Protective Packaging That Fits Each Industry

How ecommerce, automotive, 3PLs and healthcare reduce damage, improve throughput and control cost by matching protective packaging to the application.

Industry-Specific Packaging for Better Protection and Efficiency

Navigating protective packaging is vital for industries like ecommerce, automotive, 3PLs and healthcare. This blog highlights how tailored solutions reduce damage, enhance efficiency and support sustainability.

Selecting the right protective packaging can significantly impact business operations. With considerations such as minimizing damage rates, improving throughput and aligning with environmental initiatives, it's essential to evaluate your options carefully.

The most effective solution is not one-size-fits-all. A customized approach is essential whether you are in the consumer-centric world of ecommerce or the vast landscape of third-party logistics (3PL).

Let's explore ways tailored protective packaging solutions can meet the nuanced needs of each industry.

How To Optimize Protective Packaging For Ecommerce Shipments

Online ordering, ship-from-store fulfillment and same-day delivery keep compressing delivery windows and customers are continuing to judge brands by what lands on the doorstep.

That impression has a dollar value. In Sifted's 2025 delivery survey, 76% of US consumers said a positive delivery experience drives whether they buy again, so the cost of one failed delivery outlasts the order itself.

Ecommerce keeps gaining ground. Online sales reached 16.6% of US retail by late 2025, growing faster than retail overall. As this increasingly becomes the default way people shop, consistency and protection carry more weight than any other attribute. Customers expect every order to arrive intact, every time. Miss that mark and the cost lands in two places that matter: a reship that piles on material, freight and labor, and a shopper who takes the next order elsewhere.

Reducing damage is how an operation delivers on both. Fewer damaged shipments mean lower total cost, lower cost on freight, less waste and, most importantly, a better customer experience. They also mean fewer reships, and avoiding that second shipment is one of the most direct ways to support environmental priorities.

So what's the best way to reduce product damage? Start with a partner that can optimize your packaging around the application, because the right level of protection begins with the product: how fragile it is, how it ships and what the operation is trying to accomplish. Once those requirements are clear, Pregis IQ® (Innovation Headquarters) is where the team validates the design and tests it against real damage, throughput and cost data before anything ships.

Optimizing Protective Packaging For Automotive

Demand for electric vehicles shows no sign of slowing. EV sales are expected to reach 23 million globally in 2026, representing 28% of all new-car sales worldwide.

That growth is reshaping the aftermarket. Portfolios are expanding, spare parts are becoming more complex and raw-material prices for batteries have jumped over 100% since 2021. Add direct-to-consumer demand for same- and next-day delivery across hundreds of SKUs, and the packaging challenge multiplies.

Affordability is changing buyer behavior, too. Consumers are keeping vehicles longer and working to preserve the ones they own, which sustains steady demand for aftermarket parts. Global disruptions on imported components add cost pressure across the board and make total cost of ownership a priority for nearly every supplier.

Two challenges matter most here: scaling packing operations to meet rising demand, and protecting delicate surfaces through manufacturing, assembly and transport. Packaging also has to perform beyond outbound delivery. As more parts ship directly to customers and dealers, returns must travel safely without adding damage or cost.

In one case, Pregis helped an automotive OEM rethink the packaging behind re-manufactured headlamp returns. The original foam-in-place protected outbound shipments but made returns difficult to repack. A 3% damage rate drove more than $800,000 in monthly losses and $9.8 million in losses a year. Pregis introduced an on-demand inflatable solution, the Pregis AirSpeed® ChamberPak® system, projected to deliver nearly $5 million in annual savings.

For a closer look at how expanding EV portfolios change packaging requirements, see 5 Ways Smarter Packaging Powers the EV Aftermarket.

Optimizing Protective Packaging For Third Party Logistics (3PL)

Also known as order fulfillment, a 3PL helps customer-facing brands outsource warehousing, supply chain management and order processing. That places the 3PL in the middle of the relationship between the retailer and the shopper, responsible for protecting both the product and the brand experience.

