Where To Buy Cardboard Boxes

You might be thinking that the obvious answer is from us . . .and it’s a great start as we’re the home of planet friendly packaging in the UK with over 200 great value styles of cardboard boxes – here’s some great reasons to answer Priory Direct if you're wondering “where to buy cardboard boxes?” 

• Same day despatch to 5pm for those just in time situations! 
• Mix and match bulk savings on all items – get amazing rates on the cardboard boxes you need a few of as a well as the lines you buy in bulk.
• 1% of your spend back, for charity or your own pocket – you decide.
• Protect 1000m of Rainforest every order over £30.

Our cardboard boxes ranges are here: 

• Cardboard Boxes 
• Packing Boxes
• Postal Boxes
• Single Wall Boxes
• Double Wall Boxes
• Bottle Boxes
• Flower Boxes
• Gift Boxes
• Produce Trays
• Used Cardboard Boxes

But seriously “where to buy cardboard boxes” isn’t always a simple question especially if you run a large business, a multi-site operation, or if you’re a procurement team focused on price over continuity of supply and stock holding – so, we’ve written a guide below to help you decide whether buying from a distributor or manufacturer is right you. 

Throughout the purchasing journey, businesses tend to follow a specific pattern through their growth and life cycle, which simply put means as your business grows, your supply chain purchase journey changes too. To begin with, purchasing is usually through a distributor like ourselves as the right selections of products are made and growth of the business is established. After this, procurement or finance will then look to typically drive purchases directly from the manufacturer in an aim to reduce costs. But whilst this may seem a cost-effective way of sourcing your packaging, it can come with some downfalls, which is the majority of larger and more-complex businesses eventually come back to ordering from a distributor and supply chain partner in the end – we’ve drawn this journey for you below: 

 

Sourcing directly from a packaging manufacturer can cause:

 

Increased minimum order quantities

Packaging manufacturers generally have a much larger minimum order quantity compared to supply chain partners, this means that regardless of the amount of stock you actually need, you might have to purchase a lot more packaging than you actually need or have space for.

 

Longer and less reliable lead times

Unfortunately, direct purchasing from manufacturers can lead to much longer and less reliable lead times. This can create instability in being able to hold consistent stock quantities, causing you to run out of your packaging essentials when they're most needed. 

 

Increased risk of stock outages

If you’re running low on packaging supplies, perhaps due to unforeseen increased demand and sales, the last thing you want is to run out of stock for your customers. With large minimum order quantities and longer lead times, you would need to predict when to replenish your stock much further in advance. 

 

Poorer support and service

Businesses often find that once they reach that middle peak where manufacturer purchasing apepars to reduce consumable costs, they do not get the best on hand support and service that is expected and are often left short. 

Increased on site stock holding 

In order to prevent the above issues, businesses will have to increase the amount of stock they must hold on site, rather than being able to flexibly order as and when their packaging is needed. This causes pressure on the amount of space available for storage, increases the amount of locked up cash from products that can’t be sold right away, and operational inefficiencies.

 

Why choose a supply chain partner?

As these issues have implications on the business, operations and management then typically review their options and tend to drive purchasing back to a reliable supply chain partner, rather than stick with a manufacturer. This way businesses benefit from consistent support and advice for supply chain optimisation, ensuring your operation is as lean, sustainable, and effective as possible. Furthermore, you will get improved continuity of supply, and a reduction in on-site stock holding whilst operating more just-in-time. It significantly reduces your management workload on purchasing and stock maintenance by delegating this to a supply chain partner. Consistent and improved support levels and access to external stock buffers means no more reduced stock outages. Plus, businesses often improve their buying power by piggy-backing off the supply chain partners' large customer base. 

 

We support businesses throughout this journey and we’re happy to advise, even if we’re not the right place for you to buy your cardboard boxes. We work with 21,000 UK businesses to supply their cardboard boxes and sustainable packaging, ranging from sole traders and small business up to some tier 1 and 2 retailers and large operations that you might know. Here are some fantastic big businesses we’re proud to support. 

 

 

Ask the experts

If you’re still not sure where to buy cardboard boxes then we’re here to help you navigate this decision and find the right cardboard boxes for you – please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.