Picture 2027: your customer lifts a perfectly sized, plastic-free box from the porch, scans a QR code, and shares the unboxing clip moments later. With Britain already shipping 5.1 billion parcels a year, every package now carries cost, carbon, and brand equity—yet founders still gripe about soaring box prices and soggy mailers.

This guide ranks the three packaging solutions most likely to boost profit and customer loyalty by 2027, weighing sustainability, cost, brand experience, protection, and scalability so you can make data-backed decisions with confidence.

3 Best Custom Packaging Companies for Ecommerce Brands

Knowing which packaging format to use is one thing; choosing a supplier who can design, produce, and ship it sustainably is another. These three companies stand out for ecommerce brands heading into 2027, each suited to a different stage of growth.

1. Zenpack: Best End-to-End Custom Packaging Partner

Zenpack tops the list because it handles strategy, design, manufacturing, and logistics in one workflow, so a growing store never juggles a separate designer, factory, and freight desk. There is no hard minimum order, which makes bespoke boxes realistic for a first run, yet the same partner scales past 50,000 units once a product takes off. Its custom packaging for ecommerce program right-sizes each box to cut DIM-weight postage and damage claims, while FSC-certified board and plastic-free inks keep you ahead of the Plastic Packaging Tax and EPR fees. Best for brands that want one accountable partner from concept to delivered parcel.

2. Packhelp: Best Self-Serve Platform for European DTC Brands

Packhelp is a Warsaw-based online platform where you design branded mailers and boxes in the browser, order modest quantities, and receive proofs in days. Low minimums and quick turnaround make it a favourite for UK and EU sellers testing a look before committing to volume. It offers recycled and compostable options, though very high-volume or heavily engineered projects are better served by a full-service partner. Best for smaller branded runs that need speed and self-serve control.

3. noissue: Best for Sustainability-First Small Brands

noissue built its name on compostable and recycled custom packaging—mailers, tissue, tape, and stickers—aimed squarely at eco-conscious DTC brands. Low minimums and carbon-neutral shipping appeal to founders who want green credentials from day one. The catalogue leans toward soft goods and lighter formats rather than heavy protective engineering. Best for apparel, beauty, and lifestyle brands that put sustainability front and centre.

Match the partner to your stage: Zenpack for an end-to-end custom program that scales, Packhelp for fast self-serve branded runs, and noissue when compostable materials lead your brand story.

How we picked the winners

Choosing packaging is not guesswork. We ran every option through a five-point stress test that mirrors the real questions you face each day.

We weighted sustainability most heavily. With EPR fees and the Plastic Packaging Tax on the horizon, recycled content moves from nice-to-have to line-item cost. Formats that sidestep those penalties score highest.

Next was cost efficiency. We compared quotes at 1,000-unit and 10,000-unit runs and added the postage each format triggers. A carton that cuts fifteen pence in shipping often beats one that costs ten pence less to buy.

Brand experience came third. Half of UK shoppers say bespoke or reusable packaging nudges them toward a repeat purchase. If the parcel delights on arrival, it rises in the rankings.

We also tracked protective performance. Courier damage sits at a painful three to four percent of parcels. Any format that shrinks that loss earns extra credit.

Finally, we judged flexibility and scale. Low minimums suit cash-tight start-ups, while automation readiness helps high-volume brands. Solutions that cover both picked up bonus points.

We applied a clear weighting (30-25-20-15-10) and calculated a composite score. Where two options tied, sustainability broke the deadlock because compliance pressure keeps climbing.

The outcome: a ranking you can trust. Every pick checks at least three boxes with data behind it, so you know exactly why it deserves a slice of your packaging budget between now and 2027.

1. Custom Sustainable Packaging: Your Brand, Your Box

Custom packaging works like a white-glove concierge for every order. Instead of squeezing products into stock cartons, you partner with a specialist to build a box or mailer matched to your dimensions, story, and sustainability goals.

What it is and why it tops the list

Custom packaging works like a white-glove concierge for every order. Instead of squeezing products into stock cartons, you partner with a specialist to build a box or mailer matched to your dimensions, story, and sustainability goals.

That design freedom delivers three key wins.

