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Packaging plays an important role in the marketing of your products. It is key to attracting the attention of buyers. It helps define the product, create brand identity, and creates the first impression to consumers in the grocery or store aisles.
Table of Contents
Here are ten packaging tips that will lure consumers to buy your product:
1. Understand the customer.
The problem today is that one package may not satisfy the needs and requirements of all buyers. There are numerous niche markets out there that require specialized packaging. So, if you are targeting one of those, do your research first. What works for one target market may not work for another. For example, child-resistant closures on medicines are almost impossible for those over 50 to open.
Read the article “5 Questions to Help You Understand Your Customer”
2. Find out what package attributes appeal to the customer you are targeting.
If it’s a harried housewife shopping for your product, then the convenience of use better be at the top of the list. Those over 50 are seeking convenience too, but issues like the size of print on the package and ease of use top their priority list. Make sure your package employs the characteristics that appeal to your target market.
Read the article How to Market and Sell Food Products to Grocery Stores to understand the importance of boxes for packaging attributes to make your product stand out and sell.
3. Understand how the package will be used.
Families no longer sit and eat a meal with everyone simultaneously. There are special diet requirements or dieting in general in most households. It is not uncommon to serve different meals to different individuals. Package sizes will vary accordingly.
For example, people who travel a lot buy samples or trial-size packages because they are small and easy to deal with
4. Know your customers’ current buying trends.
Several years ago, we went through the supersized phase. There are still a lot of supersized packages. However, buying trends are changing to smaller sizes in general. To package smaller does not mean less profit; in many cases, it means more. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for convenience, ease of use, and smaller quantity.
For example, three premium baking potatoes in a package cost almost the price of a 5 lb bag. If you live with just one other person, do you really need 5 lbs of potatoes?
5. Keep abreast of new packaging technologies.
Creative new products have the advantage in the marketing world even if their technology is not new but the application is. Several years ago Metedent took the world by storm with the dual aperture dispensing mechanism. Recently a host of new cleaning products has revived interest in this type of dispensing. Look for innovative ways to combine two products into one package.
Companies like Custom Boxes Now are creating custom printed boxes and are always looking for innovative ways to combine two products into one package.
6. Watch where people shop.
There is a shift from traditional retailers to new and innovative store formats. The convenience store, once considered a low-end marketer, has now transitioned into a store that provides premium products at a premium price. This evolved from the hurry-up-and-go mindset demonstrated in today’s shopping habits. Recent studies are showing that consumers no longer make one big trip and stock up but make several trips a week and get just what is needed at the moment.
For example, the grab and go cups of snack foods convenience stores are now offering.
7. Keep pace with “hot button” packaging issues.
This includes legislation, too. People do really care about the environment and the amount of excess packaging. There is a move afoot to expand the number of vegetable-based plastic materials used in food packaging. If packaging consumers endorse these products, look for other new products to the surface. Legislation can change packaging mandates overnight. There have been “bottle bills,” surcharges, and bans on certain types of packages that prohibit the use of certain packages.
For example, several fast food companies are test-marketing corn-based plastic packaging materials; Ban juice boxes in Maine.
8. Security in packaging is becoming increasingly important.
This will continue to come into focus as more people become concerned about product integrity. One major security scare could force everyone to change their packaging methods immediately. Look for new tamper-events and security devices that can be incorporated into your packaging. Cost efficiencies are now making many of these devices more affordable and will soon become mainstream.
9. Competition for various packaging materials is increasing.
With the readily available imports to the merger and acquisition mania that is taking place, keep current on your chain of supply globalization. Certain products, such as plastic bags that used to be the mainstay of American manufacturing, have now gone offshore. Ethic diversity, both here and abroad, demands that all packaging be multi-lingual.
10. External influence of power players.
The big box retailers are driving packaging procedures and policies at retail. Mandates from these companies, such as RFID tracking, are in their infancy. This type of requirement could become mandatory overnight. If you want to do business with companies such as Home Depot and Walmart, you must include the design and selection of your packaging materials.
Remember, the customer depends on you, the manufacturer, as a resource. They expect you to keep up with packaging trends and technologies and provide the industry’s latest and greatest innovations.
Recommended Articles:
- Successful Brand Development: Branding Strategies for Your Small Business
- How to Get Your Products to the Market: Dealing with Buyers
- How to Create Your Company Identity
- How to Create Your Brand
Recommended Books on Product Packaging:
- Packaging Design: Successful Product Branding from Concept to Shelf
- Really Good Packaging Explained: Top Design Professionals Critique 300 Package Designs and Explain What Makes Them Work
- Package Design Workbook: The Art and Science of Successful Packaging
- Packaging Essentials: 100 Design Principles for Creating Packages
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