How will the shops of the future be? Who will visit them? and most importantly: how are we going to convince people to buy our products? 

Though we may not know the answer to these questions, what we do know is that packaging will always remain a key factor to present a brand to the customer and therefore it will be part of the buying decision process of a customer. 

In this blog we will analyse four strategies that help brands be at the “top of mind” of consumers. Some of them are strictly related to packaging. 

Capture consumers’ attention

Where do shoppers go when they visit stores? Retailers have discovered some interesting facts. For example, DS SMITHs’ study “Consumers behaviours” points out that 47% of millenials prefer staying at external aisles of the supermarkets rather than internals. 

What can retailers and marketing professionals do so that these types of customers go further to the internals aisles? Packaging and displayers are key elements to attract the targets’ attention, especially if we consider that millenials and younger generations are usually using their phones as part of the shopping process. 1 out of 3 people use mobile apps while shopping at a store. In order to compete in social media, it is very important that our brand stands out through our packaging design. 

Raise brand awareness online

The customers’ purchasing decisions always have an impact on other people. Undoubtedly, social media has multiplied this effect, as a consequence, e-commerce brands use unboxing videos as an important communication strategy. As you may know, unboxing videos are those in which the consumer records himself opening the product and where packaging is the main character that has the mission of making a positive impact and creating expectation. These type of videos are nowadays a powerful element to impact in the consumers decision. On the one hand, videos of customers’ bad experiences opening online packages discourages new clients, One of the main reasons of a negative unboxing experience is the excess of packaging.  On the other hand, positive comments on the internet also have an influence on the purchasing decision of other people. If a company creates attractive packaging so that customers record unboxing videos with a good review on their social media, their products will end up on Youtube, specially if brands attract the correct influencer for their target. Influencers are key in generating online content and attracting the younger targets such as millenials and creating the WOW effect. 

Therefore, investing in a better and attractive packaging can also permit us to obtain free publicity of our product.

Offer transmedia content

Transmedia content is using different channels online and offline in order to communicate our brands’ values. It is based on using the potential of the different communication channels in order to transmit a better story that reflects the brands’ identity. If we use different channels it is also important to think correctly about our strategy: we can’t communicate the same way online on Instagram than offline at a store shelf. Every media offers different possibilities and we can take advantage to be original and build a story that breaks the barriers between the different channels. 

For example, we can use an online channel such as social media and then interact with the customer offline through our packaging. Packaging design plays a very important role to present the product and to ensure a positive experience for the client. Furthermore it has to be resistant enough to stand the devolution process, a fundamental aspect for the online and offline retailers. The perfect balance between a satisfactory unboxing and the delivery experience is an important challenge. 

Connect with consumer

As well as impacting on stores, technology has made an impact on consumers. Nowadays it is a common aspect to see consumers scan QR codes or bar codes on packages or even on packaging designs on wine tags. This evolution is partially caused by the new generations of intelligent mobile phones that include new features such as QR scanning in their cameras. 

Nevertheless , this scanning process provides something else apart from information. Nowadays, brands are using packages to give access to:

Customised offers that link the product to customers data such as sex, shopping preferences…

Authenticity to guarantee that clients are buying original products

Special experiences such as augmented reality 

Retailers and brand owners are incrementing the use of these cutting-edge technologies, especially now that digital printing on packages enables changing fastly store promotions depending on the demand, seasons or campaigns. 

All in all, the customer’s experience is an essential aspect to raise brand awareness and have a positive impact on the customers’ purchasing decision. Therefore, it is key that our packaging has a great design and that our communicative strategy is alined on all the brands channels: from offline to online.