12.03.18 // Heritage Paper
Regardless if you’re marketing electronic or household goods, or creating unique subscription business services, aesthetics, structural design, sustainability, and costs are all important e-commerce packaging considerations.
In this post, we’ll explore how premium packaging solutions can make a positive impact on your e-commerce sales.
First, keep in mind that premium packaging does not need to sacrifice structural integrity, sustainability goals or your cost-benefit analysis.
A resourceful design team will incorporate your goals into a distinctive package design to excite your customers with an enhanced opening experience, build brand loyalty and ultimately help increase e-commerce sales.
Although premium packaging initially tends to cost more, you may be able to redesign so that you use less total material than what you’re currently using. In the end, the overall cost may actually balance out or be less.
The right premium packaging can differentiate you from your competition because it’s more likely to be shared on social media by loyal brand ambassadors.
Consider the marketing value of reaching beyond just one highly satisfied consumer who can quickly amplify their positive packaging experience through a variety of social media channels.
So why should you explore premium packaging as an integral part of your e-commerce strategy?
The growth of e-commerce continues to explode in the U.S. Online sales are expected to reach more than $504 billion in 2018 and are projected to exceed $700 billion by the year 2022, according to Statista.
In addition, according to the latest data from The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, estimated U.S. e-commerce sales at nearly $131 billion for the third quarter 2018 account for almost 10 percent of total retail sales for the same quarter. The third quarter e-commerce sales estimate also increased 14.5 percent from third quarter of 2017.
There’s no doubt that from kitchen and bath hardware to small appliances, consumers are preferring to shop online more and more. And marketers are quickly taking advantage of the increased margins available through this direct-to-consumer avenue by opening up their entire product lines to online sales.
Even though innovative programs like online subscription services are a relatively new segment of the Internet economy, they’ve grown more than 100 percent each of the last five years.
Replenishment subscription services, such as shavers and diapers, account for more than 30 percent of total online sales. Curated commerce services — unique product lines that provide customers with a distinct collection not offered by other online retailers in a market — account for more than 55 percent of sales. And fee-based discount services, like beauty and apparel, account for about 13 percent of the total, according to McKinsey & Company.
At the same time, a majority of online consumers remain satisfied with the traditional brown boxes they receive with their order deliveries. After all, they’ve been ordering online for many years and are accustomed to the same plain boxes and void fill they see over and over.
However, surveys abound that support the impact of how premium packaging improves brand perception, especially for luxury goods and subscription services. So there remains considerable potential to improve the look of shipment boxes too with better branding or innovative design approaches.
For example, Dotcom Distribution’s eCommerce Packaging Study 2015 states that 49 percent of respondents indicated that premium packaging does influence how excited they get when receiving and opening a package. More than 60 percent of those surveyed also said that premium packaging makes a brand appear more upscale. In addition, a similar Harris Poll survey found that “more than 60 percent of U.S. consumers believe how provider packages their e-commerce order reflects how much that brand cares about them.”
Also, according to McKinsey & Company, 39 percent of consumers even took the time to share a product image or video online. In addition, 61 percent of shoppers were influenced to buy a product after looking up such images and videos on social media.
Dotcom Distribution’s eCommerce Packaging Study 2015 also reports that YouTube has become a significant avenue for advertisers’ brand ambassadors who share their unboxing experiences online. With followers numbering in the millions, such as technology and gaming YouTube fans, the influence of these brand ambassadors can become quite powerful.
As you can see, integrating premium packaging into your e-commerce program may be the winning strategy that will drive your sales success and expand your presence in this growing market sector.
Contact us today to find out more about how you can improve your e-commerce sales with resourceful and innovative premium packaging solutions.
Let’s talk about how we can optimize your entire packaging supply chain with impactful custom packaging design, fulfillment and equipment solutions.
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