“We had to protect more households without diluting the brand,” said Lena, VP of Marketing at Sunbelt Moves. “Expanding our kits nationwide sounded exciting, until we saw our returns data.” That’s where we stepped in with a brand lens and a spreadsheet. The first hard decision? Standardize SKUs and storytelling on box panels before we scaled. We brought in uline boxes early, so the packaging narrative and the supply reality wouldn’t drift apart.
As a brand team, we weren’t chasing pretty boxes—we needed printed corrugated that could translate our promise of care. One line had to speak to apartments, galleries, and garages alike. A wardrobe carton shouldn’t feel like a different brand from an art shipper. It’s still Sunbelt, just solving different jobs.
The business context was simple: new distribution in Florida and the Southeast, then a national ramp. Orlando was our first stress test. If the program could handle surges in moving season there, it could likely handle anywhere.
Company Overview and History
Sunbelt Moves is a regional retailer-turned-omnichannel brand that sells moving kits, specialty cartons, and protective materials. Over 15 years, the company grew from three storefronts to a hybrid model with e‑commerce, pop-ups near storage facilities, and 40+ partner locations. Monthly order volume ranged between 20–24k kits during peak months, and the marketing brief was consistent: one recognizable brand, one reliable unboxing, whether the carton ships across state lines or is picked up curbside.
We chose Orlando as the proving ground. Demand was volatile, customers wanted quick pickup, and competition was noisy. People literally search for moving supplies by location—"moving boxes orlando" isn’t just a query, it’s a purchasing intent. Our packaging had to help the brand show up with the same promise, in-store and on the porch.
Quality and Consistency Issues
Three signals told us we had work to do. First, brand color drifted across vendors; store staff noticed panels leaning warm on one SKU and cool on the next. Lab checks showed median ΔE hovering around 4–5 on some lots, which eroded shelf consistency. Second, corner crush on smaller cubes led to out-of-box damage reports; the humble 12-inch cube was a top offender. Third, claim rates on fragile shipments sat near 8–10% in peak months, an unsustainable pattern for a brand built around care.
We also discovered SKU bloat. Eight different 12-inch cartons across suppliers didn’t help anyone. The "12x12x12 moving boxes" spec varied more than it should—board grade, flute profile, and even dieline tolerances. Operators made it work, but FPY stayed in the mid‑80s and waste hovered around 9–11%. That’s not a crisis, but it’s friction we could remove.
Solution Design and Configuration
We consolidated to a data-led SKU tree: a core cube family, specialty verticals, and two premium protectors. Flexographic Printing covered long-run core SKUs on Corrugated Board with Water-based Ink for consistent color stability and sustainability requirements; Digital Printing ran pilots, seasonal art, and variable QR. We standardized color aims to a G7 target and set a working tolerance of ΔE ≤ 2.5 for panels carrying the primary brand red. The wardrobe line moved to 44 ECT C‑flute with a reinforced hanger bar; the art shipper used heavy-duty corner protection and a tighter tolerance on die-cut windows.
The brand partnered with uline boxes to rationalize the specialty range. That included testing uline wardrobe boxes for tall garments and long-haul handling, and uline art boxes for framed pieces and canvases. We mapped each job-to-be-done to print and board specs, then built pricing ladders that a store associate could explain in 30 seconds. For core SKUs like the "12x12x12 moving boxes," we aligned on a 32 ECT board grade, updated crease patterns for cleaner folds, and introduced a light Varnishing pass to protect scuff-prone panels without adding gloss glare.
We also addressed a customer question we hear a lot: where is the best place to buy moving boxes? From a brand perspective, it’s less about the storefront and more about the spec and availability. Our job was to ensure that whether a customer buys online, at a partner location, or picks up curbside, they get the same spec, the same print clarity, and the same protective promise.
Pilot Production and Validation
We ran an eight-week pilot across three Florida locations, including a high-traffic site in Orlando. The test plan was simple: A/B compare legacy vs consolidated SKUs, track claims, color, and assembly time. Flexo plates were calibrated against our digital masters; Digital Printing handled short-run seasonal kits and insert cards. Operators logged changeover minutes and first-pass acceptance on every shift. Here’s where it gets interesting: once staff had fewer SKUs to choose from, assembly guidance was faster, and customers spent less time puzzling over the right carton.
Store feedback in the "moving boxes orlando" pilot surprised us. Shoppers lingered on wardrobe and art shippers longer when panels were cleaner and color-stable; staff reported fewer "is this the same brand?" questions. Lab pulls showed ΔE tightening to under 2.5 across panels, and handle areas showed less cracking under load. We weren’t chasing perfection, but the dial was moving in the right direction.
Quantitative Results and Metrics
Fast forward eight weeks. Damage claims on fragile and specialty shipments dropped by 18–22%, settling near 6–7% in peak weeks. Waste rate on printed corrugated went from 9–11% to roughly 5–6% as FPY rose into the 92–94% band. Changeovers that used to take 40 minutes landed at 25–30 minutes once operators had fewer plates and dielines to juggle. Median ΔE lived under 2.5 on brand panels, with outliers investigated via a simple SPC chart tied to plate wear and ink viscosity logs.
Throughput nudged up without strain—core runs moved from about 6,000 boxes per shift to 6,800–7,200, depending on the mix. Energy per pack trended down slightly (around 0.14 kWh/pack to ~0.12), and On‑Time/In‑Full shipments climbed from the low 80s to the mid‑90s. The brand finance team projects an 8–10 month payback based on fewer claims and a tighter SKU ladder. More importantly for us, the cube family and specialty line now read as one brand. The quiet hero here was consistency—printing, board, and message—delivered through the consolidation work and our partnership with uline boxes. And yes, that includes the small but mighty "12x12x12 moving boxes" that customers buy by the stack.
