Packaging a Product

[Mikkel]

Recently I posted a thread about starting a company and came up with the idea of selling a product that is quite common in the niche that I am in. My only selling point was my brand. Low and behold, one of the first comments was, what is your USP. <--- Answer was NONE

I decided to call up a buddy of mine who currently works in the industry and we talked about some problems that we have with the current model of the product. We decided that we wanted to redesign the packaging of the item to give the product a more ridged and higher quality feel.

I have a manufacturer who with go begin to end with the product, designing the packaging to shipping us the final product. The only problem is that they don't specialize in packaging so when I talk with them I want to have some solid ideas on what the packaging will be.

Material
Texture
Design
Format

Initially I was going to work with a company specialized in packaging but the price would sky rocket and eat into our profits with all the shipping that would take place.

Does anyone have any experience with packaging that could give me some insight on how to go about picking your materials. Should I bite the bullet, work with a packaging company to get a design and then have the manufactures produce the packing themselves once I have a design.

Would appreciate any tips from those that have already gone through the process.

 

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[devine]

Product?
Scale?
Margin?

 

[Mikkel]

The product will be just a small booklet(small box) to hold our product in, rather than flimsy cardboard paper.

As of right now we are simply trying to sell these products online, but if we have a product that is of good quality then we would like to bring it into stores. The scalability will come with distribution in different stores. We want people to pick our product up and feel that they are holding something sturdy, which has not come available to the market yet.

As of right now, the margins are unknown for the new product as we don't have the price for the packaging.

However, to manufacture the typical product(poor packaging):

150 units - $330 - $2.2/unit
5,000 units - $2,600 - $0.19/unit

There are ranges in between but that is our potential margins for the original product.

 

[Nicoknowsbest]

Does anyone have any experience with packaging that could give me some insight on how to go about picking your materials. Should I bite the bullet, work with a packaging company to get a design and then have the manufactures produce the packing themselves once I have a design.

I went through this process once before, with the difference that I did the design myself. I found a manufacturer, showed him my prototype and we worked out a way that created a WIN-WIN for the both of us.

I'd suggest you do the following:

1. create the packaging in your head - define the details and know exactly what you want
2. go online and collect some images for inspiration which you can refer to when introducing someone to the topic
3. go on Fiverr (or any other service), post a gig and have it designed for you. Alternative: find somebody in your network who can do it, or engage with students of the local college (they love real world projects).
4. find 3-5 manufacturers who could produce what you want
5. contact them and have them ship you SAMPLES and PROTOTYPES
6. decide on the best option (quality/price) and place an order

Hope that helps
Keep us posted!

 

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[G-Man]

Recently I posted a thread about starting a company and came up with the idea of selling a product that is quite common in the niche that I am in. My only selling point was my brand. Low and behold, one of the first comments was, what is your USP. <--- Answer was NONE

I decided to call up a buddy of mine who currently works in the industry and we talked about some problems that we have with the current model of the product. We decided that we wanted to redesign the packaging of the item to give the product a more ridged and higher quality feel.

I have a manufacturer who with go begin to end with the product, designing the packaging to shipping us the final product. The only problem is that they don't specialize in packaging so when I talk with them I want to have some solid ideas on what the packaging will be.

Material
Texture
Design
Format

Initially I was going to work with a company specialized in packaging but the price would sky rocket and eat into our profits with all the shipping that would take place.

Does anyone have any experience with packaging that could give me some insight on how to go about picking your materials. Should I bite the bullet, work with a packaging company to get a design and then have the manufactures produce the packing themselves once I have a design.

Would appreciate any tips from those that have already gone through the process.

A few things I've learned:

• Packaging is more important than anyone thinks it is (Apple spends more make Beats boxes than the f'ing headphones)
• Money spent on prototypes always ends up being worth it. Don't be afraid to do multiple rounds of prototypes.
• Talk to production people - they're the ones that will tell you the beautiful color the sales rep chose is going to show bleed lines
• Practice building the pack yourself. Do it with heavy gorilla hands and see how it looks. The people that build your pack for real are going to be fast and rough with it.
• Take the time to seal the prototypes with the product inside and give yourself the experience of unboxing
• Don't forget the plastic shrink wrap. Wrap your prototypes with the exact plastic production will use - it matters

I'm by no means an expert, but I've found learning packaging to be very worthwhile. You have to start thinking about everything that goes through your customers' mind,... the guys that are really good at it are straight up into the dar

 

[Mikkel]

Thank you @G-Man and @Nicoknowsbest

I'll keep this thread updated and both of you had some great tips that are keeping me on my toes. I have a better idea of how I should approach my Manufactures and what I should have for them before I even begin designing the packaging with them.

• Talk to production people - they're the ones that will tell you the beautiful color the sales rep chose is going to show bleed lines

You're scaring me I assume you mean that the packaging basically will look bad, depending on which colors work well together? If I get prototypes and see that the coloring does not bleed, I can assume that I should be all set, right?

 

[G-Man]

Thank you @G-Man and @Nicoknowsbest

I'll keep this thread updated and both of you had some great tips that are keeping me on my toes. I have a better idea of how I should approach my Manufactures and what I should have for them before I even begin designing the packaging with them.


You're scaring me I assume you mean that the packaging basically will look bad, depending on which colors work well together? If I get prototypes and see that the coloring does not bleed, I can assume that I should be all set, right?

You'll be fine as long as you make the guy take the time to send you a full on exact prototype of the finished product. A lot of times they'll want to send you a white box prototype, and you should never make any assumptions about how the finished box will look.

Get a true, full printed prototype - if you can afford it, even try other materials that you might initially want to write off. I've ended up going with the option I didn't think I would like numerous times. Pack and wrap that thing. See exactly what your customer will see before you give someone your money.

Like grandpa said: Measure twice, cut once.

 

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[Jon L]

Disclaimer: I have no experience in the area

But, I'd bet that there's a "Themeforest" for product packaging somewhere out there. If you could buy a template for cheap and customize it yourself, you'd be most of the way there. Later, you can have it professionally done. Granted, it won't look like Apple, but then, without Apple's budget...

 

[Nicoknowsbest]

I'll keep this thread updated and both of you had some great tips that are keeping me on my toes.

Glad we could help!

Get a true, full printed prototype

See exactly what your customer will see before you give someone your money.

Another tip: hand them out to your family, friends and potential clients. Videotape the interaction, take notes and include the lessons learned in the feedback you'll send to your manufacturer.

Don't be scared AND, most of all: don't rush with this. There is nothing more annoying than sitting on 300 boxes that didn't turn out the way you wanted them, having cash tied up in that order that otherwise could have been spent on marketing and customer acquisition.

Go go go!