Packaging Effects on Marketing

by Sam Ashe-Edmunds

Changing your packaging can have a variety of effects on your sales, costs, brand and retail store placement. Some business change their packaging as a proactive strategy to increase sales, while others do so to cut costs. Before you make a change in your product’s box, can or container, review the various results that might occur and their impact on your bottom line.


If your product sits on a shelf with many other competing products or in an aisle with hundreds of other products, changing the color, size, shape or other features of its packaging can make it stand out for consumers. Visit retail stores where your product is sold to see how it’s displayed and how it competes with other products for attention. Adding temporary messages -- such as a price discount, contents increase, health benefit or product award -- inside an attention-grabbing graphic can help you send a targeted marketing message.


Sophisticated retailers calculate the square inches a product takes up on its shelves and the revenue the product generates per square inch. If you use a large box to get consumers’ attention, your footprint might take up shelf space a retailer could use for two other products that, when combined, generate a larger profit. Discuss with your retailers their desire for larger or smaller product packaging based on their desire to create attention or generate higher profits based on shelf space.

Green Effect

If you reduce the amount of materials you use in your packaging or use recycled materials, you can advertise this to your advantage. Environmentally conscious consumers might be willing to spend more to buy a product that uses less energy and fewer natural resources to produce. Review your customer demographics and conduct a survey or focus group to determine if going green with your packaging will increase your sales.


The graphics on your packaging can convey messages or evoke feelings in consumers, based on the images and colors you use. Different shades of blue are considered cool, relaxing colors, while reds, oranges and yellows are seen as hot or exciting. Children respond to cartoons and drawings. Photos of people using your product can create empathy or reassurance. Some businesses test-market packaging by selling the same product in different packages in different locations to determine which graphics work best.


One of the four cornerstones of the marketing mix is price. Reducing your packaging costs lets you reduce your selling price, if that’s important to your brand and profit strategy. If you choose to sell at a higher price to create a higher perceived value, a sturdier or larger package can send the message to consumers that the contents are more valuable.

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