How To Produce Cardboard Tube Packaging At Low Cost?

Driven by the dual trends of consumer downgrading and environmental protection, cardboard tube packaging have become a popular choice for many brand packaging due to their high appearance, environmental attributes, and strong plasticity. However, for small and medium-sized enterprises with limited budgets, the high design fees, sampling fees, and minimum order quantity thresholds often deter them from customized exclusive cardboard tube packaging. Today, let's talk about how small and medium-sized enterprises can achieve "big results" with "small money" and create cost-effective exclusive cardboard tube packaging.

Dismantling costs: Where did all the money go?

To control costs, the first step is to clarify the composition of expenses. The cost of customized cardboard tube packaging for small and medium-sized enterprises mainly includes five major categories: design fees, raw material costs, printing process fees, sampling fees, and production minimum order quantities

Design cost: Find a professional design team, and the quotation for a single packaging design may reach thousands of yuan; Even if a platform template is chosen, personalized modifications will have additional expenses.

Raw material costs: vary significantly depending on the weight, number of layers, and environmental grade of the paper. For example, food grade moisture-proof paper is 20% -30% more expensive than ordinary kraft paper.

Printing process cost: hot stamping, UV, embossing can enhance cardboard tube packaging’s texture, they can also significantly increase unit price.

Sample fee: The single sample fee is 500-1500 yuan, which is also a considerable expense when accumulated.

Minimum order quantity: Some factories require a minimum order quantity for cardboard tube packaging of 5000-10000 pcs, which creates high inventory pressure and makes it difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to digest. Precious Packaging supports a minimum order of 500pcs.

5 strategies to "slim down" and "improve" costs

1). Use template design to lower the threshold for creativity

Is the professional design fee too expensive? Precious Packaging can provide professional design for cardboard tube packaging for free. We have professional designers with over 5 years of work experience, who can provide satisfactory design drafts of cardboard tube packaging based on your ideas. If you are not satisfied, you can make modifications until you are satisfied. From communication to design and then to sampling. The whole process can be very pleasant to cooperate with, saving you time and costs.

2). Choose the right materials to double the cost-effectiveness

Raw materials account for the majority of costs, and selecting the right materials for cardboard tube packaging is crucial:

·Long term fixed procurement: Establish long-term cooperation with factories and strive for bulk procurement discounts. You will save cost if you build long-term cooperation with the same supplier.

·Clever use of "downgrade thinking": for example, if the product is positioned in the mid-range and does not need to pursue top-level food grade paper, choosing materials that meet basic safety standards can reduce costs by 15% -20%; Replacing glossy UV with matte film coating can ensure texture and save costs for cardboard tube packaging.

·Environmentally friendly materials ≠ high price: New environmentally friendly materials such as sugarcane pulp and recycled paper have prices close to traditional paper and are more in line with current consumers' green preferences.

3). When working on cardboard tube packaging, it actually helps to keep things simple and put most of your energy into how it looks.

Complicated techniques may look great, but the cost rises quickly. For many small or medium businesses, a more practical approach is something like “one main feature + basic printing”.

· Pick one thing that really represents the brand.

No need to use every technique available. One well-chosen detail is usually enough—maybe a small area of hot stamping for a tea brand’s logo, or a bit of embossing to make the product name on beauty cardboard tube packaging stand out. Too many effects tend to work against the final look anyway.

· Make colors and layout do more of the work.

Simple color blocks, a clever type choice, or a small illustration can bring more visual impact than expected, even when using standard four-color printing. This alone helps keep the process—and the cost—under control.

4). Sampling is where money disappears quietly, so it’s worth handling it carefully.
One way to avoid unnecessary prototypes is:

· Try a 3D preview first.

Some factories can show a 3D model for cardboard tube packaging before anything is printed. Looking at a moving preview usually helps confirm direction and saves several rounds of physical samples.

5). Finding a supplier with flexible rules can ease the pressure of high minimum orders.

Traditional factories often set MOQs high enough to scare off smaller brands. A few alternatives are worth considering:

· Combine orders with others.

Several companies in the same field sometimes share an order for cardboard tube packaging of the same size. Each prints a different design, but they share the production run. We’ve seen snack brands do this—what used to require 10,000 units was dropped to around 3,000.

· Look for factories that are open to small, fast runs.

Some newer cardboard tube packaging suppliers now take orders starting from about 1,000 units and can finish them within a week. The price per piece might be higher, but for small batches it’s often the most workable option. Dongguan Precious Packaging is one of the companies that offers 

this type of service.

A real example: creating eye-catching cardboard tube packaging on a shoestring.

One small candle start-up I know didn’t have much money to burn at the beginning, yet they still pulled off a nice-looking set of candle cardboard tube packaging by piecing things together bit by bit:

· Design: They didn’t hire a big agency. Instead, they grabbed a free European-style template on Canva, added their own little character illustration, and later paid a freelance designer about 80USD just to tidy up the final details.

· Materials: Nothing fancy—just standard food-grade white cardboard from a nearby supplier, finished with a matte film so it felt a little more polished without adding too much cost.

· Craft: The only special effect they invested in was hot stamping for the logo. Everything else was printed in regular four-color, which kept the whole job manageable.

· MOQ strategy: Since they definitely couldn’t handle a 10,000-unit order alone, they teamed up with two other small brands that used cardboard tube packaging of the same size. The factory agreed to a combined MOQ of 3,000 pieces, so each brand only took 1,000.

Surprisingly, that simple batch of candle cardboard tube packagings—nothing extravagant, just clean and thoughtful—ended up helping their monthly online sales climb past USD 7,000.

Conclusion

Affordable cardboard tube packaging doesn’t mean cutting corners. With some discipline around design choices, material selection, production processes, sampling, and MOQ planning, even small and medium-sized companies can build packaging box that feels unique and on-brand without draining their budget. If you’re unsure where to begin with custom packaging box, the ideas above are a good starting point. And if you run into specific issues or need pointers to suppliers or resources, you’re welcome to reach out—we can figure things out together.