Structural Packaging Strength: Men Are No Longer Needed.

Everyone at one time or another, has handed off a tightly lidded container to someone with bulging muscles to twist open easily and proudly. Unfortunately, the population that achieved massive muscles from hard manual labor has diminished significantly, and it’s a safe bet that the ripped and shredded person next to you got that way from systematically and robotically performing reps in the gym. Soon, no container will be openable without the aid of a large mallet.

Regardless of what gender roles have historically dictated, no one exactly approaches opening an impossible jar, bottle or package with a song in his/her heart. We fully acknowledge the need for product protection, but protection against the customer? Why not focus on making a product easy to use?

Your package strength must be proportionate to the delicacy, value and susceptibility to contamination of your product. Even though a difficult-to-open package is annoying, a flimsy package doesn’t inspire customer confidence, especially when that package contains a food item. So, how to balance the two?

If your product isn’t perishable, isn’t likely to be vandalized or stolen and isn’t more valuable than golden diamonds, then there really is no need to encase it in an impenetrable shield of plastic. Here are a few things to consider when deciding upon the durability of your product’s package:

Delivery Concerns

If you anticipate high-volume, cross-country delivery of your product, your package will have to be both crush resistant and shaped so that it can be stacked in an economical fashion. Even if your package passes the egg drop test, does the shape inhibit secure staking during transport? Will the transport cost be affected by the number of pallets your product package requires?

Customer Accessibility

… And we don’t just mean the customer’s ability to open the package eventually; we mean the customer’s ability to see the product. Certain consumer goods whose importance lies more in their form than their function need to be seen by the customer first hand; a photograph or artist’s rendering ain’t cut it.

It’s unfortunate, but some items might have to be returned to the seller after purchase. While it isn’t a company’s first priority to convenience the consumer looking to return the product for a refund, if your product comes in a package that can’t be reassembled, if the item needs to be returned for some reason, the product’s ability to be clearance sold could be affected.

Environmental concerns

Today’s market is heavily influenced by a product’s adherence to environmentally responsible practices, entombing your product in mounds of dense and barely penetrable plastics that must be cut with shears and discarded immediately – no reuse here – tend to be frowned upon.

Freshness

Regarding food items, the type of food makes all of the packaging difference in the world (you really didn’t need us to tell you that). If you manufacture a fresh or frozen food item, even though it may seem as though you would want to package it heavily in order to preserve the product’s integrity and prevent spoilage, believe it or not, the more elaborately packaged it is, the less inviting it is. Think about it: when you are in a grocery store and you see a prepared food item that is packaged as though it could survive space travel, don’t you think that it is probably industrially processed? Even if the food was only made 20 minutes before, if it is enclosed in layer after layer of indestructible packaging, it looks like it’s been around the world and back again – and could probably survive a few more trips. The less packaging food has, the fresher it seems.

The problem of barely openable jars will never go away entirely – mainly due to the generational weakening of the human species (we sit in front of our computers all day; what do you expect? Soon, we’ll be nothing but eyes and fingertips). Nonetheless, a good package designer can mitigate the muscular atrophy of mankind through conscientious design strategies. Moreover, if you drop by our office, we will open your fused-shut jar of peanut butter with our massive jaws-of-life hands and powerful iron wrists. After we run the lid under hot water for 60 seconds.

Data-Driven Brand Development

Want a best-selling brand? SmashBrand is a brand development agency for FMCG and CPG companies. From brand strategy to packaging design testing, our Path To Performance™ process guarantees a retail performance lift. Book a time to discuss your project with our team.