It has been reported that in e-commerce the shipped package is the most under-utilised marketing opportunity for small businesses. Instead of thinking of your packaging as a means to get the product from warehouse to the customer, think of it also as part of your brand experience and advertising.
With the rise of visually driven social media platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook stories, more and more consumers are changing the way they engage with brands and are taking to social media to share their e-commerce experiences. Recent studies have found that almost half of online shoppers would share a photo of their order on social media if it arrived in an attractive package.
The most popular recent exposure for e-commerce businesses through their packaging has been the 'Unboxing experience'; where customers or influencers unbox their order on photos or videos to their followers. If done right, this is an invaluable and inexpensive way to market your brand to a wider audience.
CASE STUDY
Lookiero is a startup Womenswear company who provide their customers with online personal shopping services. Customers enter some details about themselves including clothing sizes, tastes and preferences. A selection of 5 items of clothing and accessories are then handpicked by a personal shopper and sent to the customer on a monthly basis.
Their 'Unboxing experience' has been clearly thought out to be visual, rewarding and on-brand. The box is branded with the Lookiero logo in a clean and simple design. On opening the box the customer finds a personalised note from their stylist, branded post-cards with 'ways to wear' their outfits and a detailed order and returns form. The clothing itself is beautifully wrapped by tissue paper and secured with a branded sticker.
In doing the above Lookiero is ensuring that their brand feels luxurious and exciting to its customer base and they're rewarded by a huge amount of customers sharing their unboxing experience on social media. Lookiero has reported an eight-fold increase in revenue from 2016-2017 and have just broken into the UK market.
CREATING YOUR UN-BOXING EXPERIENCE ON A BUDGET
Creating a memorable un-boxing experience doesn't have to be expensive if you're just starting out. If you can't afford to get your boxes branded then shop around for some nice simple boxes or parcel bags. You can add the wow factor by making your products look presentable and on-brand using tissue paper, stickers and inserts.
Tissue Paper
Consider choosing tissue paper in your website colours (or similar) to stay recognisable and different from the standard white tissue paper. https://www.tinyboxcompany.co.uk has a wide range of unique, coloured tissue paper with no minimum order quantity. They also have an amazing selection of boxes which are available in standard and bespoke, printed designs.
Stickers
Add some branding to your packaging by printing your own labels. Available from a wide range of places such as www.labelplanet.co.uk you can create your own design using an online template and simply print out onto the label sheets in black and white or colour. Once you're happy with your design it may be cheaper in the long-run to bulk order from a printing company like https://www.tinyboxcompany.co.uk
Branded inserts
www.moo.com create an amazing range of personalised inserts for reasonable prices including postcards, flyers and business cards which come in a range of finishes. It's really simple too with customisable design templates available.
For an even cheaper option get some nice card and just include a handwritten, personalised note in the parcel thanking the customer for their order. A little goes a long way.
Incentive
A great way to get repeat orders from your customers is to include an incentive in the parcel such as a discount code of their next order, a free sample or a free gift. If you can't do this in all of the parcels then consider rewarding your best customers every once in a while to increase brand loyalty.
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