All About Creating Direct-to-Consumer Packaging

In recent years, e-commerce stores have become popular places for customers to purchase anything and everything. Instead of driving to the store for a new necklace, you can purchase one from the comfort of your home! Because of this shift in where customers are purchasing their products, packaging must also evolve to accommodate this.

Creating direct-to-consumer packaging is crucial to the world of e-commerce. How you design the package is different from traditional packaging solutions. Keep reading to learn what direct-to-consumer packaging is, how it’s different, its advantages, the elements to remember throughout the design process, and how Golden West Packaging can help you!

What Is Direct-to-Consumer Packaging?

Direct-to-consumer packaging is exactly what you think it would be. It’s packaging that you make for a product that goes directly to the consumer. This means there is no third-party retailer involved; instead, products go directly through an e-commerce website.

For example, let’s say you sell clothing. Instead of the customer purchasing your clothing from a department store, they will directly receive the apparel through the mail from your e-commerce store. Because of this change in process, packaging needs are slightly different.

What Is Different About This Type of Packaging?

The purpose of product packaging inside brick-and-mortar stores is to attract customers and encourage them to purchase the item. Selling in an e-commerce store is different because the packaging isn’t doing the main job of attracting individuals. Instead, direct-to-consumer packaging must be durable enough to accommodate rigorous transportation. In a nutshell, retail packaging is meant to advertise, while direct-to-consumer packaging is meant to protect.

While packaging still plays an integral marketing role in e-commerce, it looks slightly different than in a brick-and-mortar store. Direct-to-customer packaging no longer needs to initially attract the customer. Rather, it must encourage customers to repurchase from your business.

Advantages of Direct-to-Consumer Packaging/Products

There is nothing wrong with selling your products in brick-and-mortar stores, but direct-to-consumer packaging has several advantages you cannot ignore.

The first and most important advantage of this type of packaging is the creative control you gain. When you create packaging for store shelves, you must adhere to the store’s guidelines. But when packaging your products for direct sales, you have complete freedom over your brand, marketing tactics, and reputation.

With complete freedom and creative control, you can design and create packaging geared toward the customer experience. In other words, you can place whatever graphics or texts on your packaging that will enhance the experience for your customers. The better their experience when receiving your products, the more likely they will buy from you again.

And because the customer isn’t going to a store to purchase your products, they will go directly to your e-commerce page. This allows you direct contact with your customers to address any questions or concerns about your products. This also helps you understand what your consumers are looking for and what they do and don’t like. If something in your packaging design is not going well with customers, you can easily and quickly adjust your packaging to fix this problem. If your product were in stores, you would need to redistribute every product with the new packaging, which can be costly and time consuming.

Elements To Remember When Designing Direct-to-Consumer Packaging

When you’re creating direct-to-consumer packaging, there are a few elements you must keep in mind. These elements include durability, sustainability, brand identity, and the unboxing experience. Going over these elements in depth can help you better understand why they’re essential in your design process.

Package Durability

Shipping a crate of products to a store is much different than shipping an individual product to a customer. Carriers are much more careful with packaging when it’s going to stores in large quantities than they are with singular packages. Because of this, your folding carton packaging must be strong enough to withstand rough handling in transport. For example, you might consider corrugated cardboard for more strength or an extra layer of packing materials to prevent the product from breaking or becoming damaged.

Sustainability

There are so many reasons to switch to sustainable materials in your business, and direct-to-consumer packaging is a great place to start. For one, many customers prefer products that come in eco-friendly packaging because it shows the thought and care your business put into producing your packaging.

Plus, switching to sustainable packaging can save you on shipping costs because sustainably packaged products are much lighter compared with traditionally packaged products. Not to mention, it will be easier for your customers to recycle or repurpose your packaging to further reduce the carbon footprint on our planet.

Brand Identity

Brand identity is extremely important for packaging in both e-commerce stores and brick-and-mortar locations. What the customers see on the outside of the package can provide an insight into what the product is and what your business is about. Therefore, you want to incorporate identifying factors into your design so customers can easily recognize your brand in the packaging.

This is even more important for e-commerce stores because a positive brand image will encourage repeat purchases. When your products are not constantly on store shelves, you must find another marketing tactic to get customers to come back to your website.

Unboxing Experience

The unboxing experience is what the customer experiences as they open your product. Direct-to-consumer packaging gives you more creative control to design an unforgettable unboxing experience. Without the guidelines from brick-and-mortar stores, you can add as little or as much detail as you want to create the ultimate unboxing experience.

A quality unboxing experience goes hand in hand with brand identity because it encourages the customer to return or even recommend your products to friends and family. Packaging that’s fun to unbox and that represents your brand well will keep customers coming back for more.

Direct-to-Consumer Packaging With Golden West Packaging

So now that you know more about creating direct-to-consumer packaging, how are you designing your packaging? Are there some elements you could adjust for more success? Are you looking for a professional supplier to help you create a design for direct-to-consumer packaging?

Look no further because Golden West Packaging has everything you need to design successful packaging. With our graphic design support, professional printing, and more, you can create the ultimate package for your e-commerce products with the best materials on the market.