What Does My Packaging Say About My Brand?

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Apart from colours and logo's the question is - what does your packaging say about your company and your brand? Are you wasteful? Do you under protect your product? Is it annoying and hard to open? Does it have to be easily returnable? Do you want to consider the environment in your packaging? Does your packaging present the image you want portrayed? If you've addressed these issues in the best possoble way then chances are your presenting your brand in the best possible light.

The way your package arrives at it's destination and the way it holds your product can say any number of things:

• This is clearly a high end product
• This company cares
• This is an Environmentally aware brand/company
• This is functional
• This is cheap and slap dash - they clearly don't care

So let's look at some of the things to consider....

Are you Overpacking?

Overpacking your products can impact negatively. In fact 77% of consumers think that packaging reflects the environmental values of the brand they purchased from. Not to mention the cost to the seller in terms of not only the cost of paying for the materials they package with, but the cost to the brand and ultimately in sales.

• Does the box fit your product or is it oversized?
• Is your box exploding with void fill chips or other types of void fill with the actual product swimming in it?
• Are you actually annoying your customer by making it so tamper proof that they can't actually open it?
• Consider the bananas above - some might consider this going a little too far and wasteful. Some even go so far as to ask the question why? What does it say about the environmental conscience of the supplier?

Are you Underpacking or under protecting?

Consider the box above - it looks like pieces of broken foam put on top of a product with the aim having additional protection. But how does it really look to the customer?
We've all seen products arrive and the box is broken, or the goods arrive are broken inside their packaging, or worse still they're actually coming out of their packaging. According to Sealed Air,  59% of people blame not only the package carrier when goods arrive in a mess, but also the retailer who sold it to them for not protecting the product enough.
When this happens there's a cost involved in not only returning and replacing the product, but an environmental cost from the physical waste to the logistical expenses (fuel, pollution etc).
 

Return Logostics

These days consumers have an expectation that goods should be easy to return. Consider clothing purchased online. In this industry it is common for items to not be exactly as anticipated - whether it be in colour or fit - and so it is very common for items to be returned. As a result retailers again are judged with the ease - or not - of this process. 94% of consumers say they strongly prefer to return items using the original packaging it came in.
Consider these items:

• return addressed labels
• easy and simple paperwork
• Return Trip Shurtuff Mailers - these have been designed specifically for retailers to send goods in and for customers to easily return goods using the same mailer bag whilst maintaining the integrity of the tamper seal.

Here's some products we recommend in terms of making your goods and your brand look good whilst providing the function of great packaging.

• Return Trip Shurtuff Mailers 
• Black Padded Mailer Bags - the matt black finish not only provides 100% blockout which ensures privacy and discretion, it has self seal tape, is made of up to 15% recycled content and it has a professional look and finish.
• Thermal carton liners and thermal bags for cold chain logistics. These are made of a foil backed bubble made specifically to insualte any food or heat sensitive goods. 
• Profipack Cardboard Perforator - this is a machine that perforates sections of cardboard (consider re-cycling cardboard cartons for this) to create your own great looking and environmentally conscious  protective packaging (top image wrapped about bottle of wine).
• Cardboard Mailing Tubes - you can't go wrong with these. If it fits it will always arrive intact and looks good too.
• White Tissue Paper - for that delicate touch
• Instapak- foam in bag packaging - whether you use Instapak Quick Bags, or go to the Instapak System - Instapak creates the best possible custom fitted packaging