During the early days of online shopping, packaging was a practical necessity. It’s a means of protecting the goods being shipped from all of the bumps and scrapes that inevitably come with haulage.
But, thanks to a combination of changing attitudes and regulatory pressure, packaging is also serving as a way to communicate certain values to customers. In this way, it might be used to secure lifelong loyalty.
The “First Physical Touchpoint” and Brand Identity
If your business exists entirely in the online space, a customer’s first physical contact with you might be when they handle the package you send them. Generic brown boxes, while functional, might represent a missed opportunity.
For smaller retailers, extra touches like laser etching and eye-catching typography might be used to reinforce a particular brand, and establish the contents of the box as valuable and worth protecting, in the eyes of the person who receives it. If you’re shipping premium-quality goods, the right packaging might be essential.
The Unboxing Experience as “Free” Marketing
Increasingly, customers are using social media as a way to share exactly what’s inside a given box. This can lead to your package being seen many more times on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. When the box is attractive, and the packaging feels premium, you’ll get an extra free marketing tool. Textured paper and other items that sound pleasant can make the unboxing experience that little bit more compelling.
You might even print additional digital information, like QR codes, on the packaging itself. By providing your customers with an incentive to share information about the product, you’ll enjoy a little bit more visibility.
Reliability and the Role of a Professional Courier
Ideally, packaging shouldn’t just be great to look at. It should ideally be robust enough to survive every journey. This means not only making the package itself physically resilient, but working with couriers who will handle it with care.
A good next-day-delivery courier will provide a ‘chain of custody’, ensuring that your parcel is treated with the care it deserves. Ideally, a courier should document that a package has arrived intact. This will decrease your return rate and ultimately help you retain customers.
Sustainability as a Baseline Expectation
Modern packaging should be sustainable. The use of recycled and biodegradable materials might help you to not only win customers over, but also regulators. If you ship a largely empty box, then you might end up being shamed on social media for it. FSC-certified cardboard, by contrast, might help to keep you on the right side of public opinion.
Smart Packaging and Digital Integration
A package can now be considered a digital asset, as well as a physical one. The right QR codes can be used by couriers and warehouses to reduce error rates, and by customers to verify that a product is authentic. “One-click reorder” might be used to facilitate further purchases, too.