Packaging trends
keep changing every year, especially for the eCommerce business that
need to constantly renovate as well as innovate for capturing the
interest of its customers in addition to increasing brand value /
awareness. From the packaging design to the choice of Packaging Materials every step in the process helps in defining a
characteristic package for the respective business. It is not
mandatory that every business should follow the trends. With a little
innovation and keen insight into the customer’s preferences, one
can easily come up with designs that can become trend setters in the
industry. Check out the top 4 trends that would be evident in the
eCommerce industry for the year, 2014.
Going Green
The green initiative
is a trend that is being encourage across industries and sectors for
ensuring optimal utilization of the available resources. We do not
want our future generations to be left with nothing. So we need to
start behaving in a responsible manner, starting with packaging.
Green packaging does not only focus on the use of recycled /
recyclable materials but it also emphasizes on the amount of raw
materials being used for preparing each unit of packaging material.
Ideally, the raw materials component should be reduced without
affecting the standard specifications for quality standards. A good
example of this is the “Rapid Packing Container” developed by
Henry Wang and Chris Curro.
Second Life
Packaging
As the name
suggests, second life packaging is one which may be reused again.
This is a great way to encourage people to maximise the use of the
packaging box instead of discarding it after the product has been
received. It is not necessary that the packaging be used just for
storing things in the second life. For example, in the image provided
here, the packaging opens up into a wonderful lampshade. Similarly
other boxes have been developed that double as pots once the contents
of the package have been retrieved.
The “Functional”
Aspect of Packaging
Most businesses have
used the tried and tested method of making visually appealing
packages. But are they really able to attract the customers with
visual characteristics? The current trend indicates a rising
preference towards the use of functional packaging which means better
storage capabilities and multiple applications. Customers, however,
are pretty satisfied with the convenience and ease of using the
contents that comes with the functional designs. For example, the
food box used to pack the burger prevents any stains from being made
and once the lid is removed, it opens up into a wonderful
ready-to-serve place. This is the type of functional packaging that
eCommerce businesses have started focusing on.
Hybrid Packaging
Concepts
Hybrids are a
welcome change in any industry as it allows the best-of-all-worlds
approach to be used. Not only do they have a humorous twist to the
visual appeal but they are really hard to leave unnoticed. Take for
example this image which portrays a paintbrush. This is a simple
product and hardly anyone takes notice because the Packaging usually
involves a plain cover with basic product info. The manufacturer of
this product took the design to a whole new level by creating
sketches of faces in such a way that when the brushes are packed,
they appear to be moustaches. Now this is a really creative way of
going about it.
These are the trends
that are currently gaining widespread popularity, even for
non-eCommerce businesses. As we are just in the early second quarter
of 2014, it can be a challenge to predict future trends. But these 4
trends are the major ones that would be evident this year. All other
trends would probably be direct derivatives of these 4 major
initiatives.
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