packaging for Shopify stores
Packaging for Shopify Stores, Sized to Your Order Volume
The right shipping setup for a Shopify store is a volume question before it is a product question. A store shipping 40 orders a month and a store shipping 900 both need mailers, tape, and a few boxes, but they should buy them in different sizes, at different case depths, and at very different cost per order. This page builds a starter kit for three volume stages and shows the math behind each one, computed directly from the case prices of the products we stock.
Mailers first, boxes second
Most Shopify catalogs are dominated by products that do not need a box: apparel, printed goods, accessories, supplements, soft goods, anything flexible or already in retail packaging that can take light pressure. For those orders a poly mailer does the job at a fraction of the cost, weight, and storage footprint of corrugated. The self-seal strip also removes tape from most of the workflow, which matters more than it sounds once you are packing every evening.
Boxes still earn a place for rigid, fragile, and multi-item orders, and carton sizing is its own decision, covered in our medium shipping boxes guide. If you are unsure whether a given product wants a bare poly mailer or a padded one, the poly mailer vs bubble mailer comparison walks that call in detail. The short version: bare poly for soft goods, bubble lining the moment an item has a screen, a hinge, or a finish that scuffs.
One more thing you control that marketplace sellers do not: the unboxing. An order from your Shopify store arrives in your packaging, chosen by you, so the mailer is part of the brand surface. That is an argument for picking one clean look and buying it in depth, not for collecting five specialty formats before the first hundred orders.
Under 100 orders a month: the one-shelf kit
Three cases, about $135
- 10x13 clear poly mailers, 2.5 mil, 100 per case, $25.97. The workhorse. At 26 cents per order shipped it handles folded apparel, soft goods, and most single-item orders.
- 7.25x8 bubble-lined poly mailers, 200 per case, $79.16. Self-seal and white, 40 cents each, for the minority of orders that need cushioning.
- 2 inch by 55 yard carton sealing tape, 6 rolls, $30.48. Optional. Buy it only if some orders ship in boxes; the mailers above seal themselves.
That is $135.61 on the shelf, and the first two cases alone are 300 packages of capacity. At this stage, resist the urge to buy a size run. One mailer size that fits 80 percent of orders beats four sizes that each fit perfectly, because every extra SKU is cash parked on a shelf and one more decision at packing time.
100 to 500 orders a month: split sizes, stop shipping air
Somewhere past 100 orders a month, the single-size kit starts leaking money in two directions at once: small items rattling around a 10x13, and bulky orders forced into a second package. The fix is a two-size split plus a padded option for the fragile tail.
The three-SKU rotation
- 6x9 clear poly mailers, 100 per case, $20.03. Twenty cents per order for single small items.
- 12x15.5 clear poly mailers, 100 per case, $38.06. Thirty-eight cents for multi-item and bulkier soft goods.
- 9.5x14.5 bubble-lined poly mailers, 100 per case, $47.18. Forty-seven cents when the order needs padding and the 7.25x8 is too small.
On a typical mix of 60 percent small, 30 percent large, and 10 percent padded, blended packaging cost lands around 27 cents per order shipped. At 300 orders a month that is roughly $82 in mailers, and the reorder rhythm settles into two cases of 6x9 and one case of each of the others every month or so.
500 and up: case depth and tape math
Past 500 orders a month the kit keeps its shape; what changes is buying depth and the cost of the boring consumables. Tape is the clearest example, and the arithmetic is worth seeing once.
Where the cents hide
A 2 inch by 55 yard roll holds 1,980 inches of tape. Sealing a typical carton takes about 50 inches across three passes, so one roll closes roughly 39 boxes, which puts the 6-roll case at about 13 cents of tape per box. Step up to 2 inch by 1,000 yard 3M carton sealing tape, 6 rolls, $196.78, and each $32.80 roll carries 36,000 inches, enough for about 700 boxes. Tape cost drops to roughly 5 cents per box, and someone stops changing rolls eight times a shift.
This is also the stage where paper-based formats deserve a look if your brand leans on recyclability. All-paper kraft bubble mailers cost meaningfully more per piece, $121.42 for 100 in the 8.5x12 size, so treat them as a brand decision rather than a cost play. The same logic applies to niche formats like adjustable kraft mailing tubes for prints and posters: stock them when the catalog demands it, not because the kit feels incomplete without them.
The whole kit at case prices
| Item | Case count | Case price | Per piece |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5x7 clear poly mailer | 100 | $17.63 | $0.18 |
| 6x9 clear poly mailer | 100 | $20.03 | $0.20 |
| 9x12 clear poly mailer | 100 | $23.19 | $0.23 |
| 10x13 clear poly mailer | 100 | $25.97 | $0.26 |
| 12x15.5 clear poly mailer | 100 | $38.06 | $0.38 |
| 14x17 clear poly mailer | 100 | $45.07 | $0.45 |
| 7.25x8 bubble-lined mailer | 200 | $79.16 | $0.40 |
| 9.5x14.5 bubble-lined mailer | 100 | $47.18 | $0.47 |
| 8.5x12 all-paper bubble mailer | 100 | $121.42 | $1.21 |
| Carton tape, 2 in x 55 yd | 6 rolls | $30.48 | $5.08 per roll |
| Carton tape, 2 in x 1,000 yd | 6 rolls | $196.78 | $32.80 per roll |
What we would skip
Custom-printed boxes below about 500 orders a month; the unit economics rarely survive contact with a calculator. A fourth mailer size before the third one has earned its shelf space. Crinkle paper, tissue, and inserts bought before the core kit is dialed in. None of these are bad products. They are bad first purchases.
Shopify packaging questions
What size poly mailer should a new Shopify store start with?
Start with 10x13. It swallows folded apparel, most soft goods, and small multi-item orders, and a case of 100 works out to about 26 cents per order shipped. Add a second size only when one size is clearly wrong for a chunk of your orders.
Do poly mailers need packing tape?
No. The mailers in this kit are self-seal, so tape never touches most orders. Tape spend belongs to corrugated boxes only, which is one reason a mailer-first kit costs less per order than a box-first kit.
How much packaging stock should a Shopify store keep on hand?
About six weeks of orders at your current run rate. Cases of 100 make the math easy: a store shipping 300 orders a month should reorder when the shelf drops below roughly 450 mailers.
When should an order go in a box instead of a mailer?
When the item is rigid, crushable, or heavy enough that a bag invites damage, typically hard goods over a few pounds or anything with corners you care about. Everything soft or flexible ships lighter and cheaper in a mailer.
Packrift ships from 5 US warehouses with no minimums, so a starter kit arrives fast and reorders never require a pallet commitment. Buy the tier that matches this month, not the month you are planning for. The whole point of case-of-100 packaging is that you can change your mind one case at a time.
Per-piece figures are the case price divided by the piece count in the product title, rounded to the cent. Case prices are current at time of writing; product pages carry live pricing. Carrier postage not included.
Where DTC discovery is heading: AI assistants already drive a measurable share of packaging orders. We publish our own store’s monthly numbers in AI agents are buying packaging — first-party data on what ChatGPT- and Gemini-referred B2B buying looks like.