If you’ve spent more than five minutes in a typical grocery store, you’ve seen just how many products consumers are exposed to on a daily basis. With so many brands competing for attention, it’s imperative that your food packaging stand out from the crowd. These days, there are several design and product trends that can entice someone to select your product.
1. Convenience
Consumers are busy, and any time you can make their lives a little bit easier, you’ll reap the rewards. Consumers love meal kits and products that can be resealed and preserved for future use. At Indepak, we can design just about any type of packaging you might need, and this includes clamshell packaging that can be closed and secured easily as well as tubs with lids. We also can provide you with clever packaging designs, such as a container with its own built-in spoon or perhaps a clamshell with multiple sections for a meal kit or perhaps a squeeze bottle with an easy-close top.
2. Fit The Design To Your Customer
There are industry experts that have studied every possible facet of plastic food packaging design, but it doesn’t take an expert to realize that food packaging, perhaps more than any other type of product, must appeal to the senses. Of course, what appeals to one consumer might not appeal to another. This is why it’s crucial that you learn everything you can about your customer.
For instance, if you sell whole wheat organic pasta, your packaging design should reflect the values of your clientele, which no doubt strives to eat healthy and wholesome foods. You might consider using earthy colors and labels that clearly state that your product’s natural and nutritious aspects.
3. Focus On Sustainability & Safety
Plastic food packaging often gets a bad rap. People worry about chemicals such as BPA, and whether or not the plastic they use can be recycled. Virtually every material we use at Indepak can be recycled. Options such as PET and HDPE, which are FDA-approved for food contact, also do not contain BPA and they are the two easiest materials to recycle, accepted by virtually all curbside recycling programs in the United States. Additionally, we also can use starch-based bioplastics for many of our plastic food packaging projects and possibly plastics with post-consumer content.
No matter which option you select, you should advertise this recyclability or sustainability on your packaging. Ensure that the design features the recycling symbol prominently and states that your packaging contains no BPA or was created using renewable sources. Consumers are all about sustainability these days, and showing that your company also holds this value will make an impact on shoppers.
4. Retro, Vintage Or Ultra-Modern?
Retro design is a trend that’s been popular for a few years now and seems to be holding up as time goes by, although sleek and minimal package design also is on trend at the moment. When it comes to food packaging, it’s always a plus if your packaging design is so attractive that a consumer might be tempted to store your package on the countertop rather than stuffing into a cabinet or into the pantry so take a look at what other companies in your market sector have been doing and you’ll probably find that some of the best designs tend to lean toward a retro vibe or a clean and minimalist look.
5. What’s Inside?
Transparency is important to consumers, and on more than one level. For instance, consumers like to actually see what a product looks like before buying it. This is a huge advantage for plastic food packaging, as we can create a transparent package so that consumers can see precisely what they are buying and gauge the freshness of your product.
Of course, transparency is also about clearly showing your customer the ingredients in your product. Consumers have become very well-educated about ingredients, and they want to quickly be able to scan a label and understand what ingredients were used to make your product. When it comes to ingredients, less is more, and consumers definitely are searching for items that contain just a few natural ingredients rather than a long list of hard-to-pronounce additives. If your product does contain a plethora of difficult-to-understand ingredients, play up the sustainability of your packaging or the convenience factor.
Plastic food packaging is one of the best options to preserve, protect and display your specialty food product. Plastics offer a high level of protection against moisture and bacteria, as well as providing impact resistance, which prevents food waste. Additionally, plastics are highly affordable, which helps keep packaging costs as low as possible. If you are searching for a versatile and experienced food packaging specialist, contact the team at Indepak. We’ve been creating plastic packaging for more than 50 years, and can design any package you might need from clamshells to thermoformed trays to tubs with lids and more.
