Simply manufacturing best quality products is not enough to succeed in the market. Product packaging plays a critical role in how consumers perceive the end product. It is a significant element in product branding and therefore, a helping hand in increasing sales.
Product packaging is a way to wrap the product to store, distribute, and sell. Apart from being classy and attractive, it should be functional as well as durable. It should protect the product until it reaches the customer. Product packaging is also an essential element of logistics. Here, packaging protects the products when stored in a warehouse or during shipment.
Having a basic knowledge of packaging is imperative for all business owners. Read on to know more about product packaging and understand how it is an important aspect of branding.
Why is Product Packaging Important?
Product packaging is the first thing that the customer witnesses when he first receives the product. It is more than just the outer covering of the product. It is the way your store interacts with the consumers. Carefully crafted boxes offer personalized unboxing experience to the consumers, which can leave a long-lasting impact. Besides, it also serves its primary function - keeping the products safe until delivery by saving them from any impact during shipment.
Packing products the right way can also save money while ensuring that the product is not damaged during shipment, and thus, you don’t need to provide a replacement. On that note, your online store’s reputation is also not on stake, and appropriate packaging can help reduce weight discrepancies as well.
Packaging and Branding: The Duo
Packaging can actively help in branding. This will ultimately lead to having a strong market presence and attracting more consumers. Let’s have a look at how packaging and branding go hand-in-hand.
Product Details
Providing requisite product details on the packaging is necessary for branding. The packaging should advertise the product when a potential buyer picks it up. For this very purpose, you must mention all the relevant details of the products on packaging. It must grab the customer’s attention. You can think of taglines that are easy to understand and at the same time, compelling. A tagline or anything that can highlight your product!
Durable Packaging
Fragile products require durable and secure packaging. You may also consider putting a ‘Fragile Product Inside’ sticker on the corrugated box to alert the courier company while transporting the same.
What type of product packaging is to be used depends a lot on the type of product to be packed. For glassware items, a lot needs to be invested in packaging inserts to keep the products safe. But if you are packing plastic water bottles, the packaging is super easy. Take a corrugated packing box and voila, your work’s done!
Bringing Changes
It is fascinating to see new and refreshing packaging of popular products that the consumers are used to. You can think of using unique fonts, colour themes, and graphical designs. This can take branding to the next level. Many brands use this technique.
Notably, it is imperative to ensure that the product packaging must go with the audience it is catering to. Selling products for children? Use animations in the packaging to catch their attention. Selling to elderly people? Make sure the fonts and colour themes are bold and readable. Similarly, some products are gender-specific, and colour theme can be used accordingly.
Novel Packaging Ideas
Packages with sleek design grab more attention and stand out from the competitors. This goes with almost all the products. But gadgets specifically require smart packaging as it has to house product, charger, data cable, user manual, and other such things. Also, the packaging should protect the products within. Nobody likes opening a smartphone box to find a broken screen!
Free Complimentary Products
Let’s be honest! We all like free complimentary products. We all sometimes pick a product solely because it has a free tag on it. A free tag on product packaging is super attractive, and it is a brilliant strategy for branding as well.
Most brands use this strategy - a free mug with coffee, a free sipper with drink mix, and a free toothbrush with toothpaste are some examples that can help gather a larger audience for the brand.
Different Sizes
Most women prefer having a big bottle of body lotion on their dressing table and a mini size bottle for their bag!
This can only be possible if the brands make products in different sizes. Keeping the same in mind, most sellers offer products in varying sizes - mini, small, large, and family size, etc. Allowing customers to choose as per their convenience increases market growth.
Most brands have also come up with travel sizes of their products, such as toothpaste, hand wash, and sanitizers, etc.
What Are the Main Functions of Packaging?
Apart from offering an excellent first impression, appropriate product packaging is multifaceted and can go a long way. Here are the top functions of product packaging:
Promotion
Packaging also promotes and advertises the products within. Food products have their ingredients on the packaging. It tells whether the product is vegetarian or non-vegetarian. Some packaging also displays how-to-use instructions. Manufacturing date, expiry date, company name, etc. are other important details that are displayed on the packaging. Displaying important information is a crucial function of packaging. It helps the consumer to make a well-informed decision.
Attract Consumers
In order to attract consumers, it is crucial to know their requirements. The main goal is creating a product that can meet all the consumer’s needs effortlessly. And that is the best way to attract consumers and encourage them to buy.
Since the first impression is vital in the buying process, a well-designed and appropriate packaging is a necessity. Choose a style, font size, and font colour that go best with your consumers. This will encourage them to pick up the product, have a look, and eventually buy. Therefore, extensive research on buyers’ likes and dislikes is required before finalizing packaging to ensure attractive and compelling packaging.
Differentiation
With so many products on the shelf, it is but undeniable for the consumers to get confused. There is no shortage of products in the market, and most retailers group them on one shelf for the buyer to locate them. The competition is high! Eye-catchy and the well-designed product packaging is the best way to beat the competition. You may have a similar size and shape of packaging as your competitor, but the design needs to be different to grab attention.
Conclusion
Undoubtedly, advertisement is critical for brand recognition and sales. But, we live in a world where things are judged by their cover. So, product packaging is bound to be imperative for eCommerce businesses. It plays a huge role in selling products, and every seller must know that packaging and branding go together. A nicely packed product enhances customer expectation as well as satisfaction.
