How to Brand Your Packaging

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The ability to Brand Your Packaging is something many retailers would be keen to do but often the expense has held them back. Today DS Smith ePack share some thoughts on how to brand your packaging in a cost affordable manner. They discuss why you should consider, branding your packaging to make it ‘pop’ on the door step, build trust and repeat business, and ensure that consumers remember your business and share the story of their purchase online, effectively giving you free marketing:

How to Brand Your Packaging

The typical shopping experience has changed dramatically in the last decade or two.

In the not-so-distant past, customers still did most of their shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. They interacted with merchandise directly – touching materials, trying on clothes, testing out equipment – before making a purchase. Retailers had multiple opportunities to earn customers’ attention, trust and brand loyalty throughout the shopping experience.

But now, e-commerce is growing rapidly on a global scale. ‘According to The Future of E-commerce Packaging to 2022‘ report from Smithers Pira Consultancy, retail e-commerce sales are projected to reach $4.06 trillion in 2020 and $5.30 trillion in 2022.

As an ecommerce retailer, you need to differentiate your online store from competitors in an increasingly crowded marketplace. To stand out in the crowd, you need your packaging to be the storefront of your business. Customers aren’t able to walk into your shop, talk to a salesperson and browse in person, so your packaging must deliver a positive experience to their doorstep.

What is the Importance of Brand Packaging?

The shipping box is your customer’s first physical interaction with your online store’s products. A great unboxing experience for their first order makes your brand memorable, increasing the likelihood that they’ll shop with you again. It’s a worthwhile investment to customise your packaging to offer:

  • Protection – ensuring that products arrive in perfect condition
  • Personalisation – connecting your brand with your customer, building visual recognition and brand loyalty
  • A “wow” factor – providing a moment of delight and excitement when your customer opens the box

Packaging design is so influential that it can even serve as a form of free word-of-mouth advertising for your company. Customers want to show beautiful or impressive packaging to their friends.

According to ‘The Future of E-commerce Packaging to 2022’ report, 49% of users are sharing their online purchase experiences through social media, including pictures and comments about packaging. And unboxing videos, highlighting happy customers opening their purchases, have even become a growing trend on YouTube.

How to Design Brand Packaging

Until recently, creating customised brand packaging was expensive and often inaccessible to smaller retailers.
Printers traditionally used a lithographic printing process, preparing a brand’s artwork onto individual metal plates (one for each colour), then transferring the image onto a rubber sheet for application to packaging. Litho printing required significant set-up costs and production time, so it was not a feasible solution for small-batch orders.

Digital printing, however, has made customised packaging achievable for brands of all sizes. A digital printer reproduces artwork directly onto packaging, eliminating production time and the need for large minimum order volumes.

This is a major advantage for both small and large retailers. Any start-up can now ship branded products like the world’s biggest online players – without taking on huge printing costs.

Take advantage of the ease and affordability of digital printing to personalise your company’s packaging. For example, print:

  • Your logo or tagline on the exterior and/or the interior of each box
  • Special messages, coupons or instructions inside each box
  • Small batches of packaging for holidays, promotions or special events

How to Brand Your Packaging with DS Smith ePack

Personalising packaging has never been simpler. DS Smith ePack now offers customised printing services specifically for ecommerce businesses, starting at a minimum order of just 100 boxes.

To get your first small batch of packaging, simply select one type of customisable packaging (box, mailer, envelope, retention pack, etc.). Then fill out a short form specifying your custom print request, and a packaging strategist will partner with you to finalise your order and deliver exactly what you want.

In a matter of days, and for a fraction of traditional printing costs, your company can gain a significant competitive advantage – and design an unforgettable unboxing experience for your customers.

2 Responses

  1. Great to see one of the leading packaging companies investing in helping their customers get a bigger and better return on their packaging spend.

    For anyone in ecommerce it is also massively important to keep the box size down. If the box is bigger than it needs to be the volumetric weight goes and the price of carriage goes up. It can also seriously impacts the customer experience:

    A box which is more than 30x230mm on the smallest two dimensions is likely to be more difficult to get through a letter box. So the customer has to be in to take delivery, have delivery to an alternative place, or arrange re-delivery.

    For returns if you keep the box under 45mm thick your customer is more likely to be able to post it back via a pillar box. Which makes it very convenient for the customer and allows the retailer to: get products back quicker for re-sale; and close sales on replacement orders.

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