Top 10 Retail Hacks for Packaging DesignPackaging companies tout additional consumer benefits their packaging and then immediately link those benefits to the price differential that

Getting on the shelf isn’t easy… But then getting someone to pick you up off the shelf can be near impossible when

you don’t have anyone actively selling your product to the customer.

Top 10 Retail Hacks for Packaging Design

Contents

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Clear and Simple

Focus on the Buyer

Elevate Your Packaging

Deliver Honesty

Powerful Visuals Work Best

Design for Shelf Impact

Build in Extensibility

Innovate for Practicality

Understand Shelf Space

Hold Your Customers Hands

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Letter from the author

�3 Top 10 Retail Hacks for Packaging Design

Product package design is the most common reason why a retail item fails in-store. You could have the best product in the world, if you do not get picked up off the store shelf it will never be successful. Driving consumer demand is important, however being able to relay your competitive value in 5 to 6 seconds takes a lot of practice and experience to master.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer. Each product is different and should be treated like the unicorn that it is. The best way to determine success, is through the scientific method of having an idea and testing it in a real world scenario. Never ask your friends if they will buy the product.

In the best-selling book The 4-Hour Work Week, author Tim Ferriss tests out which cover for his book will sell best by printing up two of his best cover ideas and wrapping a book with them. He put them on the store shelf and counted how many people picked up each cover to determine which will be the most successful.

At Mr. Checkout we analyze products from 1,100 wholesalers / distributors and 150,000 independent retails nationwide. We see product success and failure every quarter. There are many reasons that a product will succeed or fail, however the most common for both is in-store sales performance.

We put together this group of 10 hacks that you can go and test to improve your chances at retail success. If you have any suggestions on hacks that have worked for you, please reach out and let me know.

Wishing you the best,

Joel Goldstein

President | Mr. Checkout Distributors1-800-367-0076

Clear & Simple

Next time you go to a supermarket, pick a random shelf and browse through some products. Glance at each and ask yourself two very simple questions:

1) What’s this product for?

2) What’s the brand behind it?

You’ll find products listing dozens of benefits with no clear brand name… You’ll find products that look great on the outside, yet fail to explain what’s in the box… You may find cleaning products in packaging more appropriate for kids.


A great product package design is simple, clear yet highly distinctive. Your job is to create packaging that answers your customer’s essential questions in less than 4 seconds… the time a consumer will take to decide whether or not to pick up a product.

While packaging companies typically focus their efforts on manufacturing efficiency and package performance, you need to pay attention to the focus of driving retail success. Sell-through, planogram development, seasonality and syndicated data are all topics that retailers deal with on a regular basis, but are foreign to most packaging professionals. Understand what drives success of consumer products at retail, and how to increase your company’s value to its supply chain and retail partners.


Although some product categories allow for a bit of mystery (perfumes and luxury items), failing to identify the product in terms of what it is, how to use it or why this brand is better than the others is often what results in a product not performing well in stores.

Remember rule number one: Be clear about the product and the brand.

For Example:Clarity doesn’t exactly coincide with being minimalistic. In considering the design, one should easily be able to determine what the product is for.

While the concept of clarity is often synonymous with minimalism, the product should clearly convey it’s competitive advantage among competing brands.


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Focus on the Buyer

Is your product aimed at children? Young adu l ts do ing grocery shopping on a budget? High income adults? No matter what your market is, you need to make sure the buyer sees that your packaging is targeting the right demographic.

No matter who you designed your product for, it’s important to realize that what you have to offer is one of many on the shelf. Buyers are looking to bring on products that are in demand and people will either come to the store looking for or add to their shopping cart as an impulse when they are leaving.


Retail buyers occupy the central role in most retail organizations and are directly evaluated based on the sales success of the products they buy. Unfortunately, with the many competing issues that cross their desks, packaging can often get overlooked.

Retailers focus on delivering their customers the right items at the right prices through the right channels. When packaging companies create packaging options for retailers, they need to keep in mind that the price a consumer will pay for any retail item determines all the key costing variables in the item’s supply chain.


Packaging companies tout additional consumer benefits their packaging and then immediately link those benefits to the price differential that a consumer would be willing to pay in return.

If this is a company’s go-to-market strategy, they will need more than simple “consumer insights” or “gut feelings” to gain traction with a retail buyer with years of experience.

