95% of all businesses fail every year according to Forbes. Many things come into play but one of the biggest reasons is poor packaging decisions.
Customers simply don’t have the time or energy to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of your product. So they use a shortcut to make their decision. That shortcut is your product’s packaging.
Packaging has been widely considered to be the 5th ‘P’ of Marketing. Brands that still view it as an afterthought, lose more money due to poor packaging decisions. Lets go over some reasons why making important packaging decisions is vital to your business’s success.
1. Poor Packaging Reflects Directly on the Quality of the Product
According to a Mintel study, high-quality food packaging is an indicator of product quality for a third of US consumers. Even the best of products won’t sell if the packaging looks cheap, especially if it’s not well known among customers. They will instantly assume the quality of the product to be equally low. The quality and design of your products packaging will play a critical role in making sure that first impression turns into a conversion for your brand.
When a customer decides to press “Buy Now“, what they’re essentially doing is making an investment. The way they figure that it’ll be a rewarding investment is through signs – and quality packaging is the most important one.
2. Protection and Safety
Before the aesthetics comes the primary purpose of packaging. That is protection of its contents from any damage during transport, handling and storage. Having to return a product due to damages can lead to unhappy customers, damaged reputation and lost revenue. Soft costs like employee overtime, returns & exchanges can add up very quickly as well.
Proper packaging keeps the product intact at all stages. It protects it from humidity, light, heat and other factors. Due to this, it’s not uncommon to witness far more packaging used than the actual product. The amount of packaging a product leaves behind can be very staggering. Focusing on intelligent and well-designed packaging rather than packaging with no fit-to-purpose design can be crucial to your brand’s success.
3. Brand Reputation
“Customer retention is the only profitable way for ecommerce brands to grow because repeat sales mean making money repeatedly on a one-time acquisition cost paid”,
Dimira Teneva, Head of Content at the ecommerce growth platform, Metrilo.
Every sustainable business is built off of repeat customers.
And your product packaging is a great place to start telling your customer that they should buy from you again. You can do that by bringing your unique selling proposition onto your packaging.
When you talk about perceived value, a lot of different things come to mind. Some people look at perceived value as an emotional element, others a tangible one. In the packaging and branding world, some key elements help your customer think and absorb information about your product. Things like design, quality and color combos can help position your brand in a positive or a negative way.
There are many brands that are using packaging in such a way to attract the buyer to convert, but provide a less than quality product within. This is discovered at a later point in time by the buyer. Brands like Apple, have always done an incredible job with their packaging as an alignment to speak of the quality lying within. Poor packaging decisions at the last touchpoint will hurt your brand. You could miss out on potential sales and retention. Brands that are using packaging as a masking source of quality levels within, are moving in the right direction.
Solution?
Custom Packaging
Having custom packaging shows your customer that you care about your product. Not just that, it shows you care about them. Attractive and personalized packaging lets your customer build a deeper connection with your brand. These same customers later become loyal brand advocates.
Customizing a box allows you to alter its design, graphics, and dimensions. This allows customization to fit with your brand and specifications. You can print directly on the box which allows you to brand your shipping boxes, unlike traditional boxes. Branding your boxes can also give you a form of free advertising during the shipping cycle. If your box or bag is unique it catches the eye of potential customers. For further information regarding custom bags and boxes visit LeKAC’s website and get in touch with one of our business consultants.
Sustainable Packaging
Consumers are increasingly conscious about the environmental impacts of their actions. They evaluate the carbon footprint of the packaging before buying a product. The labeling on the packaging which gives clear information on the product’s and packaging’s environmental impacts and recyclability, will definitely catch consumer’s eye positively.
- 55% of online shoppers are willing to pay more for sustainable goods
- 39% of shoppers who have bought something online are concerned about excessive packaging
- 15% of shoppers worry about how to recycle packaging
It’s definitely clear which direction the future of packaging is headed in. More and more consumers are paying attention to the packaging materials’ carbon footprint, re-usability and recyclability before making their buying decision. Brands can use labels to provide clear information on the packaging’s environmental impacts and recyclability. This will definitely catch the consumer’s eye positively and also grow sales. To read more about sustainable packaging visit LeKAC’s recycling blog posts.
Tropicana’s poor packaging decision
On January 9th, Tropicana decided to revamp their entire packaging for their best-selling orange juice. It soon turned out to be disaster. The design was rejected and criticized by many of Tropicana’s consumers.
Here are the facts:
- Tropicana invested 35 million dollars in an advertising campaign that promoted the new packaging for the fruit juice brand.
- Two months later, sales dropped by 20%, and this spectacular decrease in sales represented a loss of 30 million dollars for Tropicana.
- On February 23rd, 2009, Tropicana announced that it would return to its original packaging design.
- In total, this initiative cost Tropicana more than 50 million dollars.
What can we learn from this poor packaging decision?
Customers build an emotional bond with your brand’s packaging. They can feel betrayed and disappointed if they’re suddenly not able to identify with the new brand elements of the packaging design. It’s important to always keep your target audience in mind when making these changes.
Changing too many brand elements at once can also lead to the customer not being able to recognize your brand. In this example, Tropicana changed the logo, typography, slogan, image, and the lid. Making changes to your packaging all at once is not a good idea at all. They need to be made progressively to ensure customers will still recognize your product.
How Can LeKAC Help You Avoid Poor Packaging Decisions?
LeKAC has been helping businesses with their packaging and re-branding for over 15 years. We’ve seen the ins and outs of the packaging industry and can help you avoid mistakes and poor packaging decisions.
Contact us today for a free consultation. We promise to help you understand the packaging industry, and work with you to find your custom packaging solutions.
