Clothes make the man, and people judge a product by its packaging. Good packaging, like an arrow towards the target, come right to the consumers’ mind and instantly catch their attention. Imagine standing in front of a shelf with daunting varieties of similar snack foods of which you have no brand awareness beforehand, which one will come to the top of your mind and get picked? It must be the one whose packaging boxes impress you most. A good packaging can accurately convey the brand value and differentiated selling points, and ultimately stimulate consumers' incentives and motivations to purchase.
Packaging plays an even more important role in stimulating the sales of candy/sweets or snack products. Candies are leisure food, not staples and the consumers’ purchase decision are more perceptual and emotional in some sense. Therefore, candy brands, especially SMEs that have limited investment & little publicity or promotion efforts and thus poor brand awareness and rely heavily on stores, need to create a selling custom packaging design to buoy up the rat race.
Then how can we create a successful packaging design?
Things to Factor In
Packaging is a comprehensive visual expression of brand concepts, product characteristics, consumer psychology, and shopping points. Physically, packaging shall convey product information, promote sales, and increase product added value. Emotionally, packaging is an intangible extension of the inner content, in harmony with and highlight the unique appeals & value of the product. Good packaging lets consumers clearly understand the product's characteristics and buying points in a short time. In this way, it’s like a ‘talking friend’ connecting products and consumers. And thus arouse consumers' attention and directly stimulate consumers' impulse to buy.
Packaging as Promotional Means
Good packaging is a powerful communication tool and boosts sales as commercial ads do. Packaging boxes are the proprietary promotional platforms of the products inside. Using such exclusive platforms to the maker’s advantage would make quite a difference. Creative, eye-catching and novel packaging can make products competitive, help disseminate, beautify, and publicize products, but also encourage consumers to spend money to try. Besides, a good packaging is well crafted to promote the company's brand image, meet the psychological demands and value appeals of consumers, and intuitively reflect the differentiated selling points of products, etc., before it can stand out and stand out in a dazzling store.
Design Packaging in the Context of Marketing Planning
Last but not least, in packaging design practice, special attention should be paid to integral thinking of packaging design and marketing planning, not to decouple the two. The reason is that companies should take market orientation, analyze the market and consumers to gain insight into the consumer psychological appeals and preferences before heading to packaging design. Don’t do the packaging design for the sake of packaging. Go deep into the market & target consumers, and avoid silo mindset. At the same time, integrate the brand positioning and core brand appeals. Once the keynote is set, there comes a clear direction of packaging box design. This is like installing a precise sighting telescope for a bow. Otherwise, even exquisite packaging cannot arouse consumers' desire to buy.
Final Words
Integrating packaging design with market planning can produce a winning market communication power. Do market study, analyze the characteristics of the specific industry, and include packaging design into the big picture of market planning. Good planning determines the accuracy and driving force of packaging design. With the main line of packaging in various types of terminals, there will be a better display effect. "Good packaging is advertising, and good packaging is a marketing power." Companies relying on good packaging can form "eyeball attraction" to consumers and achieve the purpose of packaging to stimulate sales.
