STORES Magazine - April 2008 - (Page 90)

NUTS AND BOLTS / LOGISTICS Shipping Warm-Up Protective packaging solutions expand selling season for Bonsai Boy BY KAREN M. KROLL W hen Eugene Neiro started Bonsai Boy of New York in 1984, he found that he could reach a number of customers interested in bonsai plants, trees and accessories by participating in street fairs and art shows throughout the New York metropolitan area. This meant lugging several thousand pounds of soil, plants and equipment to each destination, however, and after a decade he decided he needed a sales vehicle that was more efficient and less likely to induce backaches. Neiro also wanted to expand his marGiven that some of the plants Bonsai ket area, to reach customers who lived Boy offers carry price tags of several too far away to cross paths with him at hundred dollars and require decades of a fair or show. cultivation before they’re marketed, enTo further complicate matters, “bonsuring that each bonsai product arrives sai trees are not products that you purhealthy is critical. Consulting the experts chase often,” he says. Since Neiro can’t For seven years, Bonsai Boy delayed count on repeat sales, he needed to exshipment of orders for plants and trees So Bonsai Boy turned to UPS Professional Services’ Package Design and Test pand his potential target market as wide received during the winter months (it Lab, a testing service in Addison, Ill., as possible. would ship accessories, books and other where packaging engineers work with Bonsai Boy, which has a half-dozen items not affected by weather, however). UPS clients on a consulting basis develemployees, has been peddling its elaboThat meant foregoing sales during the oping potential packrately-sculpted, pintBonsai Boy’s revenue has grown 35% sized wares online since aging solutions using 1993 – before many in standards set by the with UPS Professional Services. corporate America had East Lansing, Mich.begun exploiting the based International worldwide web – and Safe Transit Association (ISTA). has an online subscriber base of about two mil“We can simulate allion customers. most any hazard in a While the Internet altypical distribution enlowed Bonsai Boy to vironment,” says lab reach a national audisupervisor Patrick Mcence, it presented anDavid. “We have tables other challenge. Bonsai that re-create road viplants and trees are brations and shock mafragile and vulnerable chines that can re-creto cold temperatures; if ate drops, compression the soil in which they’re equipment, atmospheric pressure and a templanted freezes – which perature and humidity can easily happen if the plant is poorly packchamber.” Most of the lab’s enaged and sits on a chilly gagements are with loading dock during small- to mid-sized transit – the plant will be damaged. companies that can’t 90 STORES / APRIL 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG lucrative holiday season, as well as Valentine’s Day. Neiro experimented with several techniques to try to protect the plants and soil. He would stretch bubble wrap around the pot and plant, both to protect them from the elements and keep the soil in place should the pot get tipped over. He then placed the wrapped plant into a box filled with Styrofoam peanuts. While this offered some protection, it wasn’t enough to ensure that the plants would arrive without freezing. http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - April 2008

STORES Magazine - April 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page More Retailers Bagging Monthly Comp-Store Reports Time-Warner Center's Economy-Defying Results What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Eating Locally Grocery Concept2Watch Restaurants Online Services Marketing Human Resources Product Lifecycle Management E-Commerce: Peer Reviews Drive Online Buyers Kiosks Recycling Operations Payment Systems POS Logistics E-Commerce: Getting Personal Website Management LOEB Retail Letter Arts Update Point of View NRF News Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - April 2008

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