Focus on product packaging design

Consumer product marketers have been very sophisticated in developing direct packaging for grocery stores, convenience stores, and grocery stores. However, they often miss the opportunity to create greater branding effects in warehouse-style chain stores because they do not make effective use of shipping corrugated boxes and display stands.

In warehouse-style shopping malls, shipping containers have become the direct packaging of products — packaging designers have begun to find this. The packaging for warehouse-style shopping malls is not just big boxes.

According to trade statistics, the total sales of warehouse-style stores now exceed 60 billion U.S. dollars, and the sales volume is expected to increase by 10% each year in the next three years. Now, the three leading companies: Sam's Club (Wal-Mart), Costcowholesale and Bjwholesale club have a total of about 1,000 such warehouses.

According to the “Monthly Goods Industry Annual Report No. 69” written by Progressive Grocer magazine, the value of grocery stores sold in these warehouse-style shopping malls in 2001 was 25.7 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 9% over the previous year. Below, supermarket sales grew by only 3.5%.

According to Progressive Grocer, the number of grocery stores sold in a typical warehouse-style mall (more than $28 million per mall) is more than twice that of a chain or independent supermarket in one year, and those shopping malls The average sales is 12.3 million U.S. dollars per year. In addition, this year's annual report also pointed out that consumers expressed that they had the most enjoyable shopping experience in warehouse-style shopping malls, and this percentage rose from the previous year.

The focus of the warehouse shopping mall is changing

Ten years ago, the warehouse stores emphasized their low prices. The goods were transported in a simple brown box. When they came to the mall, the boxes were cut off, leaving only 3 inches high. To support the goods. Today, the mall's attention is more focused on the value of goods, including the value for individual consumers and institutional customers.

According to Tim Rose, senior deputy general manager of grocery and grocery sales planning at Costco (Issaquah, Wash.), warehouse-style malls are looking for good products that can be safely stacked and quickly sold. He said: "At Costco, our primary concern is the quality of the product. Even if you package a pig beautifully, it will still be a pig."

“When we find a high-quality product, we want it to be robust and functional,” Rose said. “We piled the shelves up to 20 feet high, so we didn't want the products to be crushed or collapsed.”

"Finally, we hope that packaging will help us sell our products. We implement a limited SKU selection program, so the products are either sold quickly or they are eliminated," he pointed out. The warehouse-style shopping mall occupies a large area and has a wide aisle. If the product packaging cannot strongly highlight the product, it will probably not be discovered by people in such an environment.

"When the marketing staff's products can't reach our expected sales, we will call them to walk around the mall to see how others have won the attention of shoppers. Many marketing staff use colorful, attractive patterns to Some of the racks that decorate the goods are also displayed, and these methods can help with promotions, Rose added.

Today, marketers and agents admit that the packaging of goods that promote branding in specific environments can speed up the circulation of their products.

Focus on design

Interbrand, a brand development consultancy that is headquartered in New York City and recognized worldwide, said its executive Michael Lucas pointed out that each brand has its overall target consumer group. "If enough consumers are attracted to a particular shopping environment, such as a warehouse-style mall, we would advise marketers to make every effort to attract the target population in this environment."

He said that product design has ignored the retail environment for many times. “When it comes to expressing a brand, packaging designers tend to focus on direct packaging,” Lucas said. “However, marketers also want to make the best design for a specific retail environment, so we need to design each A retail environment. For example, in the environment of warehouse-style shopping malls, we believe that the brand image needs to be well-designed and represented in the transport packaging."

Lucas added that he believes that shopping in warehouse-style shopping malls is very different from shopping in other environments, where advertising can play a large role. “In warehouse-style shopping malls, consumers want to buy goods at the best price.

Kodak yellow is a strong visual brand identifier for the individual multipacks it sells to club stores and in creating display pallets for these outlets.

However, the recognition of the brand from the advertising agency can turn their attention to the brand. It is very important that the product packaging that can improve the brand image. ”

A quick decision

“There seems to be a '15-foot, five-second' law in the warehouse-style mall,” said Andy Kerr, a packaging designer at Eastman Kodak Company based in Rochester, NY, “If the customer stands away from your product 15 If the product is not recognized within 5 seconds in a foot area, he or she will not buy this product."

