Many business owners prioritize sales and promotions, often overlooking the importance of packaging and labeling. The reality is these components directly influence sales and profitability as they provide crucial information to consumers and represent your brand and its connection to a product.
When selecting your product labels and packaging, take the necessary time and care to choose an eye-catching and memorable design, allowing you to stand out from the crowd and build a lasting brand identity.
The Function of Labeling
A product’s label is essential when communicating important information to consumers, both online and in traditional retail stores. They allow potential customers to better understand the quality and function of a product, as well as the business behind it.
While the primary function of labels is to inform, they have additional essential tasks crucial in the E-commerce business world.
Identification
Product labeling provides the relevant information needed to appropriately and effectively identify a product and its usage just by its outer appearance. This information will typically include the ingredients or components that it is made from, how to use it, any cautionary warnings or emergency action that can be taken, the expected lifespan of the product, and, in the case of foodstuff, nutritional content, serving sizes, and allergy warnings.
Furthermore, it will provide industry information, including the date it was manufactured, the batch number, and a best-before date for items that can spoil.
Branding
One of the most essential roles a product label plays is displaying your brand name, making it easier to identify an item that belongs to you. In addition, design elements, including graphics, color schemes, brand markers, and logos, will help customers learn what products belong to a specific company.
An eye-catching label will help customers remember positive past experiences they may have had with a specific business and make it easier to spot these products moving forward, especially if they are shopping via websites with an extensive array of different products and brands on offer. Furthermore, partnering with a well-known and trusted manufacturer or distributor who appears on your product label can attract a large consumer base.
Product Grading
If you sell products with different features that predominantly affect their application, usage, or effect, using labels is an easy and highly effective way to group similar products while differentiating them from others.
For example, in the beer industry, labels can be used to categorize bottles by alcohol strength while identifying their non-alcoholic counterparts that fall under the same brand. Alternatively, companies that develop toiletries can design product labels that help differentiate types of shampoos or highlight what is shampoo and what is used for conditioners.
This type of product grading makes it easier for customers to find the products they want and helps to mitigate incorrect purchasing, which could lead to returned items or lost business.
Legal Information
Product labels need to comply with many legal requirements stipulated by law. When designing your label, you need to consider how this information will be presented, as it has to be visibly included and clear to read and understand.
This information must be included to comply with legal and industry requirements, but it is also necessary to protect your customers from accidents or serious harm due to product misuse. Such information includes safety instructions and statutory warnings for poisonous or hazardous products like cigarettes and cleaning materials.
Main Responsibilities
In the world of online retail, the importance of packaging is often overlooked. While the quality of the product is the most crucial aspect of any E-commerce business, how it is packaged plays a massive role in multiple ways.
Decreases Rate of Returns
Whether you sell food products, cosmetics, or electronic goods, you should never underestimate the importance of creating a positive experience and impression with the packaging and labeling you choose to use. This can often be the difference between someone who becomes a repeat customer and one who chooses to shop elsewhere.
In traditional brick-and-mortar stores, unique and eye-catching packaging is what attracts a customer to an item and helps it stand apart from competing brands. In online retail, a customer is treated to an exciting and pleasant unboxing experience.
Packaging is essential in determining the state of products once they reach the customers. Poorly packed items that lack sufficient labeling are more at risk of being damaged or broken and can leave a negative first impression that results in the customers returning their order. Furthermore, it could motivate them to negatively review your business online, which can further harm your brand image.
Brand Identity
Having consistent and recognizable packaging and labeling across all products is a crucial way to keep your brand’s identity clear and memorable. Every business should guarantee that the same information is shared across all marketing and communication channels to ensure that customers are familiar with and well-informed about the quality, make-up, and development of each product.
Suppose your E-commerce business extends to an offline market to some degree. In that case, you need to decide if your packaging and labeling solutions will be identical for the two markets or if something simpler and more robust is required for online products. However, it is important to note that this will likely involve a larger budget that could be better used elsewhere.