Four Industry Packaging Tricks To Avoid

Published on Monday, Nov 24 2014

Recently the packaging industry has come under fire as consumers are catching on to the new packaging tricks and tactics that brands are utilising to mislead and persuade purchases.
 
The role of the visual layer of packaging is for branding purposes, showing that the product is both functional as well as attractive. Good packaging is important to attract consumers to your product and increase your customer base.
 
Which? asked 7,855 of its members to ascertain the most misleading product packaging and it’s not surprising the same common tactics are used by the identified brands.
 
So, here are four packaging traps that you should be wary of:  

1) Copycat products

Many smaller brands have borrowed heavily from established brands that customers were searching for which confuses people into accidently buying them. For example, Which? found one in four people could not distinguish between Lidl’s Tower Gate Ginger Nuts and McVitie’s.  

2) Poor value gift sets

Be wary of gift sets: most of the time they are actually more expensive than the standalone products as you are paying for the additional packaging. There is nothing wrong with this, but to ensure positive sales you need to make sure there’s some value in it for the customer. Which? used the example of a £3 deodorant and £2 shower gel which were being sold as a gift set for £6.50.  

3) Main ingredients missing from the packaging 

Which? found several examples of fruit drinks that are misleading as the main ingredients aren’t represented in the packaging. For example, Which? found Innocent Kids Cherry and Strawberry Smoothies mainly contained apples and grapes – something 33% of respondents said they would feel conned by.  

4) Packets full of air  

It is a constant frustration to open crisps, biscuits and chocolates to find that it is only half full. Which? named Cadbury’s Fingers as a prime example as the boxes are only two thirds full.
Why is packaging so important?
 
We need to be wary of these tactics not only from a consumer viewpoint but also from an industry perspective.
Packaging Europe says packaging is very important for influencing product satisfaction, with only 11% of global consumers being completely satisfied with packaging today. In addition, 36% of customers switching brands because of negative experience with new packaging; proving its best not to deceive them.

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