The Essentials of Packaging Design
Posted By: Karl Wirtz
Posted On: 6th September ‘ 16
Your brand has seven seconds to stand out on the shelf and make a successful first impression for potential buyers. Are you making that time count? Effective packaging design simplifies a consumer’s decision-making process – helping your product shine as the clear choice from among the competition.
To help your brand stand out, check out these essentials of packaging design:
1. Form and Function
Your product’s packaging needs to both look good and be practical. This means:
- Providing the right amount of information to passersby. If potential buyers can’t easily tell what your divinely designed packaging contains, they’ll be less willing to add your product to their cart.
- Using legible text. Part of making sure consumers will understand your product is making sure they can read its name and description. Easy-to-read text will mitigate confusion and deter customers from going with one of your competitors.
- Making it easy to use. 69% of consumers say being able to easily reclose or seal a product is extremely or very important, while only 48% are satisfied with the packaging currently available to them. Using the right packaging is especially important for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and health products.
- Speaking to your audience. Half the battle is having an intimate understanding of your product’s target audience. Once you know what your audience wants, you can design packaging that will appeal to them.
2. On-the-Shelf Impact
64% of customers will pick a product off a shelf if the packaging appeals to them, even if they aren’t familiar with the brand. Your product’s packaging needs to call out to consumers – urging them to give it a try and promising satisfaction. This means that you need to get creative.
3. Honesty
Giving your packaging that special spark should never come at the expense of honesty. Tell your customers they’ll love it and then deliver. If buyers bring your product home but are disappointed with what they find, they’ll neither get it again nor tell their friends about how great it was.
4. Contemporary Design
As fashion fads fade in and out, so too does packaging. You need to be ready to adapt with the changes to make the most of your packaging.
When it’s time to switch your approach, make sure you develop a few designs to choose between. It might be love at first sight for the first design, but is that one the best? Getting input from outside eyes and vetting one idea against others will deliver the best results.
Benefits of Working with a Co-Packer
With co-packers, it’s often about more than simply packaging. Experienced co-packers will be able to help you create comprehensive solutions – offering expert guidance on displays, labelling, storage and warehousing, distribution, and more.
- Control Costs
Preparing a facility to handle largescale packaging projects (including hiring a workforce, buying equipment, and securing certifications) can be incredibly expensive, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Co-packers have already made those investments and can pass the cost benefits on to you.
Established co-packers will also have spent years developing strong relationships with suppliers, enabling them to locate the best materials and design unique, creative packaging ideas for their customers.
- Find Warehousing and Distribution Solutions
Partnering with a co-packer can help you streamline operations, providing distribution and warehouse solutions to help you prepare your products for shipping and receiving.
Work with your co-packer to brainstorm and craft packaging solutions that will meet your needs and ensure your products stand out from the competition.
Create packaging that jumps off the shelf. At WG, our experts will work with you to design packaging solutions to make your products stand out and grow sales. Contact us today to discuss your co-packing needs!
Read more from WG:
- What is a Co-Packer?
- 6 Benefits of Working with a Co-Packer
- 7 Tips for Choosing the Right Co-Packing Partner
- Congratulations to David John Vongalu, Winner of This Year’s WG Leadership Award at Sheridan College’s Pilon School of Business - June 23, 2017
- 4 Future-Forward Co-Packing Trends - May 2, 2017
- WG Connects with Companies Eager to Grow in North America at the International Sweet and Snack Fair in Germany - February 23, 2017
