Last Updated on September 15, 2023 by Packoi Team
If you’re a small business owner and want to win this war, there’s only one thing to do. Make sure you have the best product packaging on the shelves.
In this article, you’ll learn more about the importance of small business packaging and how you can create one to help you stand out among your competitors.
4 Benefits of Small Business Packaging
Small business owners have a lot to think about. They have to run and manage their own businesses. They also have to make customers happy with their products. They need to make sure they have enough revenue to keep the company going.
While there are many ways to accomplish all these, there’s one thing that small businesses often underestimate: their packaging.
This doesn’t mean they don’t use it. However, many business owners fail to realize the importance of their packaging in achieving business success.
Why should you put more value into researching the best packaging ideas for small businesses?
Here are four reasons why:
Protects Your Product
All products need secure packaging to protect them. Whether your product only needs simple protective packaging or a more complex design for your fragile items, one thing is sure.
Your packaging is all about your product.
For instance, packaging ideas for small glass products will have to include fillers. The product won’t move much while traveling from the store to the customer’s house. Or you can wrap it in tissue paper to protect it from scratches.
Remember, it will be useless if your packaging design can’t protect your product.
Markets Your Brand
Another reason to pay attention to the packaging is for marketing purposes. This is especially helpful when your small business is just starting. You need all the help you can get so more people will buy your products.
This is why creating highly creative packaging ideas for small business products is incredibly important. This is one marketing arm that’ll serve you for as long as the customer is using it.
Imagine if other people saw your customers carrying your packaging around. If they are impressed by the design, they’ll look at it. That’s free advertising for your business. While that curiosity may not immediately turn them into new customers, it’s enough to initiate awareness about your brand.
So put your branding on the logo, name, and recognizable elements.
Connects You with Your Customers
Your packaging is the first thing that your customers will interact with. Whether you’re selling your products in a physical store or online, the first encounter with your brand is usually through your packaging. So apart from making it represent your brand well, give it the correct elements that’ll allow you to make a connection with your market.
When someone holds your packaging, it has to evoke the right emotions in them. Make them feel excited about it. Give it a personal touch so they’ll have a memorable experience interacting with your product and packaging.
If you do this right, that could strengthen customer loyalty. It doesn’t matter if you only have a small product like jewelry or candy. Find the best packaging ideas for small items so your brand can make the proper connection with your customers.
Increases Your Sales
All types of business owners want to sell more products so they can increase their profit. The same is true for small businesses. Higher sales mean more resources to help the company grow.
To maximize a business’s earning potential, you must tap all areas that can help you increase sales. That includes your packaging.
As mentioned, your packaging is the first thing that your customers see. Your design has to make the packaging stand out, so the customer becomes interested enough to take a closer look.
Not only that, the packaging is your brand’s first interaction with the customer—at least if you’re selling online. Impinging on them with your packaging could lead to more repeat purchases, increasing your sales.
4 Types of Product Packaging for Your Small Business
When thinking of packaging ideas for small businesses, you naturally have to start with the types you can use.
There are many ways to package a product. You can use boxes, wrappers, paper bags, or pouches. They are all effective in their own right. Your choice will depend on the product you’re selling and the message you want to give your customers.
Although the types mentioned here are ideal, they’re not your only options. If your small business packaging idea is unique, you can talk to your supplier so they can discuss if it’s feasible to do.
Of course, choosing the four common types will be more cost-efficient. Before you can finalize your packaging type, let’s take a closer look at your four options.
Custom Boxes
Nothing trumps the use of boxes to provide the best protection in the most cost-efficient manner. It’s made of sturdy materials, and it’s usually made of eco-friendly materials.
This combination makes it a popular option for small businesses.
But should you make an extra effort to use custom boxes? Yes. You really should.
Guess what the customers will choose if you put a plain box beside a printed one? They’ll choose the one that’s more visually appealing.
Custom packaging may be more costly than plain boxes, but it’s not a huge difference. Having your brand logo or name printed on the box will immediately turn that box into a marketing tool. If it can give you free advertising, the extra cost for that printing should be worth it.
