Millions of dollars and a lot of time and effort is spent every year to research new and better marketing and advertising methods, since advertising and marketing are key to any industry or company, big or small. Advertising takes many forms, from online ad space to TV ads to signs placed over a store’s front door, but don’t forget the packaging that the advertised products come in. Not all items come in packages, but many do, and the packaging is a fine chance to show off the product inside and play up its attributes while using eye-catching visuals. Inside a store, a consumer will see thousands of packages, little signs, and price tags, all of which are competing for that buyer’s attention (and money). Many food items come in valve sealed bags or organic paper bags, such as coffee beans or chocolates, and pet food also comes in colorful bags, such as premium dog food packaging.
Americans and Their Shopping Habits
A number of factors are involved in a successful marketing scheme, and printing attractive patterns and colors on valve sealed bags of coffee beans is just the start. Many studies and surveys are done to determine how shoppers and consumers act and think, and some clear trends have emerged. For one thing, customers are often impressed by tough and high quality packaging, and they will probably scorn a product line that comes in shoddy and easily damaged packaging, but buy again from a brand that offers good packaging. For example, 52% of online consumers reported that they would make another purchase from a brand whose products came in premium packaging. What is more, a majority of shoppers enter a store or grocer with their minds not yet made up on how to spend their money, so packaging and price tags are competing to help the customer make that decision. In fact, many purchases are impulse purchases, and packaging aims to encourage a customer to make a purchase after little hesitation.
When a customer gets close to an item and decides to look over the packaging, that packaging must be ready to impress. It is believed that 62% of Americans read food labels, and 85% of all shoppers report that reading a package helps them make an informed purchase. Lastly, a 2016 study showed that 66% of customers who tried a new product did so because that product’s packing caught their attention.
Package Design
There are many different ways to design packaging, in terms of both material and the printed content. As mentioned earlier, customers want tough packaging that doesn’t easily tear or leak, and some packages, such as valve sealed bags, are designed to protect the contents. Many foods might go stale or otherwise become undesirable in the contents aren’t protected, so valve sealed bags containing coffee beans can allow carbon dioxide to leave the bag and prevent it from bursting. That same valve will also prevent oxygen from getting into the bag, and thus keep the beans from going stale. Other food packages offer similar features, such as those with no air inside to prevent the contents from getting stale or otherwise damaged. Food packages pay careful attention to the air both inside and outside the bag for this reason.
Some food or product packages may include clear plastic panels, or the entire bag may be a clear plastic bag, so a consumer can see the product inside and allow that item to speak for itself. This is often done with hardware, such as bags of specialized screws or nuts, or for bags of peanuts or cashews or even a bag of grapes. The food inside can prove its freshness all on its own.
What about the visuals? Appealing packaging can prominently display the brand name, and use short sentences and phrases to briefly describe the product’s properties and use so consumers can understand it at a glance. Packaging often involves warm colors or appealing patterns to draw the eye with art, and photographs of the product or happy people using that product may be included. Larger packages and boxes may include bullet point facts about the product’s features and uses on the back, and many of these packages repeat that information in second or third languages for the benefit of some shoppers.