How Product Packaging Can Inspire Sales An often ignored aspect of promoting a product is its packaging but it can be a determinable factor when it comes to selling a product or even a service. Many brands swear by the logic 'Good packaging = Better sales'

Irrespective of the size of the business, one question that a marketing professional frequently addresses is 'how can I get my target audience to buy the product?' Sale of any given product is dependent on many factors like the price of the product, product range and more, which are undertaken by marketing professionals to generate sales. Not only this but brands often try to keep a track of ROI from each activity targeted towards generating sales. However, many brands do not realize that real ROI happen on the shelf! An often ignored aspect of promoting a product is its packaging but it can be a determinable factor when it comes to selling a product or even a service. Many brands swear by the logic 'Good packaging = Better sales'. While this phenomenon is globally acknowledged, Indian firms are yet to catch up to the trend.

As per various marketing research reports, 1/3rd of buying decisions for a given product is made during the shopping process and 50per cent of the decision is influenced by the packaging of the product. A product's packaging is not only space which provides product and brand information in a fancy manner, but it is 'the' space where the customer engagement happens the most! let's examine how?

A Good Packaging Works Better Than Any Promotion

High budget promotional activities such as advertisements, OOT and other kinds of promotions are great ways to draw the attention of potential consumers. However, as mentioned above the real ROI happens on the shelf when the product is placed among its competing products on the same shelf. It will take 7 seconds for a consumer to judge the product by its cover, maybe shortlist the products and then read further for information to compare before making a decision. So, when it comes to packaging the marketers must try to answer what is my consumer looking for? and what we need to highlight on the packaging? Is my consumer more price sensitive? or health conscious? etc.

Ad campaigns focus on creating a connection with consumers with an emotional storyline, however, to sell your products to the informed consumer of the 21st century you need to have a well designed promotional packaging, that connects with consumers at a personal level.

Packing Design is Real and Connects Personally

As consumers, isn't it common that we buy a product and store it in our homes mostly in the original packaging for long? In fact, we continue to keep the material even when the product is consumed and utilize it for other purposes. It means that your brand identity and packaging has a chance to outlive the product itself! Just like your product, its packaging is something tangible, real and personal.

However, the similar connect can also be created with product packaging which consumers do not store. For example, some product specifies quotes like 'for perfect sister' or 'Best Dad' and other sentiments that most Indians feel shy to express but at the same time find ways to convey them. Such packaging techniques have seemed to work and improve sales drastically in Indian markets.

Creative Packaging Invokes Curiosity

Shopping is a routine process, just like most of the other things in a consumers' life. Trying to find adventure in routine is a basic human instinct. In various promotional campaigns, many brands promise to bring in thunder in the lives of their consumers without really improving the buying experience of consumers. With little innovation in product packaging brands can surprise the potential buyers or invoke curiosity among them. For example, a toffee cover that turns into a small personality chart that highlights certain traits in you basis your body warmth - wouldn't you like to share it with your friends for a fun game? or an ice cream packaging that reminds you to brush your teeth to keep them healthy and more such techniques have been explored.

To conclude, the packaging of the product or even service is a powerful promotional tool. It surely acts as a personal salesman for each consumer that picks the product to analyze. Whether the consumer wants to buy it or not is completely up to the personal salesman's pitch.