Developing a popular product involves more than just having a great idea. You also must choose the right package material that protects the product, draws the consumers’ attention, and meets the consumers’ desires.
Without the right packaging material and design, the consumer may skip over your product to a competitor’s offering. For help with understanding the factors that affect choosing the right packaging material, pay attention to the following important items.
Packaging Requirements for Protecting Products
Understanding food packaging standards gives you the best chance at protecting your products en route to the retail store. The right packaging preserves the product in the consumers’ pantries until they are ready to use it.
This is especially important for food products. The packaging industry focuses on safety and protection with food packaging, attempting to reduce foodborne illnesses and diseases. Some factors affecting choosing the right packaging material for product protection include impact resistance, environmental considerations, and compatibility with any chemicals.
Physical Impact Resistance
A delicate product needs a sturdy material to protect it during transport. You can’t always control how the retail environment will handle or treat the product when placing it on store shelves. The physical impact resistance for your packaging material must be ready to deal with the worst-case potential scenario.
Environmental Considerations
Perhaps you are creating a product to serve a market that focuses on the environment. Your product packaging materials need to reflect the market’s desires while also protecting the product. Using excess packaging or materials that could harm the environment may cause your targeted customers to look elsewhere.
Chemical Compatibility
Compatibility with your product is a must for any packaging material. If the material contains chemicals that will cause deterioration or spoilage of your product, you’ll have a disastrous outcome. If such errors expose your customers to dangerous chemicals, you could end up with a product liability issue.
Cost and Efficiency Considerations for Packaging Materials
Among the key factors affecting choosing the right packaging material are cost and efficiency. Selecting packaging that is so expensive that it leaves your product unable to compete on store shelves is not sustainable. Should your packaging choice require too long to set up and deploy on your manufacturing line, it makes your entire operation inefficient.
Production and Assembly Costs
You likely already have a focus on tracking your production costs for the product. However, monitoring costs for the packaging materials is important, too. You need to find the perfect balance between the cost of the materials and the level of protection they provide.
If you need maximum protection for your product to arrive in the desired condition, you may have to spend more. If you have a sturdier product, you may be able to save some money on packaging material production.
Be sure to monitor the costs of assembling the packaging. If you must put together the packaging yourself, you’ll have a labor cost that you should attempt to track. If you purchase the packaging from a third-party supplier that requires no assembly on your part, the cost is easier to calculate.
Shipping and Storage Efficiency
Some packaging materials are easier to ship and store. If your packaging materials create flat surfaces and easy stacking, your product is far more efficient for shipping, which saves money.
If you must use packaging that has odd angles or rounded edges, storage may be far more challenging. The retailer might order fewer products at a time because it can’t efficiently store packages with odd angles.
Sustainability and Environmental Impact of Packaging Materials
Depending on the type of product you’re creating, you may find that the consumers in your market are extremely environmentally conscious. If so, they may be willing to pay extra for your product if you use sustainable packaging.
Choosing packaging materials that contain recycled content and are safe for the environment — and touting those benefits on the packaging — could provide a sales boost.
Recyclability and Biodegradability
The environmental impact of packaging matters to a lot of consumers. A recent McKinsey & Company study of American consumers found that 55% of them had a significant concern over the environmental impact of product packaging.
One way to meet the desires of these consumers is through using materials that allow them to recycle the packages. For packages that aren’t easily recyclable, ensuring they consist of materials that will biodegrade quickly in a landfill can deliver the desired result.
The ease of recycling a particular material plays a role, too. Consumers can recycle cardboard almost anywhere. However, if your packaging is an unusual plastic material that’s not easy to recycle in certain locations, consumers highly concerned with recycling may turn to another option.
Minimizing Material Waste
Another area of concern for consumers is the amount of packaging material used for a particular product. If consumers feel your product is using far more packaging than is necessary — and creating more waste — they may look to a competitor.
Using less packaging helps you cut down on costs. As long as you can protect your product adequately, using the minimum amount of packaging material is usually the best option for consumer satisfaction and cost control.
Packaging Materials That Enhance the Customer Experience
Another factor that affects choosing the right packaging materials is keeping your customers happy with the purchase. If customers believe they are receiving your food products or other retail goods in the freshest, highest-quality condition, they’re more likely to purchase them again. It just takes one poor packaging experience to cause a customer to try another brand of product.
