Affordable Packaging Options for Your Product-Based Business
As a product-based business owner, you know that packaging plays a big role in your brand's identity and customer experience. But the question is, can you get affordable packaging without compromising your vision or quality? In this blog post, we'll explore the importance of affordable packaging and various options to help you make the right choice for your business.
Why is affordable packaging important?
All the expenses of running a product business can add up quickly. Packaging especially can impact your cash flow and product margins. And you’re not just paying for the packaging materials, you also have to factor in graphic design, any custom structural development, and printing.
But, you can effectively manage this expense by being mindful of your budget when choosing package containers and printing techniques. Every penny saved on packaging goes directly into your product's margin, making your business more sustainable in the long run. And you’re in business to make money right? When you don’t blow the budget on packaging you can allocate more resources to areas like product development, and customer service.
What is "affordable packaging"?
Packaging comes in a variety of options and price points. So, affordability is going to be unique to each business and relative to the specific product and price point. What's affordable for one business may not be for another. It’s important that each business determines its own packaging budget. Take a good look at your product cost of goods, profit margin, and sales price. What percent of your product costs are packaging? Do you have room to raise your sales price and increase the quality of your packaging? Use your product’s cost of goods to decide what affordable packaging means to your business.
Is it possible to have nice packaging that is affordable?
The answer is a resounding "yes!" The quality of packaging is not solely determined by its price tag. Here's how you can make your packaging both affordable and attractive. Take a look at your costs and build per piece budget for packaging into the cost of goods for each product. Use your per piece budget for packaging as a guide to making cost-effective choices. By including the packaging costs in your product cost of goods, you’re able to better plan for the expense and evaluate the return on investment.
What are the options for affordable packaging?
There are many ways to produce packaging that enhances the product experience while staying within budget. Now that you’ve established a budget for your packaging, you’re to figure which option is best for your bottom line.
Here are a few of our favorite budget-friendly packaging solutions:
Handmade Packaging can be a cost-effective choice, especially for small batch products and maker businesses. Design and print your own tags and labels to apply directly to the products or bottles and jars. Handmade packaging creates a unique experience customers love and adds a personal touch to your products.
Stock Packaging is another great option. Similar to using a website template, off-the-shelf packaging options can be a budget-friendly solution. You can find a wide variety of stock packaging options in colors and patterns to compliment your brand. Stock packaging works well for product boxes, bottles, jars, tubes, mailers and shippers.
Customizing Stock Packaging with labels, stickers, or stamps creates a branded experience without the cost of a custom print run. Purchasing packaging materials in bulk like bottles, jars, and boxes that can be used across multiple products significantly reduce per-unit costs. And pairing the stock boxes and bottles with custom printed labels is our favorite way to get the look of custom packaging while keeping costs low.
Buying in Bulk isn’t just for household goods. As with most products, there is an economy of scale when you are able to buy more at once. Use your annual projections to buy larger quantities of packaging materials to get a lower per unit cost. Again, if you’re able to use stock or common containers across multiple products buying larger quantities will make a lot of financial sense.
Affordable packaging is achievable
To define what "affordable packaging" means for your business, work backward from your budget constraints. Remember that creativity in packaging isn't just about the design; it's also about finding smart solutions to get the look you want within your budget. By making informed choices, you can have packaging that not only impresses your customers but also supports your business's financial health. So, go ahead and explore the options that best suit your business and start saving on packaging costs today. Your bottom line will thank you for it!