First, it turns delivery into marketing. A branded interior print, tactile paper, or clever tear-strip sets you apart in a mailbox of plain brown. Dotcom Distribution data shows 52 percent of consumers are likely to make a repeat purchase from an online merchant that delivers premium packaging. Those extra seconds of unboxing joy translate into repeat revenue and social content you never had to fund.

Second, custom engineering wipes out the “box full of air” problem. By right-sizing from day one, you cut DIM weight charges and trim damage claims that sit in the three-to-four-percent range for standard cartons.

Finally, because you control the spec sheet, you can bake in eco materials—FSC-certified board, algae ink, mycelium inserts—without reducing strength. Packaging engineer Lofty Shen notes, switching to sustainable substrates need not weaken protection. This keeps you compliant with the Plastic Packaging Tax and proves you act on climate promises.

Custom packaging is not just a pretty box; it is a revenue lever, a cost lever, and a compliance lever wrapped in one tidy parcel.

2. Eco-Friendly Corrugated Mailer Boxes: The Versatile Workhorse

Cardboard is still the backbone of e-commerce because it works. A well-designed corrugated mailer shrugs off knocks, stacks neatly in a van, and drops straight into household recycling without fuss.

Most UK suppliers now ship board containing 70 to 100 percent recycled fibre and an FSC stamp as standard. New self-locking designs arrive flat, pop open in seconds, and need no plastic tape, so your pack bench moves faster and labour costs dip.

Protection is where corrugated excels. The fluted core acts as a built-in shock absorber, keeping cosmetics, tech, and even a bottle of craft gin safe on the bumpiest courier run. Packaging engineer Lofty Shen says, “Brands often fear that switching to eco materials will weaken the box, but a properly specced corrugated mailer offers the same crush resistance as older virgin board.”

Cost control is the other headline. A medium postal box costs about forty to fifty pence at five hundred units and drops to roughly twenty-five pence beyond five thousand. Because the box folds to Royal Mail “large letter” or “small parcel” sizes, you save on postage too. That double saving earns corrugated second place on our list.

If you still pack small items into oversized cartons, start here. Choose two or three stock mailer sizes, add a branded sticker, and—if volume justifies it—explore right-sizing machines to cut void space, then watch your shipping bill and damage claims fall together. Sometimes the workhorse deserves fresh praise.

3. Recycled and Biodegradable Mailer Bags: Lightweight, Low-Cost Shipping

Soft goods rarely need a box. For a hoodie, a novel, or a set of socks, a slim mailer does the same job with a fraction of the cardboard and grams. That weight saving matters: drop just fifty grams and many parcels slide under Royal Mail’s next price band, trimming pence from every label.

Greener mailers now on the market address the plastic dilemma directly. Choose LDPE bags made from 100 percent post-consumer waste that shoppers can recycle at supermarket drop points, or compostable blends of PLA and PBAT that break down in industrial facilities. Either option signals progress to customers who link thin plastic with landfill.

Cost stays appealing. A plain recycled poly mailer often lands under ten pence in ten-thousand lots. Branded compostable versions hover around twenty pence, still cheaper than a small box once you add filler and higher postage. For subscription brands, that gap compounds into real margin.

Protection is the trade-off. Mailers cushion nothing, so reserve them for items that bend, fold, or bounce back unscathed. Quick rule: if you could toss the product across your desk without worry, a mailer is safe. Everything else earns a box.

Upgrade the experience with a dual-seal strip so returns ride back in the same bag, and print a clear “Recycle me” or “I’m compostable” icon front and centre. Those small cues guide disposal and earn sustainability points without extra cost or complexity.

Compare your options in one quick scan

You now know the story behind each solution, but choices get easier when the facts sit side by side. Use the table below as a quick reference the next time you review packaging spend or pitch an upgrade to finance.

Conclusion

Adopting any of these three packaging solutions moves your brand closer to a leaner cost base and a lighter environmental footprint. Weigh their strengths against your catalogue and shipping profile, then pilot the best fit before 2027 arrives.

Meta is facing a backlash over its new AI tool Muse Image, which can generate pictures using other people’s profile pictures without telling them.

It is one of many text-to-image tools publicly available, which as the name suggests can create pictures from a few lines of simple written text.

Muse Image is available through the Meta AI app and web browser, as well as on WhatsApp and in Instagram Stories for US users.

