A bicycle company struggling with damaged shipments used our tendency to scan content and make assumptions by putting a TV image on its box. Damage rates fell 80%
Since early 2016, VanMoof, a Dutch bicycle company, has been shipping its bikes in cardboard boxes with pictures of TVs on their face. VanMoof creative director Bex Rad explains how the bit of trickery was meant to reduce damage.
Bikes are generally thought of as more durable, so shipping companies might not be as careful as they would with a television.
“After a while, fragile labels — which we have tried, believe me — become like wallpaper,”
“We think our solution works better because shipping companies know that if they damage a TV, it ends up being a whole lot more work, so they treat it more delicately.”
The technique has noticeably reduce damages rates: Rad claimsthat the design change led to 70-80% fewer damaged bike products on arrival.