THE growth of the internet over the last 10-15 years has boomed, and naturally, so has online shopping. Whilst packaging was often considered important in retail environments, its importance has grown for shipping products.
Elevating the customer experience
Modern shopping trends have moved towards personal connections that brands and products offer, this means that custom packaging has widely been accepted as an extension of a product, and has very much become a part of the unboxing experience.
The most well known example of this is from Apple. They’re renowned for providing an experience when a customer makes a purchase with their attention to detail when it comes to both product and packaging.
A study, found that 52 per cent of people around the world make purchase decisions partially due to packaging that shows a brand making a positive social and environmental impact. First impressions matter because they are ‘sticky’ - product packaging often raises expectations of the product inside and how the customer perceives the value of that product.
Should you care?
It’s not just thinking about subscription packaging or general postal packaging, but it’s important to make sure that customers have a great experience with your product in store via retail displays and shelf-ready packaging.
A recent example is Peakz, the confectionery company, who wanted vibrant shelf-ready packaging to help their products stand-out with an emphasis on providing a positive customer experience.
The question is, do customers actually care about packaging?
Yes, they do. According to Marketing Profs, one-third of consumer decision-making is based on packaging. As the saying goes, people do judge a book by its cover, so it might be time to review your custom packaging.
Sustainability in packaging
Last, but not least, is packaging sustainability. With any packaging decisions, this should be towards the top of the list when it comes to partnership considerations. In fact, a study by Unilever found that a third of consumers (33 per cent) are now choosing to buy from brands they believe are doing some social or environmental good.
With sustainability being a hot topic in the press, consumers are becoming more aware and their shopping habits reflect this. Choosing corrugated cardboard packaging is the way to go, not only is more environmentally friendly than plastic counterparts, but it's a better option to have custom packaging.
So, is custom packaging worth the investment?
Well, it depends. If you're a smaller e-commerce business, you may want to consider some high-quality plain corrugated packaging. Our sister company Boxed-Up offer some great packaging options. However, if you're a business looking to enter the physical retail environment or offer a more custom experience, the answer is an unequivocal yes. Packaging plays a huge role in this, and it is premium custom packaging that is influencing customer purchasing decisions.
A study completed by Psychology and Marketing found that viewing more attractive packaging caused more intense brain activity than neutral packaging. They concluded that custom product packaging has a real influence on how consumers feel about products.
Kate Hulley - Belmont Packaging
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Member-created content 4 years ago | By Made in Britain