Insights
Article | February 12, 2021
More and more, brands are beginning to see the value of their packaging in influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions. But much less often do they understand the true potential of their outer and additional elements in driving brand engagement, increasing loyalty and enhancing the overall customer experience – and it’s by doing the latter, you can really make consumers fall in love with not only your products, but your brand and business too.
In this article, Robert Lockyer, CEO and founder of Delta Global, a packaging solutions provider for luxury retail brands in fashion and beauty, explains why customers must love a brand’s packaging before they even begin to undress its layers and get to what’s inside.
Love at first sight
With packaging, looks do matter. In the digital age especially, that all important outer shell is often the first physical point of contact a customer has with a brand so the impression it leaves needs to be a positive one, as this will then influence consumers’ respective thoughts and feelings towards the brand and their overall experience with it.
The look of the packaging, understandably, plays a key role in making this impact. It needs to look neat, presentable and fit for purpose first of all, which will come down to the quality of materials used for example, and then in line with what they were expecting of the brand, next.
To achieve this, it’s common for packaging to carry a brand’s logo, colours or other visual cues. But while most brands have mastered this, more can be done by taking into consideration wider brand values, and then developing packaging solutions that represent them.
For instance, in recent years, an increasing number of luxury brands have adopted more minimalist images in order to represent more timeless and classic brand values, and their packaging elements have been updated to reflect such a shift. As a result, it is common for designer bags, boxes and inserts to be sleek in design, with minimal branding, often with just a name printed on them while also being in the company’s recognisable colours.
Take The White Company as an example. Whether a customer places an order online or makes an in-store purchase, there are clear preconceptions of what is to be expected from the brand’s packaging. While colour is on obvious one, customers expect the same clean, minimal and sophisticated designs present in all other branding elements to also be reflected in its packaging. And they’re not wrong.
When they receive a package from the brand, or walk out of the shop with a bag, they are left with a clear and consistent overall experience, which will then evoke positive feelings towards the company and its products, and ultimately, a repeat purchase.
Not only this, but the smart and sophisticated design of such boxes affords them greater status, and therefore use, enabling them to be used in replacement of gift wrapping and even as decorative household items.
Love is green
When packages can be reused in this way, they are also better for the environment. And with an increasing number of customers desiring greater sustainability from brands as well as ways to reduce their own carbon footprints, investing in eco-friendly packaging only does the company favours.
Ultimately, sustainability is a question of ethics, and by tapping into consumers’ deep rooted personal values by aligning their activities to them, brands can certainly encourage deeper connections and better engagement with customers. Over time, this translates to repeat purchases and even brand loyalty and advocacy, which are things all brands strive for.
The offering of sustainable packaging, therefore, becomes yet another reason for customers to choose and love a brand and its products, and going forward, this will help set certain companies apart from competitors.
Therefore, any investment will be worthwhile. With high quality packaging that meets consumers’ expectations and leaves them with a positive overall experience and feelings towards the brand, companies can encourage behaviours that only provide greater commercial value to the business, as well as protect our planet. And that certainly should not be a second thought.
An online affair
Another thing that should not be dismissed is the prominence of online retail. Unarguably, global ecommerce sales figures are on the rise, and the COVID-19 pandemic and its related disruption have only accelerated the digital-first shift.
Although not the most obvious matter, packaging has a huge role to play in ensuring products can be shipped to customers all over the world, safely and efficiently. Before a product even reaches a customer, it has likely been packed and passed around in many different ways, and by the time it does become theirs, these various packaging elements must have done their job well and enabled it to arrive on time and in one piece. If it does not, it is likely customers will have already developed unfavourable perceptions of the brand, and no matter how much they had desired the product, their experience will have been tainted and the feeling of ick will prevail.
While this is a test for the functionality of a brand’s packaging, the online route via which it has arrived at a customer’s door means brands need to think far beyond this in the digital age. As mentioned previously, in these instances, the package is often the first physical touchpoint a customer has with a brand, and as well as meeting their expectations, they also need to be impressed by what they see in order to really fall in love with their purchase.
