Why is Packaging Important? The Three Purposes of Packaging

Many business owners see packaging as an afterthought. It’s just one more expense you  have to calculate into your cost of sales, right? Wrong. Packaging is a crucial contributor to sales success. As your company grows, so do the risks involved in shipping more product across greater distances to varying clients and cultures.

What are the Purposes of Packaging?

To be successful in the global marketplace, you need a solution that does more than contain your product. It needs to serve three key purposes in a harmonious and cost-effective way:

1. Protect
2. Transport
3. Communicate

1. Packaging for Protection

Packaging’s first job is to protect what’s inside. Depending on the product, it could be at risk of breaking, leaking or spilling. If the product is temperature sensitive, it’s likely to spoil in extreme temperatures. Damage due to inadequate packaging not only drives up costs through material losses but can potentially cost you future business, too. Protective packaging requirements vary broadly depending on many factors including the size, weight and material makeup of the product being shipped. The challenge for designers is how to strike a balance between providing adequate protection without driving up overall costs or creating excess waste.

At Ernest, our team of design specialists work closely with clients to evaluate and understand your needs then come up with the ideal solution to meet them. Sometimes that means creating a custom inner-packaging design. Other times it entails finding the right combination of off-the-shelf solutions. And our proprietary TempEndure™ technology provides unmatched protection for temperature-sensitive products on the cold chain journey. We conduct rigorous testing and validation to make sure your product has the just-right level of protection before we send the packaging solution out into the world along with your product. Whatever you’re selling, we’re committed to protecting your product—and your success.

2. Packaging for Transportation

In the global economy, products often make a long journey from where they’re manufactured to where they’re sold. As supply chains become more complex, products pass through more touchpoints and the risk of damage grows. The same can be said for direct-to-consumer businesses where products are shipped from their point of origin to customers around the country or globe. Packaging design must do a good job of keeping products safe in transit via truck, ship or plane, as well as in storage. Packaging designers have to consider inner-packaging needs to protect against bumps, falls and other impacts. The outer packaging needs to be strong and durable. And because packaging weight directly impacts shipping costs, efficiency is always a key consideration.

Ernest’s team of experts has extensive experience designing packaging for products spanning a wide range of industries with varying transportation requirements. We have the products and the know-how to get your goods safely from A to B. Before we start designing your packaging solution, we’ll consider the risk factors, transit environment and storage requirements. For cold chain needs, our TempEndure products are both efficient and effective. And whatever the situation, we keep costs and sustainability top of mind, too.

3. Packaging for Communication

Finally, packaging has to sell your product. It needs to stand out on the shelf, show people what’s inside and tell them why they should buy it. Plus, it needs to do all of this quickly and in the sometimes-limited space available on the packaging. The challenge for designing consumer-branded packaging is how to best combine colors, fonts, imagery and copy to tell the story of your product and convince passing shoppers that they need it. Your packaging design should be original, visually appealing and a reflection of your brand.

Ernest understands the importance of packaging design for powering sales success and business growth, especially in a tight market. Every detail matters. Different colors evoke different emotions, which can influence consumer buying behavior. For example, black communicates sleekness, luxury and a sense of power. It also signals high quality, which justifies a higher price point. Warmer colors spark happiness while white signals simplicity. The messaging you print on your packaging also has to do a good job of communicating the value of your brand and product, and assure potential customers about its safety, quality and usability. Whatever story your packaging needs to tell, you can trust our experts to get the job done while creating a functional, stable and strong packaging design.

Ernest Examples

Take a look at some Ernest products that have hit the sweet spot for our customers. We protect, transport and communicate your products in expertly-designed ways.

Protect: Commodity Forwarders Inc. (CFI) ships perishable goods all over the world. Protecting their products, from flowers to filet mignon, from extreme temperature fluctuations is essential to extending shelf life and preventing spoilage. They came to Ernest for a solution that would keep their goods fresh, keep costs down and help them reach their sustainability goals. We delivered.

Transit: Westcott Designs’ custom truck components are large, heavy and difficult to ship. With customers ordering from as far and wide as Japan and Dubai, the company needed a packaging solution that would prevent damage during shipment without driving up costs. Ernest collaborated with their team to come up with an efficient and effective design that’s easy to assemble so they can get their product on the road fast.

Communicate: Leatherman Tools has been in the business of making multi-tools for over 30 years. When the company designed their first wearable multi-tool with a top-quality Swiss watch face, they needed a premium packaging design that communicated both luxury and functionality, with a superior unboxing experience to match. Here’s what we created.

Partner with Ernest

Our Consulting Team is comprised of experts in a wide range of industries and for a huge variety of consumer goods. Knowledge is our product, and getting you the right packaging is our goal. Find out what Ernest can do for you.