Can Better Packaging Improve Sales for Small Business?

Next time you go to the mall pay close attention to the bags people are carrying. You will find many sizes and styles. You will find some bags that are just so good that you don’t care what’s inside you will want to go to the store just to get the bag. Do you form an opinion about the content of the package or the business providing the bag based on its appearance?

Such is the power of packaging. Some businesses, especially luxury retailers, pay as much attention to the packing as they do to the products they sell. After all, customers form opinion about the business based on their first impression of the package.

You don’t have to be a luxury retailer to benefit from better packaging, however. Even if you are a small business owner you must pay attention to the packaging along with the products you sell. Granted, as a small business owner you cannot spend as much money on packaging as spent by luxury retailers, but there are ways by which you can improve the packaging of your products without spending a fortune. If anything, it is going to be better than the plain plastic bags that most small business owners provide.

The benefits you can get from improving the packaging are numerous as noted below:

• Better packaging improves the brand image of your business. Psychologically customers form an opinion about the business from the packaging they use for their products. Better the packaging, the more upscale the business appears.
• You are able to charge higher price for the same item with better packaging. Items wrapped in beautiful paper, decoratively appear to be of better quality and value to customers.
• Better packaging improves customer satisfaction and builds repeat business from existing customers. It can also bring in new customers who get attracted by the design of the package as we saw in the mall example earlier.
• Pre-wrapping gift items you sell in nice packages helps bring in customers who are in rush to buy last minute gifts. This is important if you are a retailer in high traffic areas where you are likely to come across many customers in this type of situation. Besides, these last minute gift items tend to carry high margin.
• Finally, you can improve sales considerably with customized product packaging. Just think about how many iPods, iPhones and iPads Apple has sold with beautiful design and overall packaging.

You don’t have to spend fortune to make nice packages. There are many packaging companies available who specialize in these types of products. You can buy paper carrier bags from Precious Packaging. These suppliers carry many different sizes and styles of packages. Try to get colors that both match your logo and style that goes well with your store and brand image. Some suppliers will also do custom printing on bags as well.