Printed Wrappers
This is one of many excellent product packaging ideas for small businesses. It’s a versatile piece of paper material that you can use to wrap around the product to protect it from scratches. It can be secured by twine or a sticker.
These printed wrappers can be as thin as parchment paper or thicker. The design could be an all-over print of your brand name or logo. Or it could be a print that gives a preview of what your product looks like.
Choose a custom packaging design to market your brand or excite the customer about your product.
Branded Paper Bags
This is another popular packaging option that many small business owners opt for. What’s great about paper bags is that they can be used even after the product is taken out.
Do you know what that means?
This branded packaging can give you free advertising wherever and whenever someone brings it. If your brand has superior design, your small business can benefit from the exposure.
When you choose a paper bag as your packaging, don’t just put the product there and be done with it. Give it a personal touch by wrapping the product with tissue paper first. Then put it in the paper bag and secure it with a custom sticker. You can also tie a ribbon or add a branded tag with a personalized message.
These small additions will increase the value of the package. It will also add to the excitement that the customer will feel as they unwrap your product.
Unique Pouches
A pouch should be a great option if you’re looking for packaging ideas for small products that can be reused.
What’s great about this type of packaging is that it’s usually resealable. This makes it ideal for small businesses that sell food products. The customer can open the pouch to eat and then close it if they want to keep the rest of the food.
Pouches are also versatile enough to hold both solid and liquid items. It can be made of plastic or cloth.
There are many ways to design this, so you can be unique. Choose a design that fits your brand’s story well. It should also be functional enough so customers can conveniently use it with your product.
Creative Packaging Ideas That’ll Catch Your Market’s Attention
How can you make your brand stand out? It would be best if you had small business packaging ideas to catch your market’s attention.
That means coming up with a clever packaging idea that’ll make someone stop in their tracks, go to store shelves, and pick out your product. Your brand will pop out among all the products displayed there, making them curious enough to investigate closely.
Here are some ideas that you can consider as you design your custom packaging.
Try Die-Cuts
Use die-cuts as your design technique if you’re looking for packaging ideas for small business products that can make a huge statement.
This allows you to display what’s inside the packaging. You can put a big enough hole to show what the product looks like. Or you can just poke a small hole to tease your customers about what’s inside.
What’s great about this technique is that you can be very creative with it. You can position the hole to complement or highlight the very nature of the product.
For instance, your product is made of wheat. You can design a wheat stalk where the holes are right where the kernels are. That symbolizes that the product is made from wheat kernels. It sends out a powerful message of health to your customers.
Or if you sell cookies to children, design your custom packaging, so the hole looks like a wide, open mouth. Add a colorful cartoon of a face, which should be a great, eye-catching design for kids to have fun with.
Interactive Boxes
This is an excellent idea if you’re a small business owner who wants to increase the unboxing experience of their customers. Using interactive boxes means you’re going to encourage your market to have fun or use the actual container.
Let’s take the packaging design with the wide, open mouth as an example. You can make the mouth movable so your young consumers can open and close it. They can have fun with the box.
Or, if you sell a lamp, make the box a decorative stand for the product. This great small-business packaging idea can leave a lasting impact on your customers.
Writable Wrapper
What do you think about interactive packaging ideas for small or big products? If it sounds like fun, here’s a suggestion that you can use: writable wrappers! It’s paper, after all.
Whether you’re using tissue paper or craft paper, you can put personalized messages on it. Write inspirational quotes or informative details about the product. Add custom stickers to add design.
You can even paint it and then use it to design your overall packaging. This is a clever way for small businesses to engage their customers.
Printed Cloth Wraps
If you don’t like paper, you can use printed cloth wraps as your packaging design. Have a custom fabric printed with your design, or get a ready-made one.
If you have a graphic designer working on the design of your product, use their artwork and print it on fabric.
But if you want to use ready-made fabric, choose a color that fits your brand’s image. Or get a design that represents the product that you’re selling.
Make the fabric big enough to be a scarf. The custom fabric will feel like a free item from your small business.
Canvas Bags
Among all the packaging ideas for small businesses, using canvas bags seems the most environmentally friendly.
