Product packaging can be seen as an essential factor in presenting your products professionally while adding value to the customer’s experience with your brand. 

Your product’s packaging will have a huge influence on a customer’s purchasing decision, so it should never go unnoticed.

Now that you have a better understanding of what your packaging costs will look like, you can start making plans to reduce these costs to fit into your budget. 

Cutting on costs doesn’t necessarily mean cutting on quality. 

There are plenty of cost effective ways to create high quality packaging that enhances your brand narrative and serves your customers.

Whether you are a luxury brand or a restaurant service, custom packaging, at any cost, will gain you brand exposure and in turn boost your sales! 

Creating trendy and shareable packaging has now become a focal point in advertising and marketing strategies. 

Organizations are integrating unique and creative packaging into impactful digital marketing campaigns to increase brand recognition and exposure exponentially. 

Finding the right balance between communicating your brand through packaging and managing your budget can be difficult.

Here we lay out the top considerations for achieving that perfect balance!

Saving On Materials And Structures

When looking for packaging, finding the optimal material and structure of your custom boxes is essential to your product’s success.

Not only will it boost your product presentation, but you’ll be able to optimize your brand identity through your packaging!

You may be thinking that purchasing the top quality material is the best bet to ensure your product will make it through the shipping process and to your customer safely.

The reality is; opting for the highest quality materials can be quite costly when they simply don’t need to be. 

Keeping packaging costs low means being mindful of all the core choices you make for your custom packaging project.

Minimizing your packaging dimensions to be tailored to the smallest size your product needs will actually save on your costs and be much safer for your products too.

Stickers And Labels

Your packaging acts as a spokesperson for your brand and product. However, sometimes custom printing for each box is just out of your budget.  

Stickers and labels are one of the simplest ways to add that extra bit of character and shameless brand promotion to your packaging at a very small cost.

Stickers and labels are also a great way to communicate directly with your customers. 

Whether it’s a simple ‘thank you’, product instructions or more information on your brand, your customers will feel that your business is attempting to make an authentic connection with them.

Your company branding should be everywhere. So, if you are opting for plain packaging to budget your costs, stickers and labels may be the answer to your branding strategy.

Luckily, the more stickers you buy, the cheaper they become, making them a prime choice for those looking to save on costs and maximize on branding. 

Cost Effective Volume Planning

Volume planning involves details such as the order quantity, your product launch plan (your timeline), and setup costs. 

The project details and the decisions made for your product packaging are vital to determining the price range. 

Choosing The Right Manufacturer

Where you manufacture your packaging matters! 

Each manufacturing network comes with its own set of expertise, certifications, and processes so it’s important to compare and contrast to decide where you want your packaging produced.

In addition to their certifications and offerings, determining whether you’d like to work with domestic or international manufacturing companies is another thing to keep in mind. 

Deciding between domestic manufacturers and international manufacturers will depend on the price, quality, and other specifications of your project (e.g. sustainable efforts, shipping method, etc).

Saving On Costs Through Logistics Planning

Similar to how transportation has different routes to get from point A to point B, logistics assist in planning the most efficient packaging methods and routes that are inexpensive and punctual. 

One of these factors is transportation. 

Depending on your manufacturer’s location and your timeline, some options will be more efficient and cost-effective than others. 

Your timeline and due dates will have a big influence on deciding what mode of transportation to use. 

If your time constraints are strict, air shipment or ground transportation may be the best bet (of course, this also depends on the distance between your business and manufacturer). 

Air shipping can be quite expensive depending on your packaging specifications. 

Air shipping will charge by either dimensional weight or actual weight, depending on which is more expensive. 

If your timeline is loose and flexible, sea shipment will be the most cost-effective solution.

Sea shipping will typically charge you on the basis of volume, so opting for collapsible packaging will be beneficial as you can fit more boxes per pallet. 

Lightweight packaging tends to be easier logistically and will likely cut down on your shipping costs.

Air and sea transport will be slower but will end up being cheaper for heavier goods.

Ground shipping will work nationwide, but product weight and dimension will change the costs in this case too.

To better estimate the shipping costs, think about how much it will cost to ship the custom box design and packaging based on the combined weight of your product and packaging as well as the dimensions.

Understanding the combined weight of the item and its packaging will help determine what your custom packaging shipping journey will look like and how much it will cost to ship packages overall.

We know custom packaging and custom boxes can be daunting when planning for cost saving.

Luckily, Rosin Packaging Factory has a wealth of experience in the field and is always happy to help you review and optimize your packaging options.