Given the competition when a consumer is choosing a retailer, the product packaging must support the retailers’ demographic, not work against it.

For Example:If everybody is going for product photography, use illustration or type-based design.

If everybody is using a horizontal layout, reach for vertical.

If most designs are rather contemporary, try introducing something retro.

Be bold, be different and look into other product categories for unexpected sources of inspiration.


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Elevate Your Packaging

Retailers are always trying to set themselves apart from the pack to drive repeat buying trips, and packaging of items sold in their stores can play a role.

Ease of use, customer friendly improvements, distinctive branding, all of these packaging elements can help retailers solidify their share of consumers’ short attention spans.

Matching these improvements with the appropriate cost considerations can give consumers a reason to favor one retail outlet over another.


Retailers often have shelving priorities that are different than their suppliers. When trying to differentiate yourself on the shelf, sometimes it pays to spend more on the exterior materials of the packaging or customer experience when first unboxing.

More often than not, retailers are looking for improvements in shelf space, cube utilization and customer ease of use. Remember that their success is based on ensuring that customers can find, identify and purchase products they want and need. Helping convert consumer products from unknown options to necessary go-to items is the goal of innovative packaging.


Some suppliers think that one package is good enough for the whole year, but successful brands know that this isn’t true. As seasons, special events, and holidays change, it’s important that your product packaging follows these same trends.

One size fits all may be appropriate for hats and inexpensive bedroom slippers, but it may not work for your product’s packaging if you are looking to maximize in-store sales.

If it’s Easter, demonstrate why your product is the right choice through creative packaging. Super Bowl Sunday? Switch your design up to draw attention to your product.

For Example:Say you se l l pe r i shab le f resh vegetables in a plastic bag, and then come out with the same product in a resealable plastic bag.

Your customers can now buy the product they know in a bag the conveniently maintains its freshness.

The added funct ional i ty o f the packaging solves a problem for your customers and takes you up a notch in their perception.


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Deliver Honesty

By depicting a product ten times better than it actually is, you’re m i s l e a d i n g a n d u l t i m a t e l y disappointing the consumer, which only leads to poor recurring sales and negative reviews and a poor brand image.

Though your product might taste good, the packaging is making the customer expect a d i f fe rent experience.

This is where honesty comes in. Consumers have nothing against simple products if they expect it.


Companies that are testing a new package design often strive to depict the product in the most perfect way imaginable. They will show a cookie drenched in chocolate, when it is a simple chocolate biscuit. This can often be misleading to the customer, as they have a false expectation and on the other side… a negative experience.

Of course they expect “face lifting” to some degree but not to a point where product appears to be something entirely different. The only way to know how the customer is experiencing the product is often in online reviews as they are the most brutally honest. However, you can often hedge against this with in-store tasting or focus groups. Just don’t expect someone to tell you that your product is bad to your face…


Originality, character and memorability are at the heart of great brands and of course, great packaging designs.

It’s easy to understand why – there are hundreds of products out there, all competing for consumers’ attention.

The only way to set your brand apart is to be different, to be authentic.

For Example:If a product design over exaggerates the product’s actual quality which will often lead to disappointment.

This will create mistrust between your consumers and a drop in the brand’s sales.

The goal is to present the product in the best possible way without having to falsely advertise the product.


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Powerful Visuals Work Best

When shoppers are scanning the store aisle (possibly with a toddler or two pulling at their clothing!), they don’t have as much time to read and learn as you’d hope they would.

So you want your packaging to give them the big idea about the benefits of your product, mostly in visual form.

Surveyed retail buyers have often mentioned to us that they don’t buy products for their shop when the


The psychology of colors has been extensively examined for hundreds of years, and all studies come to the same conclusion: different colors have different impacts on human emotions. When you design a package, the colors you choose can make a big difference on how your customers perceive your products.

manufacturer’s logo is all over the product or display.

Today, a trend for parents is not having their children advertising a company by wearing the product. Manufacturers are often advised by retailers to keep their logo small, and not to have it be a visible part of her product or display.


In designing packaging for your products, think carefully about what the colors you’re using say to convey a message to your customers.

Whether your food is bold and vibrant or reserved and refreshing, it is important to select hues that convey this to the customer.