The whole experience of receiving and opening an order needs to be just that – an experience. And while quality and functionality have some part to play in this, the real love story is created through offering customers greater value, whether that be with additional uses, higher quality materials, or personalised interactions, for example.
That last point is where there is a real sweet spot, particularly for ecommerce sales. The physical distance between customers and an online seller can drive great disconnect and have detrimental impacts on engagement. Therefore, by reinforcing the online sales journey by personalising packaging elements, this gap can be narrowed.
Personalisation in this way can be anything from tailored message cards, through to smart QR codes that take customers straight to the brand’s social media channels, for example. But whatever method is chosen, the experience must be straightforward, interactive and feel unique and relevant to each individual customer. This will allow them to get a real sense of the brand, what it stands for and exactly why they should love its products.
As it would seem, when it comes to packaging, the age-old saying isn’t true... while a package’s contents are important, as ultimately, that is what the customer has paid for, it’s what’s outside that counts.
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Digital Transformation
Article | July 14, 2022
Given the current state of the economy, industrial executives may be asking their CTOs, "Why do a digital transformation and risk diluting our margins when our EBIT numbers are excellent?"
Our competitors will do it if we do not.
Customers have requested it, and we must comply.
The world is becoming more digital, and we must adapt.
To increase our total addressable market, we must diversify our business portfolio.
All of these digital and technological investments have been made to support this strategy.
All of these are valid reasons to get started and keep going. However, there aren't enough to persuade a CEO and CFO to "swallow the fish “and invest in low-return innovations. This becomes even more complicated when your performance is exceptional and you are growing. Furthermore, most companies have reported record profits since the pandemic and are now facing what could be a major recession.
In the context of the impending economic slowdown, there is a better way to persuade these executives to support your digital initiatives and invest in recurring business models.
First, you must alter the overall narrative of your business cases and investment requests. Profitable growth must be prioritized over explosive growth at any cost or growth that is not supported by convincing evidence of success. SaaS providers and tech start-ups with a manufacturing component are currently facing an investment crunch and have begun to cut costs and focus on profit. So, referring to successful unicorns and the rule of 40, for example, would not be a clever idea today! Second, in order to make the case for investing in digital innovations, you must change the overall arguments.
Five critical considerations for your business case presentation:
Maintain focus and reinforce the current business model
Prioritize high-profit margin areas
Concentrate on differentiation and high-value innovations
Ascertain that your sales enablement program is well-executed
Involve finance to obtain profit and loss projections
The pursuit of growth for the sake of growth is no longer an option. The new strategy is to grow to support the core and increase profitability. This may necessitate changes in the way your digital organization operates, is
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Article | April 15, 2020
In the midst of the rapid lifestyle changes incurred by COVID-19, consumer behaviors have shifted considerably: grocery and variety stores are experiencing consistent spikes in consumer demand, while other brick-and-mortar retailers are experiencing dwindling sales and a spike in traffic to their ecommerce sites. Undoubtedly, this reality significantly impacts manufacturers who, by and large, are worried about what COVID-19 will mean for their organizations in the short to medium terms. In fact, PwC has reported that 80% of manufacturing leaders expect to see a negative financial impact on their business due to the pandemic.
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Article | March 15, 2021
IBP, often referred to as integrated business planning, or sales and operational planning, (or just S&OP), is a next generation collaborative planning solution that solves the costly problem of different business units working in silos. It accelerates a firm's ability to respond to market changes, eliminates time consuming data collection and analysis, and aligns planning to the broader business goals, ultimately getting companies to a one plan scenario.
One version of the truth
Some of the features provided by this powerful collaboration engine include dynamic drill-down capabilities, exception-based planning, and fully flexible hierarchy levels. The ability to create, configure, planning views in the UI (user interface) creates one version of the truth, only accomplished with integration of supply chain planning applications.
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