While Meta says users can opt out of their image being used even with a public account, Donald Campbell, advocacy director at tech justice non-profit Foxglove told the BBC it was an “obvious recipe for disaster”.

“We’ve already seen a catalogue of harms from non-consensual AI-altered images on social platforms just in the past year,” he said.

“It is hard to see why Mark Zuckerberg thinks facilitating yet more of this creepy image manipulation is a good idea.”

The feature is likely to face heightened scrutiny as regulators and campaigners raise concerns about AI-generated images, with Ofcom currently investigating X over Grok’s role in creating and sharing non-consensual AI-altered images of real people.

Privacy International also criticised the feature, telling the BBC it was “the latest sign AI companies see people’s images and data as raw material to be exploited”.

“Pulling real users into generated photos without explicit consent is a privacy landmine waiting to detonate,” one user wrote on X, external.

Meta said a dedicated setting, separate from account privacy controls, allows users to opt out even if they have a public account.

To do so, users must go to Instagram’s settings menu, select “Sharing and Reuse” and switch off “Allow people to reuse your content on Instagram and with AI features at Meta” for posts and reels.

Around 200 jobs are at risk at John Lewis as the retailer prepares to close its in-store foreign exchange desks and dedicated gift wrapping areas, a signal of how quickly digital payments are hollowing out once-dependable high street services.

The employee-owned retailer is consulting on the plans, and no final decision has been made. If approved, the redundancies would take effect in the autumn.

The bureau de change closures will affect 30 shops, while dedicated gift wrapping areas will go in 25. Gift wrapping will not vanish entirely: the service will move to the tills, a change John Lewis says will make it more accessible.

The retailer said demand for in-store currency exchange had fallen as customers increasingly order foreign currency online and collect it in store, while others skip cash altogether and rely on credit cards or digital payments when abroad.

“As we focus on modernising this proposition to meet our customers’ changing needs, we’re proposing to close our in-store foreign exchange bureaus as well as our gift wrapping service,” a spokesperson said.

“As a result, we’re regretfully consulting with partners who currently deliver these services.”

The retailer added that it would support affected staff “throughout the consultation process and support redeployment where possible”.

For business owners, the decision holds a familiar lesson: when customers quietly stop using a service, sentiment is a poor reason to keep staffing it. If a retailer with John Lewis’s attachment to tradition is prepared to retire its gift wrapping counters, smaller firms clinging to loss-making offerings for loyalty’s sake may want to look again at their own numbers.

The episode is also a reminder of the process involved. Any employer proposing 20 or more redundancies at a single establishment within 90 days must follow collective consultation rules, with consultation starting at least 30 days before the first dismissal takes effect. Get it wrong and the penalties are steep, so SMEs contemplating restructuring should not treat consultation as a formality.

The proposals are the latest in a series of changes under chairman Jason Tarry, who took over in 2024 after a tough few years marked by job cuts and store closures, and a wider cull that has seen high street job losses climb steeply across the sector.

The partnership closed its housebuilding arm in February, a move that also led to some job losses. Yet in March it reinstated its staff bonus for the first time in four years as profits and sales improved. The bonus had been scrapped during the Covid pandemic, the first suspension since 1953.

John Lewis’s latest full-year results showed a pre-tax loss of £21m, driven by £120m of one-off costs relating mainly to write-downs on ageing tech systems. Underlying profits rose 6 per cent to £134m, while sales across the business climbed 5 per cent to £13.4bn.

Waitrose continues to outpace the department stores. Supermarket sales grew 7 per cent to £8.5bn in the year to the end of January, against a 3 per cent rise to £4.9bn at John Lewis.

The direction of travel is clear enough: fewer services that customers have drifted away from, and more investment in the in-store experiences, such as its expanding café and restaurant offering, that still pull people through the doors.

Amy Ingham

Amy is a newly qualified journalist specialising in business journalism at Business Matters with responsibility for news content for what is now the UK’s largest print and online source of current business news.

Zuber Issa has agreed to buy 85 petrol stations from the collapsed Prax Group, taking his three-year-old EG On The Move business to 285 forecourts and confirming that Britain’s most prolific forecourt entrepreneur is building a second fuel empire at speed.

The billionaire, who founded EG On The Move as a separate business in 2023, has already acquired EG Group’s UK operation and 98 forecourts from Applegreen. The Prax deal is the latest in that run of rapid acquisitions, and it will not surprise anyone who has watched his career that he is buying while others are selling.

