In the early days of your retail or ecommerce business, packaging is one of the hurdles you need to tackle head on. It is often overlooked as other elements, such as marketing and sales, take the centre stage. However, packaging is an extremely important element to establishing your brand and can become an integral part of your marketing strategy. For an ecommerce business, for example, good quality and good looking packaging can be one of the best ways to make a good impression and build customer loyalty and increase customer retention. It can also be a great way to drive more sales and communicate with your existing customers. Therefore, for start-ups it really shouldn’t be as overlooked as it often is. We’ve put together some packaging top tips for start ups to guide you through the process of sorting out your packaging.
Think about pricing
First of all, we need to talk about cost. Packaging can cost a fair amount, especially for a start-up. Therefore, in the beginning it is best for this cost to be kept as low as possible whilst still delivering a high quality product. For start-ups, one of the biggest challenges in general is the cost. Everything costs money to set up and it can be quite a considerable amount of time before the business makes any money. In our experience, it is absolutely worth investing in your packaging, and is not something that should be overlooked. However, there are ways to minimise this investment.
- Labels: labels are a great way of revamping standard packaging for your brand. This can be a great way for small start ups to put their mark on their packaging without breaking the bank.
- Inserts: Inserts are another great way of putting a brand’s mark on the packaging without spending too much money. They can also be a great way of personalising your packaging which has many benefits.
Study your industry
An important step in establishing the right packaging for your products is to research your industry. Find out what your competitors are doing and find out what works for them. What materials are the using? How have they included they branding? How have they kept their products safe? Take inspiration from your own industry and expand your ideas by doing lots of research. Sometimes it can be hard to think of everything you need to in order to keep your product safe.
Think about your Target audience
Studying your industry also includes thinking carefully about your target audience. What do they expect from a product like yours? How can you please your target audience before they’ve even opened the packaging? Are there any obvious trends in packaging for products that your target audience frequently purchase? Always put these thoughts first when thinking about what you want from your packaging. A well-designed box might mean a lot more to a millennial than it would to a gen W, for example.
Try to keep it eco-friendly
Being eco-friendly also might mean quite a lot more to Gen Z then to other generations. Also, it’s harder to change bad habits down the line so we would also recommend thinking about the environmental impact of your packaging right at the start of your packaging journey. Sustainability is a huge trend in packaging and there is more and more pressure on companies to think about how they can reduce their impact on the environment. Therefore, we would always advise new businesses to think about this from the get-go. It can be a great positioning tool in the market, too, as lots of people are starting to only shop with sustainable and eco friendly brands (and packaging plays a huge role in this!).
Always think about your branding
It’s important that your packaging always supports your branding and becomes part of your marketing strategy. Making sure that you’ve nailed this from the beginning can really help your brand image and help you brand to grow. How can you make an impact on your brand image using your packaging? Is there any way you can incorporate your branding into your packaging without breaking the bank? What impression do you want to give your customers about your brand? These are all questions you should ask yourself during your packaging design process.
Be prepared to try things out
If you’re completely new to this business, it may be difficult to know where to start with your packaging for that reason you might need to try a few things out before you find the right thing for you. This means that you need to be prepared to get a few samples and try a few things out before you find the right thing for you. This can be a frustrating process but it’s worth doing so that you don’t invest in loads of packaging that isn’t right for you and your product.
Find a way to stand out
Last but definitely not least, one of our most important pieces of advice for start ups is that you should always find a way to make your packaging stand out. Don’t miss the opportunity to make a really impact with your packaging design. Especially because as a start-up you really want to be working on customer retention and customer loyalty right from the get-go.
In general, your packaging has the ability to make a huge impact on the success of your business. In the past we have managed to drastically increase sales for businesses that just needed to revamp their packaging. If you can get this right as a start-up you are on the track to becoming a huge success right from the start.
