Designing the perfect retail packaging is not a simple thing to do. There are a lot of elements to take into consideration in order to ensure that your packaging is doing its job. Like we have mentioned in previous posts, your product’s packaging is what might persuade a customer to choose your product over your competitors. Specially in retail stores where everyone is competing for shelf placement in a saturated space. In this blog post we explain and give a few reasons why retail packaging might fail, and give tips on how to maximize your retail packaging strategy.
The internet is a great resource for designers. It is an unlimited source of information that provides examples of designs, free and paid elements of design, templates, etc. It has so much information and resources that companies are forgetting an extremely important factor in packaging design: planning. The internet can provide you with websites where you can find free fonts for your design, colour pallet combinations, graphics, etc. However, this does not mean that you can choose an element and make it part of your packaging design. As we have written in previous posts, packaging design requires a lot of research and planning. It is important for companies to understand who their consumers are, and what persuades them to purchase. Once there is and understanding of this, you can start searching for elements of design that might spark interest in the consumer. On top of the visual aspect of the packaging, there is the material to be considered. Different materials work different with certain inks and colours. Also, companies are progressively designing packaging while being conscious of the environment. To conclude, the internet is a great resource for information and inspiration. However, it is extremely important to always plan any strategy, in this case, packaging design.
Creative packaging is important, and it helps products stand out from its competitors. Having attractive packaging and revolutionary designs will play a part in influencing consumer behaviour. On that note, it is important to think about the purpose of the product and designing around those parameters. Remember that your packaging, on top of protecting your product, is informing the consumer of its purpose. This can be done through literature or graphics. The important fact here is to ensure that consumers know exactly what they are purchasing. Some companies design extremely creative retail packaging, and forget about informing its consumer of the purpose of the product.
Lack of creativity could also be a reason for packaging design failure. Some companies might over design, and some might play it safe and never change or innovate their designs. Just like most things in life, there has to be a balance. Usually a company will redesign its product packaging based on data. Remember to always keep up with trends and adapt to them. In a lot of situations thinking outside the box, could be a good thing. However, always remember to plan and assess any changes that need to be made to your product retail packaging. Just because there are free resources in the internet, it doesn’t mean that you should skip the planning phase of your packaging strategy.
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