As a small business owner, you are likely to spend most of your time during the startup of your business focusing on the actual products you are going to supply to the consumer market. You spend hours mulling over the product development process – coming up with concepts, conducting market research to see if they are desirable and have selling potential, and manufacturing the product in order to bring it to life. But you can’t simply hand the product over to a customer as it is.
Nowadays, everything that is sold has some sort of packaging. Whether the packaging is absolutely necessary (in terms of cosmetics or pre-made food items, which wouldn’t be able to get from A to B without packaging) or a little less necessary (such as plastic toys for children that can survive the wear and tear of journeys to suppliers without any protection). Packaging can serve an extremely important role for any item – it offers a space where you can showcase your goods, protect them from the elements around them, and give a little more information about them.
So, let’s take a moment to figure out to package your own products correctly and effectively!
Conduct Market Research
You’ll have already conducted market research for your product. But you should remember to conduct market research around different types of packaging too. Packaging really can heavily influence a sale, so see what the wider market thinks about different types of packaging before settling on any style or design yourself.
Finding a Manufacturer or Supplier
Once you have an idea of the type of packaging that you want, you’re going to need to find a packaging supplier or a packaging manufacturer. A supplier will provide you with basic, unbranded packaging. It is generally best to go for a manufacturer who can provide you with custom packaging to meet your products’ specific needs. This will also ensure that your packaging isn’t the same as anything else on the shelf next to your products!
Be Environmentally Friendly
Packaging tends to be disposable. People will remove their item from packaging and throw the packaging away immediately, or use the product from the packaging and dispose of the packaging once the product has been used up. This, of course, creates a lot of landfill every year. So, you should try your best to make your packaging environmentally friendly. Avoid plastic at all costs, and if you need to use plastic for health and safety reasons, try to use a type that is easily and commonly recycled.
These are just a few steps that you should take when it comes to packaging the products that you are providing the consumer market with. For the best results possible, incorporate them into your business plan today!
