How packaging can increase the perceived value of your product
Landor Cartons Ltd
The FMCG market is highly competitive.
In contrast to higher value purchases where consumers will often research and compare options online, when it comes to low value items, consumers by-pass many of the logical purchase decision steps.
In fact 70% of supermarket purchases are unplanned with decisions being highly influenced by what the product looks like on the shelf.
When it comes to low value impulse purchase decisions, the packaging is ultimately what’s selling the product.
A combination of good design and high quality print and finishing will make your product stand out on the shelf over your competitors.
Packaging should never be an afterthought; in fact it should form one of the key strands in your product design, development and launch. Research has shown that consumers only view around 50% of the products on display, so the first challenge is to create eye-catching packaging.
The second challenge is to entice the consumer to pick your product up. If you can get consumers to pick up your product from the shelf you are half way there.
Research has shown that due to the theory of ownership, consumers are less likely to put a product back on the shelf once they’ve picked it up.
Consumers choose to buy a product because they believe that the product will add value to their life.
There needs to be a direct correlation between the price they are willing to pay and the value they receive.
Packaging can be used to increase the perceived value of a product.
There have even been products sold where the packaging actually costs more than the product, but because of the perceived value of the product the consumer is willing to pay a premium.
There are some handy tricks of the trade that the most successful brands in the consumer goods market use to increase the perceived value of the product and to entice shoppers into picking up their products.
Texture
One of the best tricks in the book is to add texture to your packaging.
We are tactile beings, we like to pick things up and feel products before we buy.
Using embossing or debossing to add texture to packaging is a great way of making the consumer more likely to pick up your product.
Not only will it help to make your product look more visually appealing but it will also enhance its perceived value. Packaging design and finish is often used to raise the recommended selling price of a product.
Foil blocking
With foil emulating precious metals, such as gold and silver, the human brain makes a subconscious connection between expensive jewellery and luxury items.
It’s also an effective technique used to catch the consumer’s eye and helps to make products stand out. Gillette used foil blocking to enable them to increase the price of one of their mens’ razor products.
They achieved an increase in selling price and an increase in sales.
The combination of a higher price tag along with the shiny gold packaging gave an indication of a higher quality product which people wanted to pay for.
In summary, there are 3 things to consider when designing your product packaging:
1. How eye-catching is the design? Will it stand out from others on the shelf ?
2. Will people want to pick it up? Using textures, such as embossing helps to encourage people to pick up products
3. Does the packaging enhance the product and increase the perceived value of the product allowing you to increase the price?