In Retail, it’s All About the Box

There are a lot of forces that must come together in leading an individual to purchase a particular product.  Besides being of good quality, it’s about convincing others that your product has a competitive advantage in its respective industry.  From advertising to giveaways, it’s important to recognize one of the most important—and most often overlooked—branding platform; the box.

Creating package designs may not be considered as glamorous as directing TV ads, and it’s usually not as well paid either.  However, it’s the package that seals the deal.

In just seconds, a package has to grab the customer’s attention and communicate a number of key messages.  Very few brands have managed to use all of their products’ traits to connect with consumer touchpoints in a way that maximizes brand expression.  Sure, any old packaging can identify the product. Yet once the consumer locates the desired product, the packaging has to communicate the brand’s promise through its overall look and feel.

This is especially true for anyone working with FMCGs.  To start, consider where the product is located in the store.  Is it on a low shelf, where the lid is the first thing seen?  Is the product stacked next to heavy goods, where durability will be a key factor is whether the good even survives long enough to be sold?

According to Dyfed Richards, Executive Creative Director for North America at Interbrand, marketers need to look at the “box” from a critical angle.  This involves:

Conducting retail audits. Make a “store visit checklist” to ensure a systematic and comprehensive approach to documenting the challenges of the retail environment. Consider an inter-disciplinary team, including members of marketing, design, sales, and research.
Design for the worst case scenario. Above all else, effective retail auditing should illustrate the importance of developing packaging that works in less than optimal conditions.
Test in different contexts. Test your packaging in a variety of different scenarios: through alternative shelf placements; alternative shelf arrangements; in different retail channels; and with different angles/panels showing.
Invest! Marketers that develop the processes—and invest the resources—to understand, address and mitigate “retail realities” are sure to be well rewarded.