HOW KITTING WORKS
What is Kitting?
Kitting means placing separate but complimentary items into a single package. This group of items become a new SKU (Stock Keeping Unit).
Kitting provides a variety of strategic advantages to companies:
- Overall Cost Savings – kitting means more product and less packaging/shipping/labor costs per unit sold.
- Increased Average Order Cost
- Saves Time & Space – free up your warehouse and your schedule with Morrisette Packaging’s kitting services.
Kitting is different than Bundling.
Kitting refers to packaging together items that work with or complement each other, while bundling is a group of items sold together that may each serve its own purpose.
As an example: think of subscription boxes.
A subscription box like Hello Fresh is a kit. Every ingredient inside that one big box works together with the other ingredients to create a delicious meal. That’s a kit.
A subscription box like Mystery Tackle Box is a bundle. MTB ships you a variety of quality fishing items each month, and while all the items are related to fishing (maybe a Shimano hat and some Rapala hard bait), the box isn’t designed for all the items to work in tandem to achieve the same goal. That’s a bundle.
Kitting Case Study: Murphy’s Naturals
Kit Creation
First and foremost, one must first establish what is going into a given kit. This will, of course, have to do with the product being sold. If the product is something that needs to be assembled, then each piece needs to be put together and then packaged. If the product is a type of subscription box with many items inside, then a separate process must be created to properly organize all of these items. All of this needs to be established in the kit creation process and typically will be done so through a long conversation with the business looking to create the kit.
Packaging
Next, we have the actual packaging and assembly of the products. This is the part where the plan established above is put into action. If there are multiple completed products that need to be put together, then the process will revolve around collecting and kitting those items. If it is an assembly process, then the product will be assembled and then packaged.
Fulfillment
Finally, we have order fulfillment. Once the kits are discussed and created, they must be shipped to their final destination. This is what’s called fulfillment. This is what rounds out the kitting process. Most kitting services will provide fulfillment just like any part of the process, as it is arguably the most important part.
Our Kitting Service Areas
We specialize in a number of kitting operations. With an emphasis on communication and a custom approach to every job, we offer support in a few different service areas. Before we can even alter your kitting operation, though, we need to start with your packaging.
Packaging Analysis
First, we analyze your existing packaging and the techniques you make use of for your kitting operations. Through this process, we can determine where you may be spending too much, and where you may be able to change things. This is always the first step we take when we are hired for any job related to kitting. Doing this first will give us a baseline understanding as to what needs to be done with your packaging, and then we can analyze your kitting techniques afterward.
Packaging Redesign
After we establish where your packaging is at, and what we can do to help you, we will start off by presenting you with a fresh packaging design. If you like the new packaging, we will carry on with the fresh design and get you started with a whole new optimized kitting process. If you don’t like the new design, we can establish what you like and what you don’t like. After we do so, we can finally come to a design that is agreed upon by all parties. This new packaging design is likely to help reshape your brand into something still recognizable, but more unique. The goal is to make your packaging stand out more than before.
Kitting
Now we can talk about the kitting process itself. Once we establish what will be your new packaging design, we can start to modernize your kitting process. This can include a number of things. Having an efficient kitting operation revolves around multiple factors. Of course, this process will vary based on the product you’re selling, but, basically, we will need to create a process that makes packaging your products quick and efficient. If your product requires assembly, then we will have to find a way to handle that. Ultimately, the end goal of any kitting process is to have multiple SKUs packaged into one unit. Creating efficiency for the customer or business.
Fulfillment
We also can assist you in the fulfillment process. When discussing e-commerce, fulfillment actually means multiple things. It means both e-commerce packaging, and labeling orders before they ship, and it refers to shipping the packaged products out to those that ordered them. There are multiple ways to run a fulfillment operation, and, depending on what product you specialize in, we can help you find the process that works the best for you. Once a kit is successfully assembled, the order must be fulfilled, as in it must be shipped to the customer. Fulfillment can be a tough process, but Morrisette has solutions to the many problems that fulfillment can pose.
Product Testing
After all of this is said and done, we can also double check our work with rigorous product testing. While making use of industry metrics and testing equipment, we can test your packaging process to make sure it’s up to industry standards and can handle large volumes of orders when your business begins to grow. Making sure you have a packaging technique that can grow with you is important to us as it leaves room for additional success for your business. After this process is finished, your packaging operation and fulfillment process should both be automated at the height of the industry.
POP Display Assembly
One final service area we provide that may seem small but is still impactful is our ability to set up POP displays. POP stands for point-of-purchase and it refers to marketing material that is meant to reside next to the product that it is advertising, or at the checkout counter of whatever location it is propped up at. Its goal is to entice somebody that happens to be walking by it into purchasing the product. It is typically very eye-catching and can take up a lot of space wherever it is placed to ensure that it is seen by many eyes. We can both design these displays and assemble them in-house to get them ready for use. A POP display can go a long way for selling your product in a physical location.
What are the Benefits of Warehouse Kitting?
Warehouse kitting comes with a lot of benefits, both obvious and subtle. A couple of the more obvious ones are that you will save time and money. Kits allow a company to package many products into one SKU. If only one SKU is shipped (as opposed to all items shipping separately), it will ultimately save you money in the shipping process. It also could cause your customers to spend more money. When you sell many items together in a bundle, especially at a discounted price, customers will be more incentivized to buy larger bundles to save money. This will save you money in shipping and earn you extra cash from your customers, as they may not have purchased the items within the kit if they weren’t being sold together. It is also much easier to fulfill these orders. Kitting can take place before these kits end up being sold online. If you have the kits ready to go before they are even sold, they will be much easier to package and ship. This will end with you getting your customer’s products to them faster, which will also raise your reputation. Warehouse kitting has endless benefits and can make your operation much smoother.
Choose Morrisette as Your Kitting Partner
We at Morrisette offer a kitting and fulfillment service that is top-of-the-line. With an emphasis on communication and a custom approach to every job, our teams know exactly what needs to be done to help your business. We will work with you to find a solution that works for you. If you’re in need of kitting and fulfillment solutions, then call Morrisette. Together we can bring your packaging and kitting operations to the next level. Contact us today!