A pillow or a duvet is largely made of air. That is what makes it comfortable, and what makes it expensive to transport and store. Packaging therefore has two jobs at once: to make the product sell, on the shelf or on screen, and to get it from our factory to your customer as compactly and safely as possible.
At HMG Bedtextiel, packing is the last step on the line, and one we define together with you for every order. Below you can read which types of packaging there are, what they do and which suits which channel — from discount retail to the web shop.
Roll-pack and vacuum: less air in the supply chain
With roll-packing, the product is compressed, rolled up and sealed in film; with vacuum packing, the air is drawn out of the film so the product stays flat. A synthetic-fibre pillow takes this well: once unpacked, it springs back to its full volume. Not every filling or product is equally suited to it; we look at that item by item.
The benefit runs through the whole chain. Far more fits into an outer carton, onto a pallet and into a lorry, and each pallet position in your warehouse holds more pieces. Moving less air means fewer trips and less storage space for the same number of products. How much exactly depends on the product, the filling and the size; we calculate it for you per item.
At HMG, roll-pack and vacuum packaging are part of the line itself, alongside automated filling and weighing. You can watch a pillow being vacuum-packed flat in the 3D journey of our pillow line.
The bag with a handle: packaging for the shelf
In store, the packaging is the first thing a shopper sees and picks up. Our duvets are folded into a clear bag with a handle and an insert card. Shoppers see the product, feel the fabric and carry it straight to the till; the store puts the bag on the shelf without unpacking. You can follow a duvet into its bag in the 3D journey of our duvet line.
The insert card does the selling. It carries what shoppers choose by:
- the size, large and legible, so they pick the duvet that fits their cover;
- the filling and the ticking, and what the product is good at: warmth, support or washability;
- the composition and care instructions, in the languages of the market;
- the barcode, in a fixed place for the till;
- the brand: yours, or ours, Mont Blanc.
In store, pillows often get a band: a sales band around the pillow carrying the same information. For a premium look or a stackable display, a retail box is also an option.
Outer cartons and pallets: packaging for the chain
What the shopper never sees counts just as much. Everything we ship goes into outer cartons on pallets, packed the way your distribution centre wants to receive it: the number of pieces per carton, the carton labels, the stacking and the pallet build. Standardised packaging is part of our quality management: every order is packed the same way, so what arrives at your site is always the same.
In our own warehouse, with 6,000 pallet positions, AGVs take the pallets to their place and our WMS tracks every carton and every pallet. An order leaves complete and easy to identify. For hotels and contract customers, we can pack and label per room or per floor, so housekeeping can get straight to work.
| Channel | Usual packaging | What matters |
|---|---|---|
| Discounters, retail chains and supermarkets | Bag with insert card, sales band, or roll-pack and vacuum packaging | Quick to shelve, size and filling at a glance, efficient pallets |
| Bedding specialists | Bag with handle and insert card, or a retail box | Seeing and feeling the product, an explanation of filling and comfort |
| E-commerce and marketplaces | Roll-pack or vacuum packaging, in a shipping box | Compact, sturdy shipping and a good first impression on unpacking |
| DIY stores and pet shops | Bag or compact roll-pack | Stackable, sturdy and easy to carry |
| Hotels and contract customers | Bulk in outer cartons, labelled per room or floor | Quick to unpack and distribute, little packaging per piece |
What e-commerce asks of packaging
A web shop sells from a photo rather than a shelf, and ships every product on its own. That sets different requirements. The packaging has to be compact, because parcel carriers charge by size and weight. It has to be sturdy enough for sorting centres and the last mile. And it has to make a good impression at the customer’s door: for an online shopper, unpacking is the first real contact with the product.
Roll-pack and vacuum packaging suit this well: a rolled pillow or duvet fits into a small box and lofts up again at home. Print on the pack how to unpack the product and let it recover, and keep the size and filling recognisable on the shipping pack too, for your customer and for your returns handling. Marketplaces often have their own packaging and labelling rules; include them in your brief and we will build them in.
Private label: your brand on the pack
With private label, the packaging is your calling card. Your brand appears on the woven label, the band or insert card and the bag; we help with the design and send print proofs and a finished sample for approval. Barcodes, mandatory information and languages are handled to the requirements of your market and channel. More on the service under private label.
Start with the channel, not the design: first decide how the product will be sold and shipped, then design the packaging that goes with it. A bag for the shelf and a roll-pack for the web shop can hold the same product under the same brand. How the whole project runs, from brief to pallet, is set out in private-label bedding in six steps.
Choose per channel
In your brief, state for each channel how you want to sell the product: in a bag with an insert card, in a retail box, vacuum-packed or in bulk in an outer carton. Not sure? Choose ‘Advise us’ and we will propose packaging.
Would you like to know which packaging suits your product and channel? Send us your brief and we will make you a proposal, with print proofs.
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