For Example:You can achieve strong visual cues through deliberate printing and finishing elements…

By focusing on these strong visual elements of your packaging, you create a focal point of consumers, making your brand, product and packaging easy to remember.

Make changes that have a noticeable visual impact, and you will elevate your packaging.


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Design for Shelf Impact

From a shopper’s point of view, a product is never seen alone and never in great detail. Because of the viewing distance from shelves and the fact that products are arranged in rows and columns, all we see are veritable patterns made of various products.

It’s not until a certain pattern attracts our attention that we decide to take a closer look.

This distinctiveness and appeal of the product when placed on an actual shelf is something retailers


A picture is worth a thousand words. Most consumers only spend seconds scanning the shelves, looking at all of their available options. Not many are going to buy your product after reading the novella on your package…

call “shelf impact,” and it makes a huge difference in product sales.

Instead, catch your shoppers’ eyes with a unique image of your food or your brand in order to draw attention to what you have to offer. When your target audience can see what you offer, they’ll be much more likely to purchase.


When companies don’t plan their packaging properly, from size to style to sealing method, losing shelf space is a natural occurrence.

The size of a package makes a big difference in the success of your product and how you are merchandised. The goal for most products should be to offer several different places in the store where it can be sold and several ways that it can be merchandised from peg board to point of sale displays.

For Example:Standing out in the store takes more than a fancy package. If you have neon green packaging and so does every other widget being sold on your shelf, your sales will suffer.

Knowledge is the key to designing a powerful shelf impact. Research is key and knowing what your competitors all are doing will greatly help your packaging stand out.

Use Craigslist or TaskRabbit to hire someone to go to a prospective retailer and take a picture of the shelf space that you will most likely be competing.


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Build in Extensibility

Good packaging design allows for easy variations without loosing visual appeal.

If the initial package you created for your first SKU looks great with Product A… are you sure it’ll look just as good when you bring out Product B?

Will Product B have some benefits to be communicated on the front panel, which doesn’t work when selling Product A?


Think about the displays you pay the most attention while shopping at the store. Is it the generic packages that make up most shelf space, camouflaged between dozens of other similar products or is it the end caps and bright displays that catches your eye…

You have a problem with extensibility.

To avoid this, you should always design product packaging with the future in mind. This means creating a visually systematic design which allows for easy changes of product visual or other information, so you get a great looking family of products in the end.


When designing your packaging, think about the ways in which your product can best be highlighted.

It’s important to know what’s coming next when designing the original product packaging because it needs to sync when designing the product extensions.

Whether it’s a holiday or a special event, designing packaging that can be used as part of a unique display or end cap is a perfect way to draw extra attention to your company’s brand.

For Example:Imagine you’re creating a packaging for new brand of apple juice.

You and your client opt for a certain design featuring apples which looks really great.

However, a few months later, the client decides to launch a cherry flavor under the same brand name…


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Innovate for Practicality

Practicality is the most overlooked aspect of packaging design, simply because clients often pick the “tried and true” route which is a lost opportunity for innovation.

But if you get lucky and do get a chance to design the next bottle, box or a cup, a lways th ink practicality first – or in most cases, how you can make the product easier to use, carry or store.

Practicality alone can solve many of the packaging design challenges and g ive you a compet i t ive advantage when being compared to others sitting on a shelf.


Practicality deals with the actual shape, size and functionality of the product container, not just the label or wrap. The more practical the product, the more sales it gets – when Heinz turned the ketchup bottle upside down, sales skyrocketed.

By innovating the package design you can create customers that will prefer your brand over others avoiding an apples to apples comparison. This can have a resonating effect on sales as you develop a following.


From a marketing standpoint it is much more expensive to have a good product in a lame package (and not sell it) than spend money on a good industrial designer. The same applies to web design, because looks matter more than most of us think.

For Example:Wine Innovations developed the concept of a single serving wine glasses. Just like a container of yogurt it has a peal-off foil lid.

The wine is sealed using technology to maintain wine quality and to give a shelf life of over 1 year. The wine glass are filled with red, white or rose wine and is made from plastic so there are no worries of broken glass.


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Understand Shelf Space

U n d e r s t a n d h o w p r o d u c t arrangement in supermarkets and supply chain management factor into the price of a slotting fee. The more you can reduce the costs associated with stocking your product, the more likely you are to receive shelf placement and have leverage over how much you pay to play.

