Retailer-branded packing slips.

It's always exciting when an online purchase arrives. Okay, maybe not always—items like toilet bowl cleaner or toothpaste probably won't get the heart racing—but unpacking is definitely part of the fun of eCommerce.

There are even YouTube channels dedicated to it. That's what makes it critical for suppliers to get everything right when they ship direct-to-consumer. Many retailers have exacting requirements, and retailer-branded packing slips are usually a critical element.

What is a retailer-branded packing slip?

When consumers receive their order, a packing slip is included in the shipment. When it is a retailer-branded packing slip, sometimes called a custom-branded packing slip, it features brand identification. Typically, a packing slip lists the contents, and may include item names, SKUs, weights, dimensions, or quantities.

Why are retailer-branded packing slips important?

A retailer-branded packing slip can reinforce customer loyalty, and avoids confusion that can be created when a package comes from a source the buyer doesn't immediately recognize. Retailers know that it's easier to generate repeat business from an existing customer than to land a new one, so the overall buying experience needs to be seamless.

With an increasing number of retailers relying on suppliers for direct-to-consumer fulfillment, it's more important than ever for packing slips and labels to be accurate and meet their brand specifications.

Let's say the purchase was made on a site like Nordstrom.com or Wayfair, but shipped to the customer by the supplier. Those companies want the customer experience to be seamless. So even though you may be shipping directly from your warehouse, the retailer wants their customer to feel like it has been an end-to-end interaction with the retail brand.

Retailers want to work with suppliers they can rely on. Being able to produce error-free packing slips will help ensure a retail partner continues to carry your products.

Generating retailer-branded packing slips without errors.

If you are creating these kind of packing slips, you'll need a process that makes it easy to produce them without mistakes.

A major cause of errors is manual data entry. If humans are required to do things like copy and paste information from the order into the packing slip, the likelihood of error increases dramatically. Even more so when someone has to do it over and over, for hundreds of orders.

The right order processing software can merge data and automate the creation of retailer-branded packing slips. With Lingo, you can create a template and use order information to populate the packing slips. Shipping labels can also be easily generated and printed from Lingo.

Process in bulk.

One of the major challenges of direct-to-consumer drop shipping is that suppliers need to process multiple orders that may be shipments of single items. It's far different than the wholesale model, when many items will be shipped in a single order.

All those shipments will need a retailer-branded packing slip. If you are forced to produce them one at a time, it's time-consuming and inefficient. On our platform, you can process orders and generate retailer-branded packing slips in bulk.

Get them right every time.

When it comes to order processing, it's the details that matter. Small mistakes can cause significant issues, and damage retailer relationships. As important as it is to offer great products, being reliable is a key element that will make you a preferred vendor.