Your customer service team will certainly appreciate food products that receive maximum protection in the design of the packaging materials. Customers are less likely to call with complaints when their products arrive in the best possible condition.
Branding and Visual Appeal
Marketing is a key factor affecting choosing the right packaging material. In a highly competitive retail environment, consumers should be able to discern your brand by just glancing at store shelves.
For consumers who may not be familiar with your brand, a visually appealing package may entice them to try it. Perhaps a transparent packaging material that shows off the quality of your product is the difference in causing a consumer to select it off the store shelf.
Functionality and Ease of Use
You don’t want to select a packaging material that is so difficult to open that consumers damage the product trying to free it from packaging. Consider using packaging materials that are easy to open or that have a pre-cut opening.
Navigating the Legal and Regulatory Requirements of Various Packaging Materials
A significant challenge in selecting designs and materials for packaging involves meeting regulatory rules. Requirements for food packaging often fit under federal standards. However, you may run into issues with other products where the regulations vary from state to state.
The best option is to use packaging materials that match the regulations of the most restrictive state where you offer your product. Making use of the best packaging automation machines can help you meet even the strictest regulations efficiently.
Safety Regulations
Some of the regulatory requirements related to safety may involve food traceability and tracking. Your packaging materials can simplify the tracking requirements by using:
- Barcodes
- RF identification devices
- QR codes
When product tracking is an important consideration in your industry, you need packaging materials that allow for clear product labeling and printing.
Waste Disposal and Recycling Compliance
If you sell your product in an area where recycling and waste disposal regulations exist, your product packaging must fit those requirements. You want to make it easy for your consumers to be able to recycle product packaging under local regulations. If taking your packaging materials to a special recycling center requires an extra trip for the consumers, they may give a competitor’s product a chance.
Tailoring Packaging for the Target Market and Distribution Requirements
The preference of the target market is one of the most important factors affecting choosing the right packaging material. The preferences of retailers and distribution companies you use also can play a role in selecting your product packaging materials.
Customer Preferences
Pay attention to what appeals to your target market and tailor your packaging materials to meet these preferences.
- Environmentally conscious consumers in a target market want sustainable packaging. They want to see recycled materials used in your packaging.
- If your target market involves impulse buyers, your packaging needs to be eye-catching and appealing.
- For a target market that appreciates product quality above all else, packaging should show off the product’s features and craftsmanship.
Shipping Methods
The packaging styles and materials you are using could affect your distribution costs. If your distributor must use extreme caution and care to move your products because of delicate packaging, you’ll pay extra fees. If your packaging is easy to stack and can handle some rough treatment, you’re probably going to receive cheaper distribution and shipping costs.
Retailers have many of the same concerns regarding handling requirements and ease of storage as distributors have. Retailers may even turn down carrying your product if the packaging materials are too difficult to handle easily.
Future-Proofing Packaging Material Choices
As you make choices now regarding your packaging materials, you should keep an eye on the future, too. Spending a lot of time on designing packaging now could be a waste of time if changes in regulations occur in a few months. Pay attention to potential changes on the horizon and try to select packaging materials that will fit those changes.
Evolving Consumer Trends
Anyone who offers products for sale knows that consumer trends rarely remain static. Try to anticipate what consumers will want to see from product packaging in the future, so you can proactively incorporate those ideas now.
For example, a McKinsey & Company study indicates that sustainability in packaging will soon influence consumer decisions at a greater level. Make sure any packaging materials you select now will continue to fit the increasing sustainability demands of consumers.
Technological Advancements
When investing in machines for your packaging materials, make sure you understand what kinds of new technologies are available. Having machines with the latest technologies and features will give your packaging machine a longer lifespan. Rather than being forced to change out your packaging equipment because it became obsolete, you can make the changes on your desired timeline by considering an upgrade now.
Contact TDI Packsys Today
When you need to know more about the factors affecting choosing the right packaging material, TDI Packsys is ready to serve you. We have equipment that delivers general product and food packaging solutions that are eco-friendly and sturdy. Using our equipment ensures consistency in packaging and helps you avoid common product packaging mistakes.
To speak with a specialist about your need for a particular type of packaging, contact TDI Packsys today.
