Great Packaging Leads to Greater Sales

 

package design by watergraphics

LOOKS MATTER. Great Packaging Leads to Greater Sales

Grab that shiny object!  Why did you just do that?  You may have seen the product in a Youtube commerical, an online banner ad or a TV commercial. Chances are --you were driven by the kick-ass packaging.  Marketing encompasses everything around the sale of a product or service, even down to the parts most people never give thought to -- including the packaging a product is wrapped in.
Packaging is a vital part of marketing. In many cases, it is the last "ad" a person will see for the product as they browse store shelves before deciding what to buy. Effective product packaging attracts attention in a positive way and entices consumers to buy. As such, every marketer and entrepreneur needs to understand the power of packaging for driving sales.

Product Packaging....huh?

At its simplest, product packaging is simply that: the manner in which a product is enclosed before sale. Some products may require specific packaging types for safety, such as food items. Others mainly use packaging to convey information to the buyer.
In a broader sense, product packaging refers to the entire process of design, production, and use of packaging to both enclose and sell items. Thinking about it in this way makes it easier to see that product packaging has a very impactful marketing component.

Watergraphics designed Packaging Influences Buying Behavior.

Even for highly rational people, there is always an emotional aspect to buying something. Many people are not consciously aware of the degree to which their emotions drive purchases, especially impulse purchases. Product packaging designers, on the other hand, are well aware of this propensity to make emotionally-driven buying decisions -- and they use it to guide their efforts.
The ways in which packaging influences positive and negative emotions, and subsequently buying behavior, has been the focus of much research. For example, an article from the journal Psychology & Marketing published in October 2013 describes how researchers used an fMRI machine to measure brain activity while study participants viewed different types of packaging.

The study discovered that viewing attractive packaging caused more intense brain activity than neutral packaging. Attractive packaging also caused activity in brain areas associated with rewards, while unattractive packaging caused activity in areas of the brain connected with negative emotions. Clearly, product packaging has a real influence on how we feel about products, which directly connects to our choices about what to buy.

What Consumers Want

Even though consumers may not consciously recognize all the ways in which packaging affects them, there are some things consumers actively look for. Making sure packaging succeeds in giving consumers what they want in these areas will help make more sales.

• Packaging needs to clearly identify the product and brand, especially to help loyal consumers find it easily. The most relevant information about the product should also be clearly explained, such as the size of clothing or ingredients of food products.
• Some packaging has a storage or protective function for the product, even after purchase. If packaging can double as a storage or carrying case, it should be durable, compact, and easy to use.
• With growing awareness of the need for sustainable living, many consumers are looking for "green" packaging, i.e. packaging that can be recycled or reused. Minimalist packaging is also a plus, as it uses fewer materials.
• With the wealth of different products on the market in nearly every category, a fresh, new idea always helps a product to stand out. It's often better to make packaging that is attractive and unique in some way than to stick with familiar designs. Some caution is needed, however. A package that is too unusual may turn consumers off.

Some Examples of packaging designed by WATERGRAPHICS

There are successful packaging stories to be found everywhere, produced by giant corporations and scrappy startups alike. Successful packaging is always attractive to the consumer, helping to draw them in by promising a great experience with the product inside.

4 Ways to Add Sassy Uniqueness to Your Product Labels

Congratulations that your dream/product-line is becoming REAL! Your entire enterprise is in danger of collapsing if you proceed improperly. No pressure.

You might want to suffuse a bit of flair and sophistication into your brand for the purpose of making it attractive to your select market.  Moreover, the public can smell a fraud. Your label may be beautiful, but if you don’t know that your demographic cares more about recyclable packaging and less about the ingredients your package design strategies may be for naught.

If you’re considering modifying your package design for the purpose of marketing to a broader demographic, here are a few things that might make your product more attractive.

1.  Play up the history of your founding region.

People are interested in different local cultures. When we find a product that is unique to a particular region and its inhabitants, our curiosity is piqued. By giving your public a brief yet rich history lesson through your product label design, you make your product a window to a different and interesting way of life.

People don’t necessarily seek out foreign products that try to be identical to local products – why would we? If we want a real local delicacy, we’ll buy the real, local delicacy. If we want something exotic, we’ll buy the exotic product. When you make your humble origins clear, you enhance the exotic nature of your brand and seduce the public with your unique qualities. When you outline your company’s regional history, you give your brand a dose of authenticity that is so sought after by large corporate brands. Your product has a proud culture, and isn’t just a sterile and emotionless manufacturing firm.

CASE STUDY
Watergraphics has a client based in Vermontville New York, a crazy-beautiful upstate New York town --after our research we discovered Vermontville was heavily French settled.

