Use Shopping Bags to Promote Your Brand: Here’s How

Last Updated on November 30, 2023 by Packoi Team

Sure, it should be big and sturdy enough to help customers carry purchases. But beyond that, your bag should advertise your brand. It should have the right elements to function as a marketing tool. With the right design, your retail bag can increase awareness and interest in your business.

How is that possible? Keep reading, and you’ll find out.

In this article, you’ll discover more about what it takes to use shopping bags as a promotional tool for your business.

The Role of Shopping Bags in Promoting Your Brand

The use of brand-name shopping bags isn’t something new. Businesses have used custom bags as walking billboards for many years.

Whether it’s disposable plastic bags or reusable bags, these have successfully provided brands with free advertising. You can consider it a powerful marketing tool. Compared to the cost of creating them, you’ll get a lot of exposure for your brand and business.

This is the reason why your shopping bag should be a part of your marketing budget. Don’t treat it as an afterthought.

Even if it’s just a grocery bag, you have to approach its design with a plan.

Using the right style, material, and design elements will allow you to increase brand awareness and product sales significantly.

5 Ways to Use Branded Shopping Bags

For most people, they think that custom shopping bags are only found in retail or grocery stores. When people come in to make a purchase, businesses put the items bought in a shopping bag so customers can conveniently carry them.

But that’s not the only time you can use branded bags. Understanding the different uses will allow you to design your retail bags efficiently.

Here are the 5 different uses for branded bags:

1. In Retail Stores

It’s not surprising that this is the first on the list. Branded bags are primarily used in retail stores. These bags can help customers carry their purchases back home.

You want to ensure that these bags are properly labeled with your brand and logo. As customers travel from your store to their destination, other people will see the bag. This is a great way to promote your business.

But to maximize this advertising potential, stay away from disposable plastic bags. Use reusable bags instead. That way, your brand will be exposed far longer every time the customer uses the bag again.

2. As Corporate or Product Giveaways

Shopping bags can also be used as goody bags during corporate events or product launches. These events are promotional activities. It’s a marketing investment meant to spread brand awareness.

Sure, you’ll fill these bags with branded products already. It’ll have product catalogs and brochures. But you should do more than that.

Maximize that by making sure every person who walks in on the event will leave with promotional material that other people can see. Let them walk with your brand plastered on the bag that they’re carrying.

Use reusable paper shopping bags so this exposure will be repeated. Make your bag visually appealing and durable enough that customers will want to use it several times.

3. At Tradeshows

Joining tradeshows helps promote your business. But after the event, how can you be sure that people will still remember your brand?

You have to give them something to remember you by. Create a branded bag that can hold important marketing materials about your business. Make sure your brand name and logo are printed in a visible area. That way, when people go around the trade event, they will serve as walking advertisements for your brand.

Maybe this exposure can encourage other people to visit you at the event. When you hand over your branded bag to new visitors, the cycle repeats and can lead to more exposure for you.

4. During Special Occasions

If you have business partners or employees who just celebrated a milestone, it’s only right that you send them a gift bag so they know that you’re celebrating with them.

You can’t send them plastic shopping bags. You need a branded bag that can pass as a gift bag.

It doesn’t have to be a fully decorated bag. It can be a plain paper bag with a neat print of your brand. Add a ribbon and a gift tag, and it can serve as a corporate gift bag.

5. For Employees Use

If you want your branded retail bags to advertise your brand and business, give some of them to your employees. Let them use your reusable shopping bags.

It’ll give them a sense of pride because they are associated with your company’s logo. It’s a way to encourage them to feel proud of being a part of your brand.

After all, they help make the brand successful. They should be able to walk around with a representation of the business—a reusable, branded shopping bag.

5 Design Ideas to Make Your Custom Retail Bags Effective

How do you make custom shopping bags effectively market your brand?

There are a few design ideas that you can implement to ensure that this investment will be worthwhile.

1. Put Your Brand Name Upfront

Since you want shopping bags to double as promotional bags, you should put your brand logo and name upfront.

Put it in the center, side, or along the top part of the bag. Create a mock-up of the bag and see how it looks when people carry it in different ways—on their shoulder, hand, etc. Put the brand somewhere visible, regardless of how people carry it.

2. Choose Bold Colors

Another thing you can do is choose bold colors for your shopping bag. Ideally, you should use your brand colors. You want people to become familiar with the typical colors you use in your brand.

But if it’s not bold enough, at least put splashes of color that’ll attract the attention of people.

Choose colors that compliment your brand. That way, people can still identify the colors of your business.

3. Use Contrasting Elements

The use of contrasting elements can also catch the attention of potential customers. If your shopping bag is black, use foil print for your brand name. Or you can use white.

You can also have a full print of shopping bags and then have the text in plain, bold colors.

By doing contrasts, it’s easier for people to see your brand name and logo. It’s most likely to stand out and be recognized even from afar.

4. Print a Message

Sometimes, the right words leave an impact on people. So if you make powerful statements, people can remember them.

These messages can be controversial or inspiring. It has to be something that your brand believes in, like “Make Love Last” or “Create Your Fun.”

Also, this message has to be short enough to be read at a glance. That way, people will get the whole message, even if they only encounter it while passing by the street.

5. Add an Eye-Catching Image

It’s easier to attract the attention of your target market when you have printed shopping bags. But you need to show them the right image.

It has to be an image that resonates with them. Or it could be an image of a product that you’re trying to promote.

Choose the image that you know will represent your brand well. That’s how you create a memorable shopping bag that people will remember.

Choose the Best Shopping Bag Material – Not Plastic Bags!

In the past, the most common retail bags used were plastic bags. These were lightweight, durable, and cost-efficient bags. These are only a few reasons why it’s a favorite retail bag among department stores and grocery stores.

But with growing concerns about packaging waste, businesses have come to realize that they can no longer rely on disposable plastic bags alone.

They need better shopping bags that won’t harm the environment. It is important to choose sustainable shopping bags.

It seems that the better choice is a reusable bag. It could be in the form of paper bags or tote bags. If they’re made of recycled materials, it’ll be better.

People respond better to brands that use sustainable shopping bags. That’s worth considering if you’re trying to improve your brand’s retail appeal.

Let’s Look at Your Options to Create the Best Branded Shopping Bag. Packoi Printing Is Ready to Assist.

The potential of shopping bags to boost your sales and marketing efforts shouldn’t be ignored. It’s a powerful way to increase brand and product awareness.

This is why you have to find the right design and style for your shopping bag. When done correctly, it can give you free marketing and advertising for a long time.

Don’t waste this opportunity. Let Packoi Printing help you create the best shopping bag for your brand.

Give us a call so we can talk about it. Once we have the details of your order, we can send you a fair quotation in no time.