sister, one shipped directly from Bath & Body Works. What I saw after opening the box made me go, “Wow.”

The contents, six bottles of foaming hand soap in three different scents, purchased during a BOGO sale, were very nice. I was thrilled at getting these new additions to my stash of lovely liquid hand soaps. But they weren’t what wowed me.

Rather, it was how they were packed for shipping. At the top of the box were air pillows, protecting the six bottles that were laid on their sides and stacked neatly beneath them, while a layer of bubble wrap did the same on the bottom. All of this was nestled cozily inside a perfectly-sized, two-layer box made of thick, sturdy cardboard.

“Why did this wow you,” you might ask.

Because, in my experience, it is rare to receive an order in which the retailer’s shipping and handling staff took such great care in packing the items to help ensure that they arrived intact.

In addition to Bath & Body Works, Vitacost and iHerb also make “preventive packing” in the shipping and handling process another touchpoint of customer service. I shop with them for two main reasons: their comparatively lower prices for certain items and their “packing for prevention.” The former helps my wallet; the latter gives me confidence that I will get everything I ordered without having to clean up a mess.

Not only do these two e-commerce sites always wrap bottles and jars in some sort of protective covering, like layers of recyclable honeycomb wrap, they also place items such as paper-bagged flour in resealable plastic bags to prevent flour dust from getting all over everything else in the order during shipping and delivery.

All other retailers that I have ordered from have been hit or miss with this.

Here’s why packing for prevention is a big deal for retailers from Amazon and Walmart to sellers on eBay and Etsy:

It supports positive customer experiences, brand loyalty, and goodwill. Customers expect to receive what they ordered intact. Taking thoughtful measures during the packing process to prevent breakages, spills, and other types of damage during shipping and delivery helps orders to arrive in one piece. Result: Happy customers. Happy customers can sing retailers’ praises, become loyal, lifelong customers, and help a retailer get more business without having to spend more.

It helps to prevent negative customer experiences. Getting a broken glass bottle, a cracked plastic jar, or a stained, unprotected shirt can disappoint customers with both their order and the seller due to insufficient packing. The bad experience is then compounded by dealing with the hassle of returning, requesting a refund, or getting a replacement for the damaged item.

Preventing negative customer experiences can help to prevent damage to the company.

• Dissatisfied customers can cost a retailer a lot of money in returns. According to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) 2025 Retail Returns Landscape:

• Dissatisfied customers can also cost a retailer future money in lost sales when said customers make fewer subsequent purchases, influence others to shop elsewhere by posting negative reviews, or become ex-customers.

• Beyond revenue is the potential loss of things that money can’t buy: goodwill, reputation, and brand equity. What’s more, a hit to them can affect the stock price of publicly-traded companies. One negative post from an unhappy celebrity or influencer customer can, too.

To wit: On November 13, 2017, U.S. media outlets reported the impact of an actor’s social media post on a company’s stock price. One was CNBC, which stated, “Chipotle Mexican Grill’s stock price sank 2.7 percent Monday after ‘Supergirl’ actor Jeremy Jordan said he had ‘almost died’ from eating at one of the chain’s restaurants.” Chipotle isn’t a retailer, but the point remains the same.

While there are industry standards and established best practices for packing and shipping orders, every retailer has their own way of doing it.

If you own an e-commerce site or manage shipping for a retailer, does your company’s way serve both the business and your customers, whereby orders fulfillment, shipping, and delivery culminate in intact deliveries and satisfied customers nearly all of the time?

If yes, then kudos to you.

If no, then consider collaborating with key organizational managers and Tactique to do an audit of the direct, associated, and intangible costs of the company’s current shipping and handling operations. This will show the financial impact of delivery failures due to insufficient order packing across the company, from the cost of manpower, refunds, lost inventory, and shipping, to the cost of acquiring “replacement customers” and doing damage control. Armed with this knowledge, we can then analyze and assess how investing in packing for prevention might actually save the company money.