Packaging for the festive season

If these products above were the same product and price, which would you buy for a present?

Remember the value of packaging on customer's purchasing decisions.

At this time of the year (if you love the festive season), you’ll be starting to think about presents for friends and family – maybe even writing present lists, and being organised and going out and buying presents already. If you’re like me, you’ll go to the store where you think you could purchase that item on the list, and find a good array of the same type of product. Say you were thinking of buying a nice tie for your brother. You go into a department store, and you see all the ties laid out in a glass case, and next to them, a beautiful branded rigid gift box. Then you see ties in another glass case with no branded rigid gift box…. I know myself that I would go for a tie that comes in a beautiful box, to make the present I’m gifting look beautiful (and appear much more expensive!)

No matter how organised you are, there will always be someone you forgot to buy a gift for – maybe a neighbour or a colleague that gives you a gift close to Christmas and you realise you didn’t get anything for them, so you need to slip out to the mall or shopping strip as soon as possible to find a present.

From past experience, my eyes will go directly to the packaged gifts selection on the shop shelf. I will buy a product in a beautifully presented bag or box. I will even by-pass superior quality products that are sitting on a shelf next to it, just to get a product that is beautifully packaged!

I’ve even started seeing supermarkets stock their shelves with beautifully packaged items – so if you’ve forgotten that person at the last moment, you can even pick up a beautifully packaged gift in the supermarket! For example my local supermarket has started selling gift boxes in the beauty isle: for example a collection of soaps in a nice square or round box, with the soap company’s branding on the box, with cellophane and festive coloured ribbon, for a quick purchase decision sale.

Think about your product. Could you package it in a beautiful bag or box for easy last minute purchase decisions? For example, if your hand creams range is stocked at a pharmacy, why don’t you consider packaging up some of your items into a beautiful, unique branded box, and present it as an already wrapped gift? Make it look a million bucks! Make the purchaser proud to give your product away as a gift, and make the person receiving it feel special, because they have a beautifully presented, expensive looking gift in their hands.

Look at what your competitors are doing. Go to the shops where your product is sold and check out how your competitors are presenting their products for the festive season. If they have them in already-wrapped boxes for easy customer purchasing, then you need to think about doing this for next year – but make your gift box even better than your competitors! Even if your product is the superior quality product on the shelf - remember that some customers don't know your product and are just looking for a quick purchase! You will find that last minute shoppers might reach for your competitors product if it is beautifully wrapped and presented - even if your product is better on other levels. Don’t let this happen to you! Make it easy for your customers to choose you!

All the best for the festive season!