The Power Of Custom Packaging

For small businesses, bringing a product to market is an extremely intensive task. From the initial designs to the testing and marketing, there will be a huge amount of work to do along the way, and you will have to overcome a lot of challenges along the way. One of the biggest of these will be your packaging, with most new businesses choosing to use the cheapest examples they can find. Custom packaging can provide a lot of big benefits, though, and this makes it worth considering if you’re every taking a product to market.

Why Does It Matter?

Companies began using consistent packaging methods a very long time ago, as a way to separate their products from others on store shelves. As retail stores got bigger and bigger, this trend only increased, eventually setting the standard that all goods must come in some sort of packaging. With the majority of today’s spending being done online, though, do you really need to have packaging for your products?

Keeping It Safe: When a product has to go around the world, it makes sense to give it the best possible protection. Having your own boxes, bottles, and other containers gives you the chance to do just that, with most companies using their packaging as a way to keep their goods safe. It doesn’t matter if a box is scratched or dented, as long as the goods inside have been kept safe.

Brand Awareness: With customers having the chance to see your logo less and less, it makes sense to put it into as many homes as you can. By creating attractive packaging, you can make something which people won’t want to throw away, and this is a great way to get some passive marketing done.

User Experience: With the amount of unboxing videos found on YouTube, it’s plain to see that people like to enjoy the experience which comes with opening a new product. Companies like Apple have done well to take advantage of this, with their boxes and other packaging being just as premium as the products they contain.

Practicality: Most of the items which people buy don’t come on their own. Accessories, like cables and bags, form a big part of products which people buy. Keeping these items with the main product is crucial, and this is why a lot of companies have little choice but to invest in packaging.

Advertising: Businesses have been using packaging as a way to advertise their products for a very long time. As the customer is already buying something, you can safely assume that they’re interested in the area which you work in. This makes it easy to draw their attention with adverts for your other goods, neatly hidden away in your packaging for them to find later on.

Everyone Else Has It: One of the main reasons why a product needs to have packaging is that all of their competitors will have it. In the world of modern business, customers are very quick to compare their options, and this can make those which don’t have the same level of professional attention to detail will often go ignored.

Designing Your Own

Most people don’t have experience in the field of packaging design, and this will be a hard area to get into for the first time. There are companies out there which can help you with this, but this section will be assuming that you want to do it all for yourself, taking full control and putting together the packaging on your own.

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Packaging Type: The first decision you’re going to have to make when going through this process is the type of packaging you’re going to be using. Boxes are the most common, but some companies like to use bags, and certain products will force you to use options like bottles and jars. The packaging you choose has to be appropriate for your product, even if this means you need to make compromises.

Sourcing Materials: Once you have an idea of the type of packaging you’ll be using, you’ll be ready to start sourcing your materials. There are loads of companies out there which can cut boxes out of cardboard for you. When it comes to different materials, though, you will need to take a fresh approach. A silica sand supplier will be able to help you to find everything you need to make your own glass containers.

Making Designs: With your materials in hand, it will be time to focus on the designs for your packaging. In most cases, printed labels or sleeves will be used for this, and software like Adobe Illustrator will be the best option when it comes to designing them. Materials like glass will require a slightly different approach, with stickers or etching being the methods of choice for a lot of companies.

Putting It Together: Like when designing the initial product, it doesn’t make sense to mass produce something like packaging until you’ve handled a prototype. It will cost a little bit to make something like this, but it will be worth it to avoid making thousands of boxes only to realise that they don’t fit together properly.

Testing It: Finally, as the last part of this process, it’s time to think about the testing you’ll be doing with your packaging. As this is meant to protect the product on long journeys, it will make sense to test the scenarios it may find itself in. Being thrown around, crushed by other boxes, and dropped are all commonplace when an item is being shipped. If your packaging can’t get through testing, it will be time to go back to the drawing board.

Packaging may have been around for a very long time, but this doesn’t make it much easier to work with. Instead, most small companies will struggle with this when they are doing it for the first time, even having spent a long time looking at the packaging options which other companies have to offer.