For the small business owners who actually run the sites, the change of ownership is the detail that matters most. The 85 forecourts will continue to be operated by independent commission managers, with EG On The Move pledging further investment in food-to-go, electric vehicle charging, convenience retail and customer facilities.

Zuber Issa said: “We look forward to working alongside each operator to build on the strengths of their businesses, helping make every site more effective, more competitive and even more attractive to customers.”

The sites come out of one of the most spectacular corporate collapses the UK fuel sector has seen. Prax Group, founded by Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai and his wife Arani Soosaipillai, unravelled last year under mounting financial pressure, pushing several key companies into administration and triggering one of the biggest failures in the UK fuel supply chain in recent years.

The company owned the Lindsey oil refinery, at one point supplied about a tenth of Britain’s fuel, and operated forecourts under the TotalEnergies and Harvest Energy brands. Administrators have since alleged widespread financial irregularities, which Mr Soosaipillai disputes, and the conduct of the former directors remains the subject of an ongoing Insolvency Service investigation.

For entrepreneurs, the contrast between buyer and seller is instructive. Zuber Issa, 54, and his brother Mohsin bought a single garage in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 2001 and built EG Group into one of Europe’s largest petrol station operators. The brothers bought Asda in 2020 but have since split their business interests, with Zuber selling his stake in the supermarket in 2024 and turning his attention to roadside retail, alongside side ventures such as the revival of the Duckhams motor oil brand.

His renewed bet on forecourts comes even as electric and plug-in hybrid cars outsell petrol-only models in the UK for the first time. The answer, on this evidence, is to make the forecourt about far more than fuel. EG On The Move says it will work with commission operators to improve site performance while investing in grocery ranges, foodservice brands, car washes and rapid EV charging across the newly acquired network.

The timing is hardly accidental. The former EG Group forecourt business, now operating under the Cumberland Farms name, has confidentially filed for a New York stock market listing that could value it at about $9bn (£6.75bn), a move long trailed by the brothers. The listing is expected to crystallise shareholdings worth around $2.3bn each for the Issa brothers, cementing their status among Britain’s wealthiest entrepreneurs.

The transaction was advised by Cleary Gottlieb, PwC and the company’s banking partners.

For the UK’s independent forecourt operators, the lesson is a familiar one: when a major supplier fails, consolidators move quickly, and the businesses that thrive are those that have diversified beyond the pump.

Jamie Young

Jamie is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, bringing over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting.
Jamie holds a degree in Business Administration and regularly participates in industry conferences and workshops.

When not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring up-and-coming journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders.

British businesses are staring at another energy cost shock after wholesale gas prices jumped around 5 per cent, triggered by Donald Trump declaring the ceasefire with Iran “over” following a fresh wave of US strikes and renewed attacks on tankers in the strait of Hormuz.

The benchmark Dutch front-month gas contract at the TTF hub rose €2.424 to €49 per megawatt hour, touching €49.76 at one stage, its highest level since 11 June. The British front-month contract climbed 6 pence to 116.75p per therm.

The trigger was Trump’s declaration that the memorandum of understanding intended to end the conflict with Iran was “over”, after both sides resumed hostilities. The US launched a new round of strikes and Tehran hit American bases in the Gulf, while several tankers were attacked in the strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.

For UK firms, the timing is grim. Wholesale energy costs had been easing since mid-June, and oil had only recently slid back to pre-war levels as shipping cautiously returned to the waterway. That recovery now looks to have been unwound in a matter of hours.

Why the strait matters to your energy bill

About a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas supplies

typically pass through the strait of Hormuz. Britain does not buy much LNG directly from the Gulf, but gas is priced on a global market, so any squeeze on Qatari cargoes pushes up the wholesale prices that feed through to the fixed and variable contracts UK businesses sign.

Tuesday’s attacks underlined how fragile the reopening was. A Qatari LNG tanker was at risk of exploding and a Saudi crude tanker was damaged near the strait, prompting maritime authorities to raise the threat level for vessels transiting the waterway to severe. The Qatari tanker is awaiting salvage once a fire on board has been extinguished.

