GOLDSMITHS (Watches of Switzerland Group), is a jewellery retailer with over 230 years of tradition and experience, in that time growing to become one of the largest jewellers in the UK. Their first showroom, located in Newcastle, opened in 1778 and is still trading today on the same site. The business has over 120 showrooms nationwide with head office now located in Leicester.
The Challenge
Lil were approached very early on in the .com story for Goldmiths. The challenge was to implement custom-printed packaging with an experience which was ‘in-keeping’ with what their ‘traditionally in-store’ customers would typically expect if placing their what might be their first online order, typically in excess of hundreds of pounds value.
The Problem
Matching budget expectations. Coming from the simplest of traditional packaging of bubble wrap, Jiffys & plain boxes whilst desiring Lil’s S.U.R.F. promises of improved Sustainability, Unboxing experience, Reduced Returns & Faster Fulfilment meant that this was Lil’s biggest challenge to date. Particularly when initial order quantities were so much lower than they are today.
The Solution
While budget would not stretch to the original request of 99% flood print black externally, our idea to incorporate ‘thank you for shopping with us’ in our artwork for Goldsmiths (yes we created all of the artwork) struck a chord. It was exactly ‘in keeping’ and aligned with their in-store brand values.
Having studied Goldsmiths most popular selling SKUs, we proposed 2 sizes that would do it all. This was much to the surprise of all stakeholders who had budgeted upto 4 sizes.
Our patented integrated Breeze tissue paper was custom-printed and took them fractionally over-budget but was worth every penny. It meant no need for tape or voidfill, and it more than halved the time to fulfil each order.
The Outcome
Our work for Goldsmiths was so successful that the Watches of Switzerland Group commissioned Lil to produce a similar suite of Breezeboxes for the Mappin & Webb brand and by 2015, an adaptation of our twistwrap invention (originally invented for LEGO™) to package fast-moving affordably priced watches for their WatchShop division… Our L-WCH twistwrap was born; just 1 size required to ship over 95% of their orders, with no need for voidfill or sealing tape and average pack-time under 20 seconds.