E-commerce is getting bigger and better. Approximately, there are over 30 million micro-businesses recorded in the United States. This accounts for 99.9% of all businesses in the country. In this type of trade, not only are logistics crucial but also the packaging. Packaging is one of the faces of your brand. It elicits first impressions and is often your customer’s first introduction to your product. Being that highly important, it is something that you need to meticulously plan. Product packaging is your brand’s clothing and often it can go a long way in creating a good first impression and lasting brand and service loyalty.
In Forbes (2016), it was found that 60-80% of customers who are satisfied with the product but not with its packaging do not go back to the same store anymore. From this, we can say that even if your products are useful, your packaging equally has to wowor provide them a remarkable experience. Additionally, Ipsos (2018) mentioned that 72% of customers say their purchasing decision is usually influenced by a product’s packaging design and 49% are willing to pay a little extra for it. Relatively, Dotcom Distribution (2016) revealed that 61% of customers say that they are more likely to repeat a luxury product purchase if it came in exclusive and premium packaging. Forty percent of consumers will also share an image of a product’s packaging on their social media if they find it unique.
Based on these figures, we can only infer that consumers also value the feeling and experience they get when receiving your products. It is almost as if receiving a gift personally packed for them. The look of your product from a catalog or a shelf and experience opening it provide a psychological mood lift to the consumer. This is not a surprise because purchasing and opening a product is scientifically proven to be associated with feelings of pleasure and joy because it releases endorphins in the brain.
In building an effective product packaging, the design elements should be functional, purposeful, and entertaining. Remember the rule of thumb, the more bizarre, creative, and fascinating your packaging looks, the more likely your product will sell. Here are a few ways:
- Play with patterns
Patterns are simple, flexible, and remarkable. Simple in terms of design since you only need one layout which should look good repetitively. It is flexible since you can use it as a layout for all your product dimensions and remarkable since it follows a psychological approach to brand reinforcement such as in the image below. The next time, you see a green dot, hopefully, it reminds you of a famous doughnut brand.
(Source:Unsplash)
2. Blank design is still a design
Simplicity speaks beauty. This is a known principle in design and layout. Let your product speak for itself and take it lightly on the packaging. In this sample packaging style, the gold stamping still compliments the overall look of the box and gave it a classy finish. The texture of the box also evokes elegance and gave simplicity a body.
(Source:Unsplash)
3. Capitalize on transparency.
Ever wondered why products like sponges, peanuts, and mushrooms are packed in transparent bags. It is meant for a reason. Consumers have to feel how soft the sponge is to gauge its durability, check how big the peanuts are, or instantly assess if the mushrooms are shitake ones because not a lot will remember what a shitake is but they can remember how it looks like. Packaging like this helps consumers remember products they have encountered before but have forgotten which brand or type. With this, you are also putting an actual look for your customers so they can be rest-assured about what they are getting.
(Source:Unsplash)
4. Keep it…
