Belle Vie Candle “creates vegan and non toxic candles, with a classic, simple design that can accommodate any home’s decor, while aiming to bring a little humor and joy in the lives of everyday people”
Brandy Corley, the founder of Belle Vie Candle, actually started off with an online home decor business, but quickly discovered her talent in creating quirky and eco-friendly candles.
Now fully focused on the candle business, Belle Vie Candle was now on the search for the perfect packaging solution that not only showcased their quirky brand personality, but also stayed true to the environmental commitment the brand has made.
The Challenge
The main challenge faced by Belle Vie Candle was ensuring that the packaging truly reflected the candle’s aesthetic, branding and message all while being eco-friendly and protective.
“We also wanted to create an experience for our customers when unboxing, but without the environmental impact a lot of companies have.”
While Belle Vie Candle had a good idea of what their ideal packaging should look like, it deemed itself difficult to find the right packaging company that would provide consistent results at a reasonable price.
It was important for Belle Vie Candle to serve their commitment to sustainability by providing eco-friendly products to their customers.
However, with greenwashing and astronomical pricing structures in the eco-friendly packaging industry, Belle Vie Candle found it challenging to find packaging that would complement their brand and products.
Another challenge that Belle Vie Candle would face is shipping the bulk order that they would need. Even in the early stages of the pandemic, supply chains began to falter skyrocketing shipping costs.
Brandy contacted PakFactory in 2020 and was thrilled with the pricing structure, eco-friendly solutions and shipping options.
The Solution
Belle Vie Candles are hand packaged and designed, so it was important to make sure the packaging process was convenient and time efficient, especially in a time where their orders started to ramp up.
Belle Vie Candle and PakFactory determined that Auto Bottom Boxes would be the perfect fit for their products.
Auto bottom boxes do not require adhesive upon assembly and provide enough support to the bottom to hold slightly more heavy weight products, like candles!
“The time saved by using the Auto Lock Bottoms is a life saver for a small business with 2-3 employees pulling all the weight. It’s impact has been significant.” – Brandy Corley
The folding carton material was also a must for their products as it is eco-friendly, recyclable and provides an optimal surface for high quality printing.
Because Belle Vie Candle already had such a clear vision of their ideal packaging, working with our product specialists was a smooth process.
Brandy provided a beta version of their desired artwork design and collaborated with our packaging designers to tweak and optimize the artwork for their auto bottom lock boxes.
After several design changes and samples, we were able to come up with the final design and send it off for production.
As previously mentioned, shipping was a challenge for a bulk order in the midst of a pandemic.
However, our logistics team was able to alleviate this challenge by providing the option sea freight for their bulk order.
Not only did this make their shipping costs more affordable, but because the auto bottom boxes are shipped flat, their packaging supply was able to arrive in one delivery.
The Result
Belle Vie Candle is in fact an e-commerce run business, making packaging the first interaction customers have with their products.
It was important that their customers felt the care and attention put into the product as well as the overall experience of their branding and unboxing.
“Upgrading our packaging has had a measurable impact on increased revenue, reviews, and overall growth for our small business.”
The Minimalist design and convenient structure paired with their quirky branding and quotes was the perfect blend Belle Vie Candle was looking for.
Not only is their packaging an accurate reflection of their brand personality, but it also stays true to the product’s roots in sustainability while ensuring a smooth and time efficient packaging process.
“We are very proud of the design, the sustainability aspect, the overall branding and the uniqueness of our packaging.”
Overall, PakFactory was able to provide consistent and high quality results for Belle Vie Candle’s products.
Belle Vie Candle and PakFactory have built a long term relationship since their initial order back in 2020, with the 3rd order on the way as we speak!
“It is worth the time invested in design and any added costs to operating your ecommerce business. A little effort goes a long way, you do not have to have elaborate packaging to create an experience for your customers. They see the effort and appreciate it.” – Brandy Corley
While the design process was time consuming and required a lot of care and collaboration, in the end the results are all worth it.