Retailers need proof that your brand will sell should they decide to carry it. This can be accomplished with documentation of historical performance and a solid plan for how to move product in stores.


A great example of simple, clear yet highly distinctive packaging design. You will be amazed how hard it is to find answers to some of these essential questions in less than 4 seconds, which is the maximum time average consumer will dedicate to any particular product on the shelf.

What makes your brand stand out? What can your company offer the retailer that others can’t? Show buyers why passing up on your product is a mistake. Slotting fees are often an inevitable component of doing business with big retailers. Come prepared with data and let buyers see just how awesome your brand is.


• Detail how your company is able to prevent out-of-stocks through calculated inventory planning and fill replenishment orders successfully during times of high-demand.

• Show willingness to supply product families instead of single products in order to have a better chance of survival on a shelf next to other product families.

• Be aware of geography’s role. Selling in urban hubs will be more expensive than in suburban areas.

• Explain how your brand satisfies a demand in the market with its niche offering that the retailer isn’t currently capitalizing on.

• Mention if your brand is carried at competing retail outlets.


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• The in-store location of your product directly impacts the cost of slotting fees. Products that require refrigeration or freezing incur higher fees because of the overhead energy costs of keeping them cooled.

• Provide coupons, discounts, and rebates to promote sales. Keep in mind that some retailers will demand a cut of the increase in sales resulting from special promotions.

• Demonstrate a capacity to execute field marketing programs, such as in-store samplings, without retailer assistance.

• Confirm your track record for success at those smaller retailers, restaurants, and marketplaces where your brand is already being sold by compiling past sales reports and balance sheets.

Negotiate Better Slotting Fees

Hold Your Customers Hands

The idea is simple: Drive additional product sales, packaging should prompt interest, findability and desire in the cupboard at home as much as it does on the shelf at the store. If a consumer buys a product and takes it home but never puts it on the table, the consumer products manufacturer loses additional purchases.

Use the inside of your package to promote a loyalty program or online community. Consumer trust leads to sales: 62% of consumers consider brand trust to have a great influence on their buying decisions.


While a great deal of attention is placed on the in-store presentation of products, consumer packaged goods companies often neglect the important role that in-home selection plays in driving repeat purchases.

Strong brand-customer relationships drives loyalty and repeat purchases. One way to build on those relationships is through post-purchase communications. Use post-purchase communications to keep the conversation going, provide value and appreciation for their loyalty.


Use successful online retailers as examples of how to build retention and loyalty programs, many can be modified slightly to fit a retail brand. Implementing a customer relationship manager software that can track customers’ email addresses and purchase history, allows you to send smart, relevant product recommendations and increase overall post-purchase satisfaction.

Some ideas include:• Give customers a coupon for their next purchase• Request customer feedback on their recent purchase

For Example: Overstock.com sends an automated email to customers after their purchase soliciting feedback. The survey process is simple and makes customers feel valued and heard, which has been proven that they are more likely to return.


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• Create a brand experience to match your brand, high end or value based

• Create a customer experience to match the brand when they open the box

• Manage the customer’s expectations of the product value

• Communicate brand and product values clearly on the package

• Educates the consumer on how to use the product when they get home

Existing customers are also a great source of new prospects:

• 42 percent of online customers find recommendations from friends and family influential.

• 23 percent are influenced by social media recommendations.

TellUsAboutYourProductLineDistributors, Wholesalers and Retailers turn to Mr. Checkout to find the best selling products, learn which categories are trending and discover what is the next hot new product.

Let us know about your product line: http://MrCheckout.net/Submit

SPOTLIGHT

Who is Mr. Checkout?Established 1989 | Mr. Checkout is a national group of Independent DSD Distributors, Full-Line Grocery Distributors and Wagon-Jobbers.

We represent products in over 60 major retailers and our distribution network services approximately 35,000 retailers across the United States, Canada and parts of the Caribbean.


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Understand the job your package is suppose to play. It is a silent sales person so make sure its a good one.

A properly designed customer retail packaging will drive the following for your consumer.

http://MrCheckout.net/Submit

It is better to fail in originality than to

succeed in imitation.

~ Herman Melville

Documents

Top 10 Retail Hacks for Packaging DesignPackaging companies tout additional consumer benefits their packaging and then immediately link those benefits to the price differential that