The packaging of a product is important in many ways. If you took a step back and just looked around at all the products in a retail, or grocery, store you will notice that there are some packages that catch your attention. If you walk up to it you will focus on the one that caught your eye, and unless you are looking for a specific brand or type, you will buy that brand without a second thought.
With that fresh in your mind, let us go over why that is. It is a marketing tactic that works. It works so well that most people do not even consider why they choose the products that they do.
- Protection: This is an aspect of the packaging that can never be overlooked. The original reason for packing your product is to protect it from damage, contamination, and from going bad. It does not matter what the product is, the packaging must cater to its needs of it. For example, if you sell various choices of chocolates, you will need a solid box to prevent them from being squished, as well as a box that will help keep them fresh and tasting good from the time that it leaves your plant until the time it goes in the customer’s mouth.
- Quality: The packaging reflects on the quality of the product. It may not actually be true, but that is how it is perceived by consumers across the world. Think about this; you walk into the tea section at your local store. You glance around at all your options. You see plain boxes with some lettering on them, and when you see one with a picture of a sunrise. You automatically assume that the one that looks good, will also taste good. Your mind assumes that the plain packaged one has as poor of quality as the packing is.
- Attention: This has been mentioned a few times, but it is the most important. Packaging pouches need to be flashy and eye appealing. If your package catches the attention of the consumer over all the others, you have an extremely better chance of selling it. We all know that it should not matter because a product is a product, but that is how the human mind works.
- Informative: The packaging must let the consumer know what the product is, what it does, and any nutrition value that it may have (if it is edible). If it addresses a specific need or fills a want the package needs to show it. For instance, if you sell a noodle that is glutton free, it will need to say so in print on the package. In print that pops out to the consumer looking at it, and all the competitors next to it.
- Pricing: If your product is meant to be a decoration the appearance that it gives off is everything. People will not buy a rooster-shaped cookie jar if it looks like a starved ugly duckling. If it looks good and goes with their idea of home or office décor, they will accept the asking price as a good trade-off.
You should be able to tell by now that all of these go together, and they are produced and packaged with the consumer in mind. That is why professionals from any type of industry will tell you that to sell your product or service you must “think like the customer.” Put yourself in their shoes, see your product from their eyes, and adjust if needed. You need to judge it with an open mind, not with the mindset of ‘this is my perfect product’ because it will sway your judgment away from the actual impressions that you get.
