The food industry is indeed one of the most competitive industries. All the players operating in the sector need to come up with novel ideas to attract customers apart from offering hot, tempting, and scrumptious food items. This is where packaging for food products comes into the picture.
For the food industry, food packaging is as important as the contents inside. An inappropriately packed food can give the consumers a disastrous experience, and they might never want to buy again. Whereas, appropriate packaging can prolong a product’s shelf-life and facilitate shipping as well. Knowing the latest food packaging ideas and making the right packaging selection can help you keep your game up.
Why is packaging for food products essential? What are some food packaging tips to follow? Let’s take a look.
Why is Food Packaging Important?
Improper packaging can make the food less appetizing. Apart from making the food attractive, the food packaging serves a lot other purposes as well—protecting food from contamination, ensuring its temperature, and saving it from impact during shipping.
In a nutshell, packaging creates an association between the food brand and the audience. It leaves a long-lasting image in their mind. If not now, it motivates the consumers to make a purchase some other time. Packaging makes the food more delicious. It makes you win the half battle - food that looks better tastes even better. That’s its impact!
Upon delivery, if customers find the food spilt all over the packaging, he feels disgusted. So, the shipping packaging is also equally important. It keeps the product safe and in place until delivery. As pointed previously, it attracts the customers and encourages them to buy the product.
For instance, if you sell, say items in a pack of 12. You pack the same untidily and ship them. It will give the consumers a bad impression of your brand. Also, since the food items are meant to intake, many consumers may feel disgusted to intake them just because they ain’t packed nicely. Maybe they are spilt all over the packaging. So, you must pack them nicely in a small or medium corrugated box.
In all, you must also not miss this amazing opportunity to deliver quality to your customers through packaging and encourage them to make yet another purchase from you.
Latest Trends in Food Packaging
You must know the latest trends in food packaging to ensure you are not left behind in the highly competitive industry. Give your packaging an edge by incorporating the following ideas:
Minimal Design
Take inspiration from book covers and road signage. Break yourself free from cluttered designs and big typefaces!
Bold Colors
Bold colors in food packaging are in fashion these days. In addition to attracting customers, they go pretty well with different designs as well.
Creativity
Creativity with packaging shape is also the new trend in the market. Imagine buying aloe vera juice packed in an aloe vera shaped packet. Nice, no? Many food companies are adopting the same creativity.
Functionality
Many organizations are creating functional packaging to let the customers carry food with much ease. This is the new trend in the market.
Food Packaging Tips
We understand that choosing the right product packaging and designing can be a tedious task, especially for eCommerce packaging as the products need to be shipped to far off locations. That’s why we have enlisted a few tips to help you comprehend the product packaging designing process.
Choosing the Right Material
The first step is to choose the right packaging material. There are different kinds of material that you can choose from - corrugated boxes, cardboards, boxboard, courier bags, paper bags, and plastics. All of these materials have different strengths and weaknesses.
Polystyrene is used to maintain food temperature. But it is bad for the environment as it is non-biodegradable. Plastic is excellent for wet food as it prevents leakage. Some plastic containers are biodegradable, while others are non-biodegradable. Cardboard is biodegradable. It is easy to print on as well, but it can turn into mush if wet food is stored in it. There is a growing variety of food packaging material to choose from.
Similarly, what are the food delivery needs? Does your food need to travel to long-distances? For how long does the food will remain in the packaging? What are its temperature requirements? Answers of all these questions will help you create the best food packaging for your needs.
Packaging & Branding
After determining the kind of material you want to source for packaging, now is the time to think of branding. Packaging interacts with the customers. You will miss a huge opportunity if you have not branded the packaging with proper design. In essence, the packaging is the representation and feel of the brand’s personality. It not just draws customers’ attention but also help them recognize the products crowded in the retail space.
So, use different fonts, colors, and themes. Ensure your company name is easily visible on the packaging. Ensure packaging communicates to the customers’ emotions. See how nicely McDonald’s uses the space for branding.
Industry Regulations
Not complying with packaging regulations as imposed by FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) can have serious consequences. Worst case scenario, you may need to recall your products. So, search on the food regulations that apply to the labeling & labeling, and follow them.
The following are the FSSAI food packaging regulations:
- Name of the food product
- List of the ingredients
- Nutritional Information
- Declaration regarding whether the food is veg or non-veg
- Declaration regarding food additives
- Name and complete address of the manufacturer
- Net quantity
- Lot/Code/Batch Identification
- Date of manufacture or packing
- Best before and Use By Date
- Country of origin for imported food
- Instructions for use
Compostable Packaging
Run an environmentally-conscious business that prioritizes recyclable and biodegradable packaging material. More and more consumers these days are becoming aware of the impact of non-biodegradable packaging these days. You also need to be mindful of the same.
Many restaurants have got this message loud and clear. They are leveraging it to the best to attract more customers. On the last Environment Day, McDonald’s global also announced to source its 100% food packaging material from renewable and recyclable sources by 2025.
Communicate with Customers
Don’t just serve food to your customers, through your packaging tell them the journey and story of your brand. Let your message create a unique food packaging design.
Unique packaging for food products will provide the buyers a novel experience and help you stand apart from the competitors.
The Final Say
Product packaging is the first point of contact between the company and the consumer. Packaging also plays a critical role in impacting consumer behaviour. So, it is worth putting time and effort into it. However, creating product packaging designs can be a challenging task. But, with the easy and practical tips discussed above, you can manage the product packaging process effortlessly. All the best!
