Retail Packaging Strategy Made Simple
If you were to strip away any identifying logos, colors, and retail packaging from your product, would your potential customers be able to identify it?
Would they be able to tell what it is?
Why it’s worth the cost?
Why it’s a better choice than the other product that looks nearly identical to it?
Probably not and having poor packaging is just as bad as no packaging at all!
Your potential customer won’t know what your product does or who makes it, and worse yet, they won’t even care!
That’s why a retail packaging strategy is critical.
Retail packaging strategy is part of your marketing and sales strategy. It supports your plan to create awareness, deliver messages about your brand and value, and encourages sales.
Click here to get a quote for custom retail packaging in California.
Product Packaging Strategy 101
Cost
Your retail packaging will likely take up a significant portion of your budget, ranging from about 10 to 40 percent of a product's total retail price. It can seem like an unnecessary cost, but remember the role that packaging plays in sales and marketing!
When developing the packaging, you’ll want to make sure that the design and cost of manufacturing support your sales strategies and goals. An eye-catching and complicated design that accounts for 40% of the wholesale price is a waste if it does little to help sales goals.
On the other hand, focusing so much on reducing the cost of packaging to the detriment of your sales is just as expensive.
Before finalizing your retail packaging design, review that it supports your goals, determine whether the cost per unit is justifiable and that it does not exceed you projected sales revenues.
Positioning
The positioning refers to the brand and value messages you convey with your packaging. It’s also what helps to distinguish your product from the competition.
For effective positioning, start with your ideal customer in mind and design your packaging around them.
For example, if your ideal customer is affluent, preferring elegance and exclusivity, then you might use heavyweight stock with a gold foil-stamped logo on your retail packaging.
Even high-end children’s products can do the same with brightly-colored or holographic foil stamping!
Whether with structural design, or finishing effects like embossing, foil stamping or UV coating, your retail packaging sets your product apart from competitors and into your ideal customer’s hands.
Innovative Design
Retail packaging can also be innovative! Consider this unique tuck closure in the cosmetic packaging shown here. Tt’s just as much about functionality as it about the appeal.
Some innovative packaging can be multi-use, such as a candle packaged in a retail box that doubles as a gift box.
Innovative design for retail packaging should appeal to your ideal consumer as well as be a design element that makes sense for your RIO projections.
Review and Adjust
After implementing your packaging strategy, review the sales revenue to see how well packaging strategy is supporting your goals. Determine which features, such as size or design, are directly related to sales and decide whether you need to adjust your packaging.
Click here to get ideas for retail packaging and contact us for a quick quote for custom packaging design!