Packaging design originated at as purely functional, a way to protect the contents of consumer package goods during shipment and storage. Over the decades, though, CPG brands have learned how powerful an effect packaging design can have on brand perception and popularity.
There is no question that consumers love e-commerce for its convenience and the ease of comparing prices quickly. However, that does not mean there is not room for improvement. Packaging design is one aspect of e-commerce that can have a profound effect on customer experience and on customer loyalty.
Packaging design should be a strategic consideration, not an afterthought.
The most common complaints about e-commerce packaging generally have to do with obvious or concealed damage to the product, and use of packaging that is far out of proportion to the product inside. While this last problem cannot always be avoided, there are several ways you can optimize packaging design to strengthen the loyalty of your e-commerce customers. Here are seven best practices for e-commerce packaging design.
Premium foods are not really niche products, according to research by SmartBrief. This is actually terrific news for makers of premium food products, because it broadens the scope for effective marketing.
Many consumers “know” that a serving of a favorite food has, say, 200 calories, but do they know what an actual serving is? What does it look like? How much does it weigh? How much of a standard sized plate does it occupy? Consumer estimates can miss the mark significantly, and overindulging is a common consequence.
Flexible food packaging designs include pouches that stand up, reclosable pouches, and other non-rigid packages. They are an alternative to rigid packaging types like plastic bottles, glass bottles, or composite canisters and can be used for liquid, solid, or powder products.
The transition from consumer packaging designed for retail shelves to that designed for consumer doorsteps may seem straightforward. In reality, it is anything but.
E-commerce is still growing by leaps and bounds. Is your brand ready?
Many CPG brands have worked hard over the decades to remove waste from the retail store model of consumer packaging design only to have to make changes for e-commerce. Some products have made a swifter transition from bricks and mortar stores to e-commerce than others, but today there are few things that cannot be purchased online.
Many consumer products are not ready for this shift in terms of their consumer packaging design, and consequences can include higher costs and sub-par shopper experience. Building consumer packaging designs for flexibility rather than strictly for scale can be a challenge, but many brands are stepping up with terrific innovations.
Concern for environmental sustainability is growing as more consumers choose organic, vegetarian, and vegan products, often at least partly based on environmental concerns. At the same time, consumers want convenient, single-serve options in food packaging designs to go along with the on-the-go Millennial lifestyle.
Consumers are more informed than ever about what goes into the products they consume, and consumer centric packaging design can be an important channel for conveying the information that people want to know. The latest Nielsen Homescan Shopper Health Survey has provided key information on what people want to know about the ingredients in their foods.
A new survey has clarified what consumers want to know about the foods they buy.
For many years, brands called attention to ingredients they added to products, such as vitamins or calcium, but today that paradigm has made a 180-degree turn. Today, people are just as concerned with what is not in their foods as they are with what is in them. For example, they want to know if their preferred brands provide the taste, quality, and price they want without the use of artificial colors and flavors.
Sustainability in consumer packaging design is no longer considered a differentiator. That is because people expect the packaging for the things they buy to maximize sustainability by default.
Packaging is what consumers see at the store, but sustainability is an issue at every step of the supply chain.
While the desire for sustainability in consumer packaging design is strong among all consumer demographics, the younger Millennial generation is particularly concerned with sustainability as an integral part of corporate responsibility.
Since this is the case, why is it that all products do not come in the most sustainable packaging? There is, in fact, no single packaging design that will once and for all time maximize sustainability, because consumers and their needs and preferences vary so much. A smaller packaging size may seem wasteful to
The old aphorism says that you should not judge a book by its cover, yet humans often do exactly that. In fact, book manufacturers in recent years have branched out in their cover designs, altering the tactile texture of covers to help differentiate them from the traditional slick covers to which most people are accustomed.
Likewise, packaging design for consumer products is reaching out in new directions, and the term synesthetic design encompasses a lot of packaging design choices. In short, synesthetic design addresses more than just the visual appeal of packaging, connecting with consumers’ other senses as well to differentiate products from those of competitors.
However, although technology allows more scope with packaging design than ever before in history, there are certain constraints that will always apply.
People judge the (real and metaphorical) book by its cover all the time.