“We used Kodak's traditional bright yellow and thick text and designs to decorate the display shelves of Kodak products in warehouse-style shopping malls and other retail environments. We know that this design is successful because our products are sold well and we The brand can also continue to exist in warehouse-style stores."
Dennis Woodall, retail environmental consultant and packaging designer at International Paper (Memphis, Tennessee), teaches more than 50 lectures on packaging training to leading consumer product companies worldwide. The lecture also involved product packaging for warehouse-style malls. Woodall discussed the latest packaging trends in warehouse-style malls and provided suggestions for improving packaging design in such environments.

Woodall strongly supports the use of white backgrounds and large fonts and bright patterns to make goods in store-style shopping malls more pleasing, thereby attracting consumers' attention and increasing brand awareness.

Woodall also pointed out that packaging product manufacturers are developing new materials to improve the printability of corrugated board. For example, Woodall said that the sales of International Paper's last year's white liner board (corrugated cardboard) increased by 20%. Recently, the company introduced a very high-quality liner board, Ultra BriteTop. It is said that the surface of the cardboard is even more Smooth and clean, and brighter.

"This material," Woodall said, "makes the product look like it can be put on the shelf when shipped, while traditional marketers only have this requirement for the main packaging of their product."

Paul Russell (certified packaging professional CPP), Hewlett-Packard's packaging operations manager based in Palo Alto, Calif., agrees with Woodall that “the appearance/color of the product is a subjective factor, depending on what level you want or accept.” Packaging quality. In most cases, this level is determined by the market."

"Hewlett-Packard's point of view is that if the product's packaging does not look good, consumers subconsciously think that the quality of the brand or product is also not good. We investigated several Linerboards and found that their quality is different. If yes For high-end packaging, the best material is Ultra BriteTop from International Paper."

Hewlett-Packard has several packaging plans for warehouses in the factory. They will use new cardboard. However, due to the consideration of competitive factors, they are not willing to disclose the names of products or when they will apply these products.

New materials, new configurations , and new graphics are all available to companies who want to sell into club stores.

People-oriented design

Woodall reminded listeners at the packing symposium that there are two kinds of customers who visit the warehouse mall: organization buyers and home shoppers. Institutional buyers, such as small business merchants or purchasers from restaurants, mostly regard warehouse-style shopping malls as wholesalers. Home shoppers are scattered buying home supplies for their families.

“For a company that sells large carpet cleaners, whose target customers are companies that provide cleaning services, then they should put the advantages of their products on the packaging accordingly,” Woodall suggested. “However, if you The brand has a two-way appeal (group buyers and home shoppers), so you have to make sure that the benefits of the product expressed on the packaging can also be understood and appreciated by the home consumer so that they stand 15 feet from the product At the same time, the product can be approved within 5 seconds!

Woodall said that the warehouse stores are filled with various brown boxes designed for transportation and warehousing, but the designers did not even think that they would be sold in the retail mall. “You might even ask: 'What is this? Is it a TV, a lawn recliner, or a bicycle?' All I see is a 'up here' hint, but I usually look backwards,” he joked.

The design of the product transport corrugated boxes is not only suitable for severe transportation conditions, but also suitable as a commodity placed in any sales environment, so as to ensure that your brand is recognized, regardless of whether the salesperson in the mall pays special attention to your Products, he added.

Woodall encourages companies to spend more energy on packaging design. “There are not many companies looking for packaging design companies to develop product packaging for warehouse stores for them. This may make them lose opportunities,” Woodall said. He encourages companies to communicate with salespeople in shopping malls and ask them their opinions on good or bad packaging designs. Criteria for their evaluation include whether the package is easy to transport, whether it attracts customers, and whether it is easy to pack.

In addition, he added that companies can get inspiration from other people's products and brands. “Look at the catalog of all the items in the mall,” he said. “Is your product packaging or brand on the shelf likely to be the first to attract customers, or will you be left in a corner? Can product packaging effectively Deliver the features, strengths, and advantages of your product or brand? Can the patterns on the product packaging appeal to your target group?” After making the correct assessment, Woodall encouraged the manufacturer to find a competent designer. To develop product packaging, in particular, we should find designers who have experience in product packaging in warehouses and storehouses, and understand the specifications of chain stores.

When shoppers quickly find items on the shopping list in the mall, Woodall claims that they are using "visual brand identifiers (VBI) to select products." Color is the first VBI (for example, Kodak's yellow and Coca-Cola's red). He said that for not