If you’re not intimately involved in the day-to-day actions of your Quality Assurance or design teams, you may not think much about food packaging beyond keeping up with regulatory standards. But you should be.
Packaging is the face of your product to the consumers who come into contact with it every day. When they’re selecting a product at the grocery store or picking up a few items at the local pharmacy, an item’s packaging can make a difference in the decision to buy or walk by. In fact, some research suggests that as much as 70 percent of purchase decisions are made on-site in stores. From Chobani to Budweiser and beyond, this eye-opening statistic has caught the attention of savvy marketers. The response? Rebranded product packaging.
Read on to learn three ways you can give your business a boost by turning your next label update into a packaging reboot.
1. Your Brand x Your Products = Enhanced Consumer Loyalty
Food packaging isn’t just utilitarian; it also offers a valuable branding opportunity: the ability to communicate with your customers through a recognizable label. Whether you have two products or 200, it is essential that consumers are able to recognize your brand across product lines.
Every time consumers interact with your brand, they are left with a particular impression. Your goal is to ensure that attractive, unforgettable packaging helps make this impression a favorable one. Label shape, color and text don't just affect the look of a label, but also influence the overall perception of your brand.
Furthermore, if your current product packaging lacks consistency or is misaligned with your comprehensive branding strategies, investing in the rebranding of your packaging can result in enhanced consumer loyalty... and a better bottom line thanks to increased profits.
2. Green Is Good
A staggering 71 percent of American shoppers think about the environment when making purchases, and just under half of these actively seek out information related to whether products are environmentally-friendly. This number is a significant jump from just five years ago, and promises to keep rising. Will your packaging make the cut? It will if you use recyclable materials in your food packaging.
As the green movement continues to pick up steam, so does the demand for products which generate less waste and have a smaller footprint. And mindful packaging doesn’t just mean an “in” with eco-conscious customers online or in the storefront, it also contributes to the very vital public perception of your brand as environmentally friendly. You can also come out ahead financially when you are able to spend less on materials.
3. Stand Out From the Rest
In a crowded aisle of products all selling variations of the same thing, what makes a consumer select one item over the other? In many cases, it’s packaging. When you have limited opportunity to catch a consumer’s eye, an ingenious product label can do that and more.
Good packaging doesn't just get picked up, it also gets held longer. While the modern marketer’s nightmare may be a product that gets looked at and passed over, rebranding your label presents a marketer’s dream: the chance to create a product with which consumers actually want to engage.
The longer shoppers examine your label and hold the product in their hands, the more likely they are to turn that experience into a purchase. And it’s not just about that one single moment: if your packaging is truly exceptional, its memory will stay with consumers when making future purchasing decisions.
While consistent branding is essential, so is brand evolution; even the most successful brands must evolve in order to remain relevant. By recreating and refining your product label and overall food packaging to be more unique, attractive and eco-conscious, you can separate your products from the competition, engage better with consumers, and increase your profitability.
