“We needed a moving-box line that looked like our brand and survived regional logistics,” says Mei Lin, Brand Manager at HomeMove Asia. “On week two of planning, we heard the same question from our customer care team and store partners: where do you get moving boxes at scale?” That’s also when **upsstore** came up in our benchmarking conversations—retail print-and-pack stores that made pick-up feel obvious for first-time movers.
The brief felt deceptively simple: create standardized kits—wardrobe boxes, book boxes, labels, tape—across six cities, with clear print, strong corrugated, and instructions people actually read. We’d been burned by lookalike cartons before: one season of dull inks, bent rails, and returns that rattled our margins and our confidence.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Six months after we reworked the substrate, moved to Digital Printing for short-run SKUs, and set up regional pick-up, damage claims were down by roughly 27%, kitting time per order halved, and the unboxing experience finally matched the brand we wanted on day one.
Company Overview and History
Founded in 2018, HomeMove Asia serves first-time renters and mobile young families across Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Bangkok. The brand’s identity is clean and calm—soft neutrals with a single accent color—yet the moving season is anything but. Before this project, packaging came from five vendors, mostly generic corrugated with one-color flexo marks. Brand color drifted every batch; typography looked fine on PDFs, but weak on shelf.
We tracked how customers searched and bought. A surprising number typed “upsstore near me,” and a large share—especially in Singapore—asked live chat some version of “where do you get moving boxes that don’t collapse?” That told us two things: pick-up matters, and trust in quality matters more than a flashy launch promo.
On the print side, we cataloged what worked and what didn’t. Single-wall corrugated saved a few cents, but rails sagged and print density varied. We had to reconcile structural and print decisions: double-wall for wardrobe, single-wall only for light SKUs; keep to Water-based Ink for odor and sustainability; and move beyond the one-color flexo stamp to Digital Printing for the kit graphics and handling instructions.
Quality and Consistency Issues
We were fighting two battles: durability and color. Claims tied to crush or scuffing hovered around 4–6% of kit orders during peak months, and color accuracy swung with ΔE values in the 3–6 range across vendors. Our rails in the moving house wardrobe boxes occasionally bent during longer rides, especially on humid routes into the Klang Valley.
Operationally, changeovers took 40–50 minutes when we printed seasonal marks, and we scrapped 8–10% of labels for minor registration issues. Packaging wasn’t just a cost line; it was eroding trust. As a brand team, we needed fewer variables, more predictable color, and a box that felt reassuring when customers pulled it out of the van.
Solution Design and Configuration
We chose Digital Printing on corrugated for Short-Run, city-specific SKUs and retained Flexographic Printing for long-run blanks used in wholesale. Corrugated Board moved to a heavier spec: double-wall for wardrobe, E-flute for small accessory boxes. We paired Water-based Ink with a food-safe compliant varnish to keep odor low and meet common regional expectations. Finishes included precise Die-Cutting for handholds and a matte Varnishing that resisted scuff without feeling plasticky. Variable Data allowed city codes, QR (ISO/IEC 18004) for instructions, and batch tracking.
From a brand lens, the design goal was clarity over cleverness. We kept the accent color within a ΔE target of 2–3 and printed three simple panels: step-by-step assembly, weight guidance, and a QR to a 30-second video. We defined three core SKUs—wardrobe, book, and a starter set of empty boxes for moving—so packers didn’t have to guess which kit matched which order size.
Distribution needed to feel familiar. We enabled store pickup through a retail print-and-pack network—yes, including the upsstore locations in our test corridors—so customers who still typed “where do you get moving boxes” could see the same kit at checkout and in-store. That single move reduced confusion, because the design, codes, and copy matched across touchpoints.
Pilot Production and Validation
The pilot ran eight weeks across Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. We kept runs between 500–1,500 units per SKU and set a quality gate aimed at 92–94% FPY versus our prior 82–85%. Color stayed tight; ΔE landed mostly within 2–3. The wardrobe box passed ISTA-style drop tests at loaded weights, and the QR help videos saw a view-through rate around 45–55%, which suggested the printed instructions were short and clear enough to prompt a scan.
But there’s a catch. Humidity in late-season weeks pushed adhesive cure times out by 15–20 minutes. We switched to a slightly different varnish window to maintain bond strength and ran a quick retest on two lines. Not glamorous work, but it saved a headache: zero rail separation in the final two weeks. We also documented tape performance on heavier SKUs and kept a watchlist for the next monsoon cycle.
Quantitative Results and Metrics
Fast forward six months. Claims tied to transit damage moved down by roughly 27% across the corridor. Returns tied to poor assembly fell by about 18–22%. Kitting time per order went from ~14 minutes to ~7 minutes as instructions and variable marks reduced questions. Throughput in the main hub rose from about 210 to 380 kits per day without adding a shift. Waste rate on labels settled near 5–6%, versus 8–10% before.
Cost per unit on digitally printed panels ended up 8–12% higher than one-color flexo for long runs, but the brand impact and reduced claims paid back in roughly 9–12 months depending on route mix. We also saw fewer color complaints; customer photos on social showed the boxes in use, which helped referrals more than another discount ever did.
My view as a brand manager: simplicity wins. We didn’t chase every embellishment. We built a kit that worked, looked consistent, and showed up where people actually buy—online and at familiar counters they already trust. If you still hear customers asking “where do you get moving boxes,” that’s a signal to align product, print, and pickup. For us, bringing retail partners like **upsstore** into the same workflow as our e-commerce cart made the handoff feel obvious, not forced.