Analysts at Engie EnergyScan said: “The attacks, including a Qatari LNG carrier, reignited supply risk concerns, prompting a swift risk premium rebuild as shipping traffic through the strait remains well below normal.”

An October deadline

The International Energy Agency warned on Tuesday that if the strait is not fully reopened before October, global LNG supply could record its first annual decline since 2012. That would land just as the northern hemisphere heads into winter, when demand, and prices, are at their most unforgiving.

That is an uncomfortable prospect for a country already carrying the highest electricity costs in the G7, where gas typically sets the price of power. Every sustained move higher in the wholesale gas market flows through to the electricity bills of manufacturers, hospitality operators and high street firms alike.

What business owners should take from this

The lesson of the past week is that the energy market will reprice violently on a single statement from the White House, in either direction. Firms that assumed the worst was over when US strikes first rattled the ceasefire in May have been caught out twice.

For owners weighing up energy contracts, that argues for caution. Those on variable or out-of-contract rates are the most exposed to further spikes, while anyone banking on a calm autumn to fix at lower prices may find the window has already closed. Stress-testing cash flow against another winter of elevated gas prices is no longer a pessimist’s exercise. It is simply prudent planning.

Jamie Young

Jamie is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, bringing over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting.
Jamie holds a degree in Business Administration and regularly participates in industry conferences and workshops.

When not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring up-and-coming journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders.

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Housing affordability is expected to improve with the pace of home price growth slowing to a rate that’s lower than inflation, a new report finds.

Realtor.com on Wednesday released a midyear update to its 2026 housing market forecast that estimates home price growth will slow to 1.2% this year, a rate that’s slower than the original forecast for the year and is slower than the pace of inflation. That means home prices would be effectively declining in real, inflation-adjusted terms.

“Against a backdrop of both familiar and new challenges, the economy has proved resilient. As a result, the first half of 2026 delivered stability more than momentum in the housing market,” said Realtor.com senior economist Danielle Hale.

“The housing market is inching forward as sellers reset expectations, price growth cools, and buyers gain more negotiating power,” Hale said. “Looking ahead, we expect momentum to build through the second half of the year as more sidelined buyers and sellers find terms that will work for both sides.”

WHY AMERICAN ARE FLOCKING TO THIS FLORIDA RETIREMENT HOT SPOT

A real estate agent and a prospective buyer stand outside a home during an open house in Seattle, Washington. (David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Mortgage rates are projected to hold steady at 6.3%, the same level they were at when 2025 ended, as a resurgence of inflation caused by the Iran war undercut the prospects of interest cuts in the first of the year that could’ve helped mortgage rates decline.

The slower pace of home price growth is expected to help lower monthly mortgage payments on a year-over-year basis, which the updated forecast suggests will decline 1.9% this year – more than the initial projection of a 1.3% dip.

GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS ADD NEARLY $132K TO COST OF NEW HOME, BUILDERS SAY

Existing home sales are expected to tick higher from a year ago. (Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

By contrast, the average monthly mortgage payment rose 1.9% in 2025 and was up 7% on average from 2013 to 2019.

Existing home sales are expected to see modest improvement from a year ago, rising from 4.06 million in 2025 to an estimated 4.1 million this year – though the growth is projected to be lower than the original forecast of 4.13 million homes sold in 2026.

“Buyers and sellers have shown a lot of staying power this year,” Hale said. “This is a market where people are adjusting and showing up rather than giving up. Sellers are meeting the market with more realistic asking prices, which is helping deals get done.”

RECORD DECLINE IN HOME ASKING PRICES OFFERS BUYERS AN AFFORDABILITY BOOST

New home construction has pulled back in some parts of the country, though the Northeast and Midwest continue to face shortages. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Inventory of existing homes for sale is also expected to grow at a slower rate than previously anticipated, rising 3.6% year over year rather than the 8.9% gain projected under Realtor.com‘s initial forecast for this year.

New home sales have softened as mortgage rate buydowns and price cuts that helped encourage buyers to approach builders have lost their pull amid the stabilization of prices.

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Builders have pulled back on permits and new home starts the most sharply in the South and West, which had driven much of the national construction and have recovered more fully from supply shortages.

Across the country, the homebuilding deficit remains at an estimated 4 million homes, with the biggest opportunity in the Northeast and Midwest, which face the most significant shortages.