In the past few years, business strategies have evolved to a great extent. Now people see packaging as an essential element of a product. Packaging plays an important role in making customer value and in increasing customer growth. Because the packaging itself is a marketing tool for retail products. Effective packaging can change the mindset of people towards a specific product. If the label, company name, graphics, and selection of colors are good then it can attract more customers’ attention towards a product. It is a very sensitive part in selling procedure, if done right it can increase sales to a tremendous amount and if done wrong it can ruin the business.

Following are some important steps involved in developing a product from manufacturingto delivering a product to its consumers:

·         Recognition of needs and wants of people

·         Planning to make a certain product based on these needs and wants

·         Designing a business plan

·         Implementation of the plan (manufacturing of products)

·         Develop strategies to sell a product

·         Delivering product to consumers

·         Evaluation of plan

A product goes through all these basic steps before reaching to its users. The evaluation step is also very necessary so companies can know the effectiveness of their products and can improve their work further on the basis of this evaluation.

 

There are many things a company should keep in mind before selling its products which are essential for business growth and have great importance in minds of customers. Following are some key points which should be followed for an effective packaging:

 

First of all, safety should be the basic and foremost element under observation before delivering a product. If a product is not safe and packed properly it would damage the product and the image of the company in customers’ minds. Therefore, the packing should be of a material which saves the product from the damage of environmental elements (like mold, dust, insects, and temperature changes) warehousing and shipping roughness. In addition to that, you should also do a drop test for your product it means that a products’ packaging must protect it if it drops from a certain height.

This is one of the most popular and attention gaining area of the business field. Customers have become environmentally conscious and they want to eliminate the debris from the Earth which pollutes the land and affected living things in it. So, they prefer to buy those products with reusable or recyclable material. In the same way, it will give a great message to customers to spread less wastage and be an important and responsible part of society. Eco-packaging and Green-packaging are examples of such kind of efficient packaging.

The world has become a global village and many items have transported to various parts of the worlds. Depending upon the cultural differences and language barriers a product packaging should have a guide or manual which have illustrations and pictures in it for guidance. Instead of using a specific language only you can also use illustration manual to guide customers properly about your product. No matter where your package will deliver it will help customers of all around the world to understand properly about the product. It is more convenient and useful method yet ignored by many organizations.

 

Think of yourself as a customer who buys your product for the first time and unboxing the product, is it easy for him to open the box? If the answer is yes then you are doing good work in the packaging field and in making your customer happy. If the answer to that question is no, then you have to work on it. Therefore, the unboxing experience should always be pleasurable and easy to handle. The customer should not get frustrated while opening a packaging otherwise it will give a bad impression about the company and the product instantly.

 

Your packaging design must fulfill the requirements of a retailer. It means that how a retailer wants to display your product in a store. Is it going to display on hanging racks? Or it will place on the shelves among other brand products? Or how much area will it cover on a specific shelf? Similarly, if your product will not fulfill the requirements of a retailer than the future of your product will be in danger. The packaging design of your product must be easy to handle for the retailer and it should also attract customers’ attention in the presence of other brand products.

Study the demographics of your customers carefully and design your product packaging accordingly. The selection of colors and pattern must be very elegant and wise so it can attract more attention. Because our brain reacted towards colors and patterns differently so the overall look of packaging must be beautiful and elegant. Because it is human nature that it attracts towards beautiful patterns more easily than towards dull patterns. So, the factor of beauty is also a part of the effective packaging of your products.

 

An efficient packaging is an excellent marketing tool. A message can put on product packaging to attract the customers and make their purchase decision faster. The messages like “now get 40% extra” or “save up to $50.” will work as a marketing tool to increase sales.

 

Hence, the packaging must perform the following functions to become effective for retail products:

·         It must get the attention of customers

·         It should increase brand recognition

·         You should know the needs and wants of your target audience and customize packaging according to that.

·         Bring innovation by using innovative packaging ideas.

·         Retention of old and loyal customers for long-term benefits.