What to Look For in Presentation Packaging
As a purchaser of presentation packaging, you’re looking for two key things:
- Protection for your product
- ROI
To achieve success in your job role, it’s vital these are adequately fulfilled.
First, let’s begin with the end in mind. Think about how much your product is going to sell for, and how this is positioned in your market. This is the key to knowing whether the packaging must be purely functional, or whether it must enrich the customer’s whole experience with your product. When considering this, always bear in mind how much value the packaging is going to add to the product. What we mean here is: what would consumers be prepared to pay for your ideally-packaged product, compared to if you tried to sell it with no packaging at all?
Secondly, what’s going to make consumers notice your product in the first place? No doubt your branding and advertising – I’m thinking across all marketing channels here – will play a key part in consumer awareness. But you know the 7-second rule – if your product doesn’t get noticed on the shelf within that short space of time that the buyer makes their decision, your packaging hasn’t paid for itself!
Thirdly, as well as echoing the value of the product within, the design of the packaging must reflect your brand. Must it be strong and bold? Or subtle and mysterious? To appeal to masculine or feminine audience? Plenty of lamination and finishing effects are available to achieve these different aspects – so ask your packaging producer to guide you. Clever design can make the box open in layers, therefore adding intrigue and excitement as each part is revealed. Blind UV varnish (such as in the example pictured) gives a subtle aura of quality, as your design comes to life when turned in the light. The possibilities are endless!
Fourthly, how will consumers buy your product unless it first arrives at the retailer’s store – intact! (Yes, well spotted, we’re working backwards through the process here.) So, is a cartonboard box going to see your product arrive at the retailer in bits, or does it need firmly cushioned with a recessed foam insert? Again, custom-fit is a good part of the answer here – so having your packaging custom-produced to snugly fit the contents is a wise choice.
At Clyde, we can help you think through all this and more. We’ll help you visualise an experience for your consumer that you’d perhaps never dared to imagine. Then we’ll get on and create it for you!