Getting Started: A Guide to Standout eCommerce Packaging

Get your packaging on point

A brick-and-mortar store allows you to craft a physical first impression. The atmosphere, the textures and colours of your products, the fun details, and the place's decor come together to give your business personality and presence.

Here's the good news for eCommerce businesses: other ways exist to create that sparkling initial impression with your customers. Give them the best unboxing experience in the comfort of their home, and they'll feel all the warm fuzzies that come with a fantastic in-person shopping experience. Product packaging is not just functional, but it must fulfil that practical purpose. It's also a crucial part of making your brand beloved.

Here are a few specific reasons that eCommerce packaging can be a valuable asset, and ideas for how you can achieve a memorable unboxing experience for your customers.

Why is eCommerce packaging so important?

It's your first impression. As we said earlier, your packaging is the first physical interaction your customer will have with your brand. When you start with your website, you can continue with your eCommerce packaging design.

People will talk about it. If they enjoy unboxing your product and are tickled by your personalised packaging, there's a good chance your customers will spread the word—either in conversation or over social media. You've probably seen Instagram stories of people carefully unboxing their much-awaited purchases. That's top-notch free advertising, and you want it.

It builds upon your brand personality. With a wide variety of eCommerce packaging solutions, there are many ways to add your vibe and values to the way you send out your product. The number of brands focusing on sustainability as part of their ethos is growing, and eco-friendly options are available. If you are into loud colours, you can create unique packaging that will reflect the vibrancy of your brand. Take a look at our Instagram gallery for inspo!

It protects your product. Design is so important, and not only for looks. eCommerce packaging must keep its contents safe and secure as they journey to the customer's door. Form AND function are crucial. Unsuitable designs that don't follow packaging best practices can result in lost profit due to returns of damaged goods. Ripped or squashed packaging can also give a wrong impression of your product to your customers and reduce the likelihood of building brand loyalty. 

Up your game: Packaging tips for small businesses

Having established that your product packaging is important, the question becomes: How can you make the packaging for your small business functional, fabulous, memorable, and relevant to your branding?

We have a few ideas.

Choose a practical packaging solution.

The best type of packaging to order and use for your small business will depend entirely on the product you're sending out. If the product is fragile, a rigid box with cushioning materials will be needed. These are also ideal for awkwardly shaped objects. For clothing or textiles, a resealable or compostable mailer will do the trick for most garments. A gift box may make the best brand impression for delicate or high-end clothes.

At NEON eCommerce Packaging, our team of packaging experts offers free advice on what may be suitable for your products to keep them safe during shipping. Consider a full range of options before you make a decision.

Choose your sizing carefully.

A properly sized package is a tidy package. For your product to look great and arrive in good shape, you should pick a box, mailer, or other type of eCommerce packaging ideas that fits the size and shape of its contents. Boxes, cartons, and mailers are more expensive and may also need more infill materials, so finding the right solutions makes sense.

Think about filler

You'll need infill materials if your box has a fair bit of negative space or needs extra padding. The typical styrofoam peanuts, air pillows, and bubble wrap are protective but could be more aesthetically pleasing and eco-friendly.

Other possibilities include crinkle paper and tissue paper. These can add excitement to the unboxing experience. Play around by matching the colours to your product or brand.

Create with colours designer brand boxes

Using colours in your eCommerce packaging design is a simple way to make it unique. You can turn your packaging into art with various layers, types of boxes, tissue paper or other infill, and various labels and stickers. 

Think about the unboxing experience

Are you sick of the term "unboxing" yet? Google will tell you it's still trendy. You can also search it on YouTube and see what a difference it can make to your brand.

The research is also telling. One eCommerce packaging study found that 40% of online customers would share an image of their latest purchase on social media if it arrived in memorable packaging. This powerful word-of-mouth tool is essential for businesses looking to grow their brands. 

Creating an unboxing experience they'll love and will be likely to share with their friends and networks is a great way to boost brand awareness.

So, keep this in mind when creating your eCommerce unboxing experience. You want some complexity to the process, elements to untie, unfold, or otherwise uncover. You want the materials to feel high-quality and look great. Package your product as though it's the latest iPhone!

Personalise if possible

For small businesses, adding a personal touch to packages is easy. Writing a personal note to each customer on branded notepaper is fantastic. Add a business card, or pre-printed thank you notecard when that becomes too much. Stickers and labels can also send a delightful message to those receiving your product.

Each eCommerce business, product, and parcel is unique. That's the idea for small business packaging solutions: they should be chosen to fit individual needs.

View our collections to find the eCommerce packaging boxes, mailers, and other solutions that will boost your sales and help your brand grow. Our collection can help your products make the best impression, arrive safely, and get your customers talking.