We STRONGLY suggested our client change the brand-name --one that encompassed the French settlement of the community, was unique (former company-name was used by a variety of businesses all over the country) and client could personally identify: formerly: 'Wildewood Farms' to NEW NAME: Bérubé Botanicals (her last name, plus we added accents over the two "e's" to French it up a bit).

3. Play up ingredients that are local to the target area.

If your product contains ingredients that are widely eaten in your target area’s region, make sure your label reflects that. You give the consumers something familiar to cling to, even while they try something undeniably foreign. Even the biggest American corporate juggernauts feature products that are common to the varying international communities.

CASE STUDY
Bérubé Botanicals are made from organic farm-fresh ingredients --even the jewelry is hand-crafted from found objects from the working farm!

4. Celebrate yourself!

Your region does your product better than any region in the country, and you want that known. We all know the best hot sauce comes from Louisiana; the best lobster rolls come from Maine; the best frozen custard comes from Milwaukee; and the best surfers comes from Cocoa Beach Florida (although there are some who would argue Aussies have us beat, I just have a mad crush on Kelly Slater).
Whenever you market a product or service, you want to play up the features that distinguish you from your competitors. Your exoticism is a great differentiator, and it is something you really should point out for international markets. The trick is marrying your qualities to the region’s own culture, which can have the effect of creating an entirely new product; something completely different from what you previously envisioned, and which cannot be duplicated. At least… not until other brands flagrantly steal your idea and saturate the market, but that’s a whole ‘nother article.

CASE STUDY
Watergarphics fell in love with Bérubé Botanicals town: Vermontville. We love the beauty + charm and squealed with delight when we read Wikipedai defines Vermontville as a "hamlet" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermontville,_New_York). There are only two US states that use the term: "hamlet" and NY is one of them (Oregon is the other).   We changed wording from: "Made in the USA" to bérubé botanicals Handcrafted in the hamlet of Vermontville, New York USA.  BAM!

voilà  = 

Sassy Uniqueness

SHIFT IT IN REVERSE!!

SHIFT IT IN REVERSE!!

Ecommerce Companies Moving into Brick-and-Mortar Retail
by Kimberly A. Hawkins

Many a mornings, I start my design juices a flowin' by browsing the internet for cool-shit to buy -- click click click -- a few purchases with first cup of coffee and I'm fueled to begin a new project. It's my lil spark that gets me going, I don't spend a ton of time or money; online shopping is fun + immediate!

Watergraphics has a skincare client that only sells product on-line. Now they want to launch into retail box stores and we're pitching to help do just this. One of my favorite E-commerce companies failed at this (THREADLESS)--which truthfully, made me happy --I loooooove threadless.com just the way it is. But the key with Threadless is that they offer a fantastic online-experience --it's more than the product. For my client, e-commerce is just one channel to purchase product: more channels = more product sold (let's hope).

Last year, online eyewear retailer Warby Parker announced that it would open a number of physical stores around the country. But the company was just the latest in a string of ecommerce firms to invest in physical locations. Bonobos, Frank and Oak and a handful of other online sellers have launched full-service brick-and-mortar stores in recent years, while eBay and Etsy piloted smaller initiatives in 2013 aimed at creating a bridge between their online marketplaces and the physical world.


With the bulk of retail sales still occurring offline, the rationale for ecommerce companies to consider local has always been compelling. But now, with more than half of adults in the U.S. owning a smartphone, the omni-channel vision, which many traditional retailers have envisioned for years, is quickly becoming a reality for both online and brick-and-mortar retailers. Macy’s has begun the process of merging inventory systems to allow customers to move seamlessly between in-store, mobile and online, while Amazon has invested heavily in creating a new local logistics infrastructure to support same-day local delivery.There’s a lot to learn out there, and the digital environment sets you up for success here. The wealth of information e-commerce businesses gather from their online customer base can inform all sorts of smart business decisions when considering the move to brick-and-mortar. Data regarding sales trends, product insight, consumer demand, profitable locations, and more allow companies to tailor in-store experiences accordingly, so straight off-the-bat, you’re setting up physical stores for a much higher success rate.


Data Fuels Cross-Channel Strategies

The cool thing is that e-commerce has easy-data gathering about its customers is not only used for online marketing efforts; the retailer is referring to the location of loyal online shoppers to drive brick-and-mortar investments.

Rather than guessing about where to open new stores (or place product), we can pinpoint core customers who purchase the most on a frequent basis. Then, we can look at a 10-mile radius to see which shopping malls align with the location of the largest cluster of our best customers.

This data-driven approach creates a highly integrated, customer-centric experience across all channels.

The relationship between online and brick-and-mortar is very synergistic. One doesn’t take away from the other; they build upon each other. So if a customer is buying on the site and you open a store near them, they’re going to go to that store and become even more immersed with the brand.


This is really cool --stay tuned to see how we roll out from e-commerce to retail store near you!

Kimberly A. Hawkins is principal of design firm, watergraphics