Three forces are shaping 3PL decisions right now:

1. Shoppers are increasingly value-driven. They weigh price against how well a product holds up and will trade brand loyalty for one that delivers on both.
2. Omnichannel remains the strategy for meeting delivery expectations.
3. And rising parcel costs are pushing operations toward rightsizing to offset the increase.

Let's take a look at how those forces are taking shape in the market.

A single 3PL may serve many retailers, each with different products and different customer expectations. That's some serious complexity to manage. Packaging systems that support multiple applications from one machine are a great way to tackle that complexity. The Pregis EasyPack® Strata system, for example, produces structured paper pads for everything from void fill to heavier cushioning from a single machine, which simplifies training, reduces space requirements and lowers process complexity across a wide SKU mix.

A 3PL can also drive brand value and social responsibility. For example, Pregis and a large third-party logistics provider came together to redefine value and elevate the customer experience through the Pregis AirSpeed® HC Inspyre™ portfolio. Beyond cushioning performance, the Inspyre™ line ties packaging to a cause: at least 1% of Inspyre sales fund Uzima Water Filters, a charity providing access to clean water to individuals and communities in need. This gives socially conscious brands a story their customers value.

A separate engagement shows what happens when the setup misses. A national ecommerce 3PL had selected a void-fill system from another provider on unit price alone. On the floor, that choice worked against the operation: products arrived damaged, orders needed rework and both material and labor went to waste. Material price is only one part of the equation, and a low number on the invoice was quietly running up the total cost of every shipment. Switching to Pregis reset the math. With an AirSpeed® on-demand inflatable system, an EasyPack® on-demand paper system and a Pregis Sharp® automated bagging system, the operation saw roughly $120,000 in annual productivity savings, $60,000 in annual material savings and $120,000 in damage reduction, plus better use of space and improved safety.

Optimizing Protective Packaging For Healthcare And Medtech

Healthcare is shipping more product directly to patients and consumers than ever, and medtech wearables are a prime example. IDC estimates 534.6 million wearable units shipped in 2024. The global wearable market was valued at $103.04 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $324.73 billion by 2032.

These devices, from continuous glucose monitors to ECG patches and sleep-tracking rings, are high-value, fragile and increasingly sent straight to the home. That makes protection and cost harder to get right at once, and the customer experience depends on both.

For more on this fast-growing category, see Wearables Are Reshaping Healthcare: Does Your Packaging Keep Pace?

Rightsizing has proven to be an impactful place to start. Each right-sized package reduces void space, material and freight. Returns need to be simple, since many devices go back for servicing or after a trial period. Damage prevention has to be built in from the start, as even minor in-transit movement can compromise a sensitive device.

The same priorities carry into pharmaceutical fulfillment, where automation becomes the lever. As medication volumes climb and skilled packing labor gets harder to keep, automated systems absorb both the cost and the labor at once, taking repetitive steps off the line while trimming material and freight. Take this example from a veterinary pharmaceutical customer of Pregis: They moved from corrugated boxes to automated bagging, saving $225,000 in annual freight costs while reallocating five employees away from manual box assembly.

The Winning Approach

Ecommerce, automotive, 3PL and healthcare each bring their own requirements, but the underlying approach to optimize packaging strategy is the same. Priority one is to match the packaging to the application. That match starts with the work itself; what the product is; how it gets damaged; and what the operation has to hit on cost, speed and sustainability. Once those requirements are set, data, analysis and testing become the next pivotal piece of the puzzle. The Pregis IQ® is how our team pressure-tests options against real damage, throughput and cost data, and settles on the design that holds up. When an application-based approach pairs with rigorous data and testing, packaging stops reading as a line item and starts earning its place. When your packaging strategy is due for another look, the Pregis team can work through the same drivers of total cost: damage, sustainability, labor, packaging efficiency and material testing, then build the solution around your operation.

Contact a Pregis packaging expert today to learn more.

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