Are you thinking about switching to plastic-free packaging? Then you know the options out there can be limited. That's why we are so excited to share three new sustainable, paper-based products that are now available directly from manufacturers on Lumi:
All three products have the benefits of paper-based products, being curbside recyclable, compostable, renewable, and made from responsibly-sourced paper. In addition, they are available from US-based manufacturer Seaman Paper which helps reduce the transit time and ocean freight costs from overseas production.
The new version of Lumi for Suppliers brings a host of big improvements to help you tailor opportunity notifications, customize your profile page to receive more customers, and track the status of payments. Let's jump right in.
You can now tailor Marketplace opportunity notifications with two new options in your Notifications settings:
The new Profile Manager allows you to edit the profile pages for your locations. Completing your profile page helps customers find you, and build trust in your capabilities. You can now easily add:
The new Billing view brings all your invoices and customer payments into one convenient location. Now you can:
In addition, we've made it easier to reconcile your payouts by adding metadata to payments in Stripe. Each payment will now include all the reference information you need to match payouts to unique IDs for POs, invoices, and customers.
It's now possible to request quotes for multiple items at the same time!
When you create a quote request, you can now add as many items as you want. A multi-item request is useful for quoting items that will be produced together, for products that come in multiple sizes, flavors, colors, etc. You can also use multi-item quotes for packaging that contains multiple sub-components like inner boxes and inserts.
Suppliers will see a multi-item quote request if all the items included match their capabilities. As you add items you'll see how many suppliers can offer all of the items in one quote.
Additionally, we've made it easier to compare quotes between different items and suppliers at a glance from the quote request page.
Previously, Chinese suppliers were only available to Lumi Managed customers. Now, anyone with a Lumi subscription plan can send quote requests, get pricing, place orders, and send messages directly with hundreds vetted factories in the US and China. Factories in China are a good option for many plastic and fabric items. They're also an efficient choice if your packaging is shipped to a co-packer in China. Browse suppliers in China →
Poly mailers and fabric bags
With high-quality rotogravure capabilities and more affordable tooling, Chinese factories are a great fit for products such as poly mailers, compostable poly mailers, and standup pouches. Inner bags span a range of materials, from clear plastic and frosted plastic to various fabrics.
Boxes, cartons, and collateral
Sourcing paper items overseas can be an opportunity to optimize your supply chain if you're already receiving finished or kitted goods from China.
Today, we’re making it simpler to keep up with your quote requests. Until now, you needed to log in to get a snapshot of all your quotes, and you needed to set up reminders about accepted quotes expiring on your own. Now Lumi sends you a weekly digest of your open quote requests and even sends you a reminder seven days before an accepted quote expires.
On top of these digests, we’ve also spent the last few weeks polishing the quote request flows across Lumi. As a result, you should see faster loading times, on-page design improvements, and supplier logos.
With the release of multi-account access last month, we've also made improvements for managing multiple clients:
We're making it easier to start using Lumi! You can now create an account on Lumi for free to set up your packaging specs and suppliers.
This makes it easier for you and your team to work through the initial design phase. Once you're ready to request quotes, you can upgrade to a paid plan. Purchase orders and analytics also require a subscription.
For packaging agencies, this means you can now deliver designs, specifications, dielines and supplier recommendations to your clients on Lumi at no cost.
Lumi now supports easily switching between company accounts. For Experts, this means you can now easily help multiple clients that use Lumi.
If your company has several independent teams (e.g. Operations and Marketing), or subsidiaries each using a separate Lumi account, you can now easily switch between them.
Great news! More suppliers have joined Lumi, opening up more options for product categories that you can order:
To find the suppliers manufacturing these products, use the Products filter in the supplier directory to search for the product you're looking for. Need a hand with your first quote request? Use this guide to get started.
This release includes big improvements to the quoting workflow for brands and suppliers on the new Lumi Platform. We've also added new capabilities for managing and tracking orders.
We’re excited to introduce you to our first Lumi Experts. Lumi Experts is a partnership program for packaging experts (agencies and individuals) that also know their way around the Lumi Platform. Brands can work with experts in-platform for a more streamlined packaging supply chain from end-to-end.
Some of our launch partners include agencies such as Ferroconcrete, Doris Dev, Fuzzco, Atlason, Guacamole Airplane, The Office of Ordinary Things and Ludlow Kingsley who are behind some of the most innovative and sustainable packaging in the world.
Lumi members can work with Lumi Experts on any of the following types of projects:
To start working with a Lumi Expert:
Big day! We're so excited to share with you one of our biggest releases to date.
With Lumi Search finding the right suppliers and products is now easier than ever, and we've made it free for anyone to use!
If you're a paying member, you can also access these extra features:
We're opening up the new version of Lumi to beta users — sign up here. If you are an existing customer and would like to join the beta, contact us. We'll be making these new features available to all users over the next few months.
To help you learn how to use these new features we've created the Operating Manual, searchable guides on how to use the Lumi Platform to source sustainable packaging and manage your supply chain. We'll be adding to it frequently, so let us know if you see anything missing!
