Well-Designed Packaging Part Of Customer Experience

Marketing as a concept evolved in the early twentieth century from early attempts by shopkeepers and manufacturers to make their goods or products visually attractive to potential customers. Through a process of trial and error, early retailers identified the window displays, store and shelving layouts, colours and products that seemed to bring the largest amount of custom, and increased sales. Packaging in the early days of retailing was the humble brown paper wrap tied with string, or a plain brown paper bag. This technique was applied to every product sold, so the idea of having professionally designed packaging was still many years away.

With the advances made in marketing, and the use of psychology to understand the mind of the consumer, no product is launched onto the market these days without a full range of demographic statistics guiding every decision. This technique applies to any product that is presented to the market in any type of packaging, and includes supermarket items in food packaging.

Well-designed packaging, combined with a clever marketing campaign, can create consumer demand even before the product reaches the market. We have all seen queues of anxious buyers forming to get the latest “big thing.” The Stella McCartney line of clothing that hit Target stores for the first time a couple of seasons ago was an excellent example.

The product packaging is part of an integrated strategy that includes colour selection, logo and font design. The process often involves the use of professional graphic designers who use their creativity and knowledge of colour and form to appeal to the target consumer group. The purpose of this is to convince people to buy the product without a lot of extra and expensive marketing.

Even something as simple as a well-designed logo printed onto everything associated with a product is a unique identifier that draws in the consumer. Think of Nike and its distinctive “swoosh”, which is on every item they produce, as well as their boxes and other packaging. This packaging, combined with their regular media advertising, has made Nike a household name world-wide, and enables them to command top prices for their products.

The choice of packaging colour and design is an integral part of the marketing plan. Well-designed packaging is not an afterthought, but an essential component in the overall customer experience. When placing designs on boxes, wrapping, tubing, paper bags or plastic bags in Brisbane graphic designers are among the best in Australia.

It is true that we can’t judge a book by its cover or in this case a product by its packaging, and if the product itself is inferior or not as advertised, stunning artwork or clever wrapping will not save it. However, marketing science has proven that packaging is an essential part of the customer experience.