Useful, practical, innovative, suggestive or, simply, attractive. We tell you the advantages of the new generations of ‘smart packaging’.
The packaging stands out as a differentiating element of the product and offers value to a consumer who has his basic needs met. The products are more and more similar to each other. Those who survive are usually all good. If they use the same qualities and machines, similar technology, how can we find the competitive difference? With the brand, the packaging and the service.
The pack and its design have an enormous importance to position the product and attract the consumer. The communication model that we have used for the last 25 years has died. Saturation, zapping and abuse of the media are to blame. On the contrary, the point of sale is increasingly important. More than 50% of purchase decisions are made at the point of sale. Hence, seduction and visual merchandising are increasingly important.
Perceptions marketing
A product is mainly composed of a series of physical and service characteristics. Its function is to satisfy the needs of the buyer and must respond to the idea of utility that is expected of him. However, the current trend is marked by the marketing of perceptions, which makes consumers prefer a product more for its emotional or external values than for its usefulness. The packaging -element of protection of the product- has, along with the design, a great promotional and image value. “For all these reasons, the different experts coincide in pointing out that we must differentiate our product from the competition with something that is really useful for our customers and, in addition, profitable.
An aesthetically attractive packaging offers many opportunities for companies to attract customers through a panoply of sensory experiences. Every entity, whatever its sector, whatever its clientele, whatever its activity, can benefit from the use of aesthetics.
Multiple advantages
A container that differentiates the product from the competition, and is also useful and practical, can significantly increase the volume of sales. But it also offers other advantages.
Wake up the interest of the distribution: The new packaging not only helps improve product sales, but the distribution also improves.
Improve the image of the company: A different, innovative and attractive packaging is going to suppose an avant-garde recognition of the product in the market. A company should always have a product type. If this product is analyzed, it can be discovered if the company has a good R & D team or not.
Generate loyalty: An aesthetically attractive packaging generates customer loyalty. Aesthetics is one of the main factors of satisfaction in the world of consumption. When the products or service are perceived as undifferentiated in their typical attributes, the intangible aspects, such as experiences, become the main sales arguments.
It allows to put higher prices: When a company or product offers specific experiences that customers can see, hear, touch and feel, it is offering a value for which they can charge a price. The consequence is that an aesthetically attractive brand allows you to charge higher prices.
It stands out in the information: Our environment is saturated with messages. Consumers are continually bombarded with logos and receive millions of advertisements. However, an attractive aesthetic stands out. Thanks to it, it is easier to recognize and select the products at the point of sale. A strong identity gets a greater impact with the same number of exposures, or gets the same effect with a smaller number of them and, therefore, saves costs.
It offers protection against the attacks of the competition: Brands cannot be copied. You can use legal weapons and techniques to combat copies. The more intense the aesthetic, and the more clearly it manifests in the greater number of identity elements, the easier it will be to protect it. It is unthinkable that a competitor imitates the totality of the sensory and aesthetic elements of a successful company.
Change management
A series of guidelines must be taken into account when managing a packaging change …
Peculiarities of the new container: If we are going to change the materials with which we have always made the packaging, we must make it very clear to the distributor that it is the same product. Although, on many occasions, the change of packaging usually leads to the change of brand.
Comparative study with the previous package: Through various research techniques, such as the so-called product test or focus group, information can be collected with which it is possible to assess the acceptance or not that the new packaging will have among consumers when it is launched on the market.
The containers expire: It is proven that the consumer, after a while, tires of the container. However, the period that must elapse to make a change in it will always depend on the sector to which the product belongs. In general, it can be said that it is convenient to renew a consumer product in a period of time that ranges between three and five years. For an industrial product this period is extended to ten years.