Food packaging sells…it’s most often the first “ad” consumers see for products. Whether your product is a new start-up or an existing product with some shelf life, if you are not fully utilizing your packaging as a sales tool, you’re missing a huge opportunity. This is particularly important since packaging is advertising space, or media, that you already own.

In today’s hyper-competitive retail environment, food and beverage product packaging is an essential element in any successful go-to-market strategy. Studies have indicated that consumers give a food product package 5-7 seconds of their attention at the shelf level. That’s not much time to sell, so it’s extremely important that packaging design considers every aspect of consumer interaction. Here are some tips to consider in designing food packaging to maximize sell opportunities.

GRAB SOME ATTENTION. Packaging is typically the first visual and tactile experience consumers have with a product. It needs to convey the essence of the brand and the nature of the product inside. To effectively do that in the retail environment, packaging needs to excite. From the physical configuration to the graphics and color schemes, great packaging design grabs and holds consumer attention. Consumers seem to equate pleasing or interesting packaging with product quality, so in a sense, packaging is the gift wrap. At holidays and birthdays, there is a reason why we grab one gift first over all the others to open…it excites or intrigues us.

TALK TO CONSUMERS.  Grabbing attention is only the beginning in great packaging design. Once you’ve got consumers’ attention, it’s time to communicate. For food and beverage packaging, there is some information mandated by regulatory agencies and experienced food packaging designers know what to do to satisfy these requirements. The rest of the packaging is a blank slate to be filled with relevant brand and product information that resonates with consumers. This is an opportunity to advertise, but always respect the patience of your consumers and only give them information they can use. Well written packaging copy is as important as packaging visuals in winning consumers to your brand and product.

INTEGRATING PACKAGING AND PRODUCT. Many food and beverage products require reusable packaging, and that creates another opportunity to win over consumers from competitors. Packaging materials, configurations, and functionality are important to consumers.  A recent consumer survey regarding food and beverage packaging indicated that consumers place a high value on packaging that preserves product freshness and is reusable. In fact, 60% of respondents said they would pay premium prices for products in packaging that keeps food fresher longer, and 50% place a high value on packaging that is easy to re-use. It appears that investing in easy-to-use packaging configurations and materials that maintain product integrity is as important as the attention grabbing graphics and engaging packaging copy.