Beyond the Shelf: The Value of Packaging for Ecommerce Companies

When it comes to packaging design, the first thing that often comes to mind is how to draw consumers’ attention while the product sits on a shelf. But if you own an ecommerce company and ship all of your products, how does packaging design affect your business?

There are many ways how you package your products can benefit your ecommerce business, from the box or container used for shipping to the look of the product itself.

Protect Your Products

The number one priority for mailing and shipping packaging is that it keeps the product safe until it reaches its destination. Broken or damaged items can hurt your company’s reputation and cost more money to return and replace. Make sure you are choosing the correct materials for your product, such as heavy duty poly bags for small or sharp parts, strong seals for edible goods, and durable cardboard for your boxes.

Increase Brand Exposure via Social Media

The quality of your packaging affects how consumers perceive your brand. We’ve spoken about the importance of branding in our Branding and Packaging E-book.

“Your packaging speaks for you, all day every day. Customers see your product and make instant judgments based on what they can see – which is the colors, fonts, and style of your labels and product packaging.”

This is true for both brick and mortar retailers and ecommerce businesses. If you can communicate your brand identity through the package your customer receives on their doorstep, you encourage excitement about your brand and also potentially inspire people to share their purchase experience on social media.

In the digital age, social sharing helps many consumers make decisions on what to buy. In Dotcom Distribution’s “Unwrapping the Customer Experience” ecommerce packaging study, they found that “most consumers admit to being influenced to make a purchase after viewing an image or video of a product they were researching online.”

If you take the extra time to plan your ecommerce packaging to delight your customers, you have the potential to reach their entire social network through photos and videos shared online on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other digital outlets. From colored bags and boxes that coordinate with your brand to mailing and shipping labels customized with your logo, a little bit of effort can go a long way in producing customer satisfaction and recommendations of your company.

How Alpine Packaging Can Help

Below are just a few of the products we offer at Alpine to help you maintain a consistent brand experience through your ecommerce product packaging:

• Printed Poly Bags
• Mailing and Shipping Labels
• Cookie Wraps
• Tapes

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about your packaging options. Our Label Engineers and in-house designers are happy to help you create the ideal packaging solution.