Product packaging is as important as the product itself!

Editor’s note this is part one of a two part series, this first part covers the first five of ten.

Many companies wrongfully view their product packaging as an afterthought.

So much time, money, effort, and resources go into the precise creation and perfection of their products, yet their product packaging – the absolute first thing customers see – goes by almost ignored. In the retail world, the packaging is just as much a part of the product as the product itself.

Small business can compete successfully on the retail shelves by utilizing 5 Superpowers of Packaging in their favor:

1- The Power to Call Attention

The retail environment is a competitive battleground where products contest for store space and the shoppers’ attention.

At the shopper’s first glance, your product packaging has a maximum of two seconds to make a claim, connect with the buyer, and receive a closer inspection. Packaging that does not succeed at this two-second test gets passed over in favor of a competitor.

Of course, brands play a significant role in this decision-making process. However, a new product with an unknown name has an opportunity to call the attention of its audience and make it big in these competitive shelves.

Tip: Years ago, expensive focus groups of qualitative research created barriers for Small Business to test their packaging before the product launch. Nowadays, neuromarketing allows entrepreneurs to test how packaging captures the attention of its target, in real time with accurate diagnosis at a much affordable cost.

2- The Power to Differentiate

In the retail space, when a shopper focuses on a category of products, his or her eyes quickly scan the section shelf, and a storm of visual sensory data is analyzed in milliseconds.

The shopper’s mind is subconsciously searching for two main things:

– What they recognize as familiar, and

– What stands out as unconventional, differentiating from its category or niche.

In the case of repeated purchases, shoppers are focusing on what they know and recognize, like a particular product they have already bought, enjoyed, and want to buy again.

However, there is always that subconscious desire to find something new. This is where the real opportunity lies: in being the new thing that stands out from the crowd and captures the target’s attention. Good strategic packaging designers know that they need to create a packaging design that sets the product apart from its competitors, not one that blends in.

Tip: Understand your niche market and differentiate within your category.

Next page- Superpowers of packaging 3 through 5