The Ultimate Guide for Retail Custom Packaging (Updated 2023)

Packaging covers and cushions every single thing you order, but it could also help your business stand out. Retail custom packaging can create an amazing first impression and help your brand stand out in a sea of brown boxes.

Within seven seconds, the average person has made an assessment of people, places, and things. That’s barely any time to stand out as a brand! But you can go beyond on-screen design and messaging: you can make the most of those seven seconds.

Find out how custom packaging, box designs, and unique packaging solutions—everything included in custom retail packaging—help businesses like yours stand out and encourage repeat purchases.

What Can Retail Custom Packaging Do for Your Business?

Beyond creating an impactful first impression, custom retail packaging creates a brand experience that wins you new and repeat customers.

Let’s take a closer look at the other ways custom packaging for retail products can help your business stand out.

With custom retail packaging boxes and designs, you can:

• Influence buyer decision-making: Over 70% of consumers in the US are influenced by product packaging. Packaging is imperative in creating a product experience that boosts customer excitement and anticipation. The icing on the cake? It creates the impression that your product is worth the price (or that it could have been worth more!)

• Create brand and product recognition: This is a fantastic way to build trust and a lasting relationship with your audience. In fact, by creating consistent branding across all platforms, you can increase revenue by 23%.
• Offer a high-end look and feel (i.e. higher perceived value): For 68% of shoppers, the quality of retail packaging can reinforce the perceived quality of a brand and its products.
• If you’re going for refined and upscale, your packaging can make or break that feeling. With customized packaging, 44% of customers feel that a product is more high-end and worth the cost they’ve paid (or are willing to pay).
• Increase word-of-mouth marketing: Custom packaging can be highly influential in inspiring customers to share brands and recommend products. 50% of consumers are more likely to recommend a product with gift-like packaging.
• On top of this, it makes customers more likely to share product photos on social media or to create the next unboxing video sensation.
• Bring in repeat customers: Create a positive customer experience and you’ll keep your customers coming back for more. 61% of shoppers are more likely to repeat shop when you as a business use high-quality packaging.
  
  

Measure satisfying customer experiences and earn repeat customers and brand loyalty with these blogs:

• Types of Customer Experience Metrics and Their Benefits
• Your Ecommerce Branding Guide to Building a Loyal Following
  
  

How to Create Custom Retail Box Packaging

Packaging custom retail boxes certainly provides an enticing addition to your e-commerce business. But, how do you go about creating custom packaging for your products?

Step 1: Measure Product(s)

Know the dimensions of your products and the other items you’d like included with each order (e.g. card, info packets, samples, etc.). Be sure that your design comfortably fits products and any added elements you want to include to elevate your customer’s unboxing experience.

Step 2: Choose Packaging Materials

Decide on the type of packaging that’s best suited for your product and branding. And, take into consideration what’s going to leave a lasting impression on your customer.

Look at material options like corrugated boxes, poly-wrap bags, paper boxes, and more for the box design. Don’t forget to take a look at dunnage like foam peanuts or bubble wrap as a way to keep your products safe during shipping.

Dunnage, like the custom-printed box, can also be customized. Customize things like the color or print, add your logo, or add customer reviews.

Step 3: Draft Packaging Design

Create branded box design mock-ups. (Depending on your technical proficiencies, you may need to outsource this step to a designer.)

This is where you’ll want to include stand-out branding elements like logos and specific colors. When designing your box for delivery purposes, you don’t need to worry about the box presenting a lot of information about the product. Instead, focus on the logo, or on one important message or testimonial.

When designing your packaging for store shelves, dive a little deeper into the details and features of your product. Include more than just a logo or single message, and instead create a preview of the value and goodness the packaging is encasing.

Step 4: Test Packaging

Once you have design ideas you’re pleased with, create a physical mock-up to be sure everything is coming together the way you envision it. This step may require going back to steps 2-3 to make any changes, but it’s critical to creating a refined end product.

Step 5: Edit Packaging

Now that you know your design is looking and working the way you want it to, look out for spelling errors and be sure messaging matches your branding. Look through every detail with a fine-tooth comb, and even bring in a fresh set of eyes to review with you. This way you can move forward to the final version without any typos or mistakes.

Step 6: Start Shipping With Your New Packaging

With everything finalized, you can start using your custom printed packaging and customized boxes to fulfill your customer orders. With quick shipping, they’ll arrive in your customer's hands in just a few business days. Your customers get to enjoy a unique, custom retail experience that motivates them to order from you again.

Upgrade From Boring Brown Boxes to Dazzling Box Designs With The Fulfillment Lab

Go beyond stuffing your products into a brown box when you work with The Fulfillment Lab. With tools that allow you to customize every part of your packaging, we can help you create a memorable and enjoyable retail experience with custom packaging.

Our software allows you to dive deeper into your existing analytics to create custom experiences based on data like location, birthdays, typical orders, and more.

Schedule a meeting today.