Bishop’s University Alumni and Present Student Collaborate on Industry-Disrupting Startup

Over the summer, current Bishop’s University third year student Adam Wong had the opportunity to work for and collaborate with Bishop’s University alumni Rodney Taylor, on an E-Commerce website called The Packaging Company™ (TPC).

Rodney Taylor, who graduated with a BBA from Bishop’s University in 1988, was thrilled to be working alongside a current Bishop’s student:

“As a Bishop’s alumni, I know that Bishop’s University’s reputation as a leader in the field of undergraduate education would manifest itself with any undertaking that I challenged Adam with. It was truly an honour to work with and mentor a fellow Gaiter, and I am so proud of the culmination of our work efforts, which resulted in The Packaging Company™ winning Canada Post’s prestigious award of ‘Most Disruptive Start-Up E-Commerce Business in 2017’.”

Read more about TPC’s win at the 2017 Canada Post Awards here.

The Packaging Company™ launched in 2016 as a Canadian-based online retailer, recognizing the challenges that retailers face with their packaging processes after checkout. Since then, TPC has expanded to offer a full assortment of custom packaging, moving products, packaging supplies, and first aid kits, supporting online retailers of all sizes. Due to the large variety of products that TPC offers, extensive data management is required. Adam spent most of his time at TPC working on managing data from a multitude of suppliers, using an advanced database management toolset called TOAD (Tools for Oracle Application Development). Adam utilized expressions (sequences of characters that define search patterns) to extract valuable details such as product codes and dimensions, to help him organize and categorize thousands of items.

The Packaging Company™ is constantly looking for ways to improve the overall customer experience by adding new and innovative features and offerings to their online platform. One of TPC’s most recent additions features a Custom Box platform which enables customers to create their very own custom box. The process starts with selecting one of three different box styles, after which the customer then specifies the quantity and dimensions of their desired box. The final step allows the customer to choose from over 19 different colour options (including purple of course!) for printing on both the inside and/or outside of the box, which results in over 300 possible colour combinations.

By using advanced technology, TPC has automated the ordering process by linking ERP software directly to their supplier’s network. This integration provides a seamless user experience, giving customers dynamic pricing and design flexibility, also allowing them to complete the entire purchase journey online without the need to interact with a sales representative.

The Packaging Company™ has disrupted the E-Commerce packaging world by eliminating B2B barriers that were imposed by traditional packaging industry business models. Their forward-thinking approach eliminates the need for traditional account managers, which allows TPC and its vendors to competitively price their offerings, to better support the needs of today’s E-Commerce vendors.

Adam and Rodney would like to express their gratitude towards Bishop’s University and its community, and congratulate everyone at The Packaging Company™ for their well-deserved Canada Post Awards win.