Why? Because this is something that your customers can use several times. This eco-friendly packaging helps reduce waste.
But that’s not the only benefit of this custom packaging. Small businesses can use this to boost their brand marketing efforts. If you put the correct elements there, people will keep seeing it the more your customer uses it.
This is why you have to pay attention to the visual appeal of your canvas bag packaging. Make it impressive enough for your customers to use it several times.
Pillow Boxes
Do you know what pillow boxes are? It’s one of the perfect packaging ideas for small products.
It’s shaped like a small pillow and is usually made of cardboard. It’s ideal for jewelry, party favors, hand soaps, or cosmetics. Small businesses can use this as the packaging for their free items.
You can have this printed with a design or use custom stickers instead. Add ribbons or twine to the plan.
To make it look creative, you can put a hole on one side of the box so your customers can peek at what’s inside.
Paper Bands
This is probably the easiest of the packaging ideas for small businesses. You need a strip of paper, fabric, or any packaging material. Put a custom sticker on it so your customers can identify it with your brand.
Paper or belly bands act as sleeves that you wrap around the middle of your product. The primary benefit of this packaging is it’s very cost-effective.
Small businesses can have this printed with a generic design. Or they can use plain paper to wrap around the product. Brand logo stickers, labels, or tags can differentiate one product from the next.
Tips for Small Business Owners When Designing Product Packaging
Many small business packaging ideas can serve as inspiration as you create one for your product. Choosing the right design is essential because it’s the key to making your product stand out.
The more your packaging stands out, the more it’ll get the attention of your market. Take note. It’s not just about being creative and eye-catching.
It’s also about attracting the attention of the right customers. These are the people who know how to appreciate your product.
Here are some tips that can help you design your custom packaging.
Make It Sustainable
Being upfront about your eco-friendly ways is a great marketing strategy. Most customers have expressed their intention to support small businesses that follow eco-friendly measures.
Check out the recycled materials that you can use to create eco-friendly packaging.
If you use packaging materials like brown craft paper to wrap your product, you’ll gain the approval of your potential customers. Or if you use reusable boxes, bags, or pouches – these can help reduce waste. That’s another way for you to advocate for the environment.
You can even add an inspiring message or a helpful guide on properly disposing of your product. These efforts won’t go unnoticed by your customers.
Try Unconventional Shapes
Who even said that your small business packaging idea should only conform to what’s popular? If your brand and product are all about being unique and innovative, you can use unconventional shapes as your packaging.
Being different from the norm is a sure way to attract customers. If you can create a packaging design that can lure customers away from the big brands in your niche, that’s a considerable feat for a small business owner.
And through well-designed packaging in odd shapes and with daring prints, it’s not impossible to do.
Use Themed Designs
This is a great tip for small businesses that like to appear organized. Use themed designs to bring alignment to your brand and product. Or you can choose a theme that celebrates a special occasion.
While these may be expensive, there are cost-efficient alternatives to choose from. If you have a generic design for your packaging, you can add custom stickers that follow your theme. Or you can use paper bands or tags.
Your theme doesn’t have to be present in all the packaging elements. But it has to look like it fits in there perfectly.
Find the Right Fillers
Don’t just focus on the design as you think about the packaging ideas you’ll use in your business. You should also think about the fillers that will protect your product.
Remember, the primary purpose is to create simple protective packaging. The design is just the icing on the cake that’ll boost your marketing efforts.
So think about how your product will be shipped. What fillers and shipping materials do you need to add to ensure the product is protected while it travels to your customer’s home?
Do you need to add plastic bubble wrap or an extra layer of tissue paper? Answer these questions to ensure that your packaging can secure your product.
Let’s Design Creative Packaging for Your Small Business. You Can Trust Packoi Printing to Help.
Even if you only run a small business, you need to pay extra attention to your product’s packaging design. This powerful marketing tool can help you increase sales, get loyal customers, and have an impressive brand image.
Share your small business packaging idea if you’re ready to work on this. We can help you find cost-effective ways to produce your packaging.
Call us with the details, and we’ll give you a quote in no time.
