The first packages were used only for transportation and distribution of the products and had often a general and simple design since the sellers introduced their products in person to people disregarding the packaging design. Soon there was a time that sellers were not able to introduce their products to their customers specially in mega stores and in rush hours.
To remove this problem, the stores tended to offer their products separately in different shelves. This way of offering the products made a major change in packaging since it was meant to attract the customers and made them motivated to shop while passing by the shelves.
In this way, packaging became the most important key to this goal and it gradually played a big role. By the progress made in technology in different fields specially in wood industry and paper and cardboard production, there were less limitations on appearance of the packages in a way that nowadays it is possible to make any kind of packaging and to print on different surfaces.
There can be various definitions about the word packaging. According to the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran, packaging means “preparing a dish or container that keeps the product healthy from the production to the consumption”. In other words, the packaging means: “ a combination of raw material or added value to the raw material so that it can make the customer satisfied.”
Below, you can find some benefits and functions of packaging:
Protecting from Corruption and Contamination:
A convenient packaging can protect one or several products from corruptive or contaminative factors for a good time from the production, distribution, transportation, storage and consumption. The importance of packaging is considered more serious when we approach to the packaging of food, hygienic, cosmetic and medical products.
In case of fragile and vulnerable products, we need to use adequate designing, thick coverage, bubble wrap and top quality materials.
One of the major goals of packaging is to transport the products easier and in lower cost and it should also help to keep the quality of the products the same.
The designer and manufacturers of packaging should distinguish the necessary packing method for each product based on its characteristics and take some measures to make it easier for the customers to transport and replace the products since it can help to boost the sales and popularity of the products.
Easy use:
One of the first conditions of a convenient packaging is to use it easily. The designers and manufacturers of the packaging are looking for making the packages that can be opened easily or be closed after consumption. The easy open metal cans or cigarette pockets are among them.
Preventing from fraud or abuse:
Another benefit of a packaging is to prevent from fraud and selling a fake product. A good packaging is proving a healthy content without any manipulation. There is no way to assure about the authenticity and originality of a product without packaging. Even the simplest packaging can prove that the product has the manufacturer’s name and credit which shows that the manufacturer is responsible of their products being healthy and also the authenticity of the writings mentioned on the package.
There are two ways to prevent from fraud in the product market. First is to use the methods and structures that are impossible or hard for the swindlers to re-produce it due to its complicated technology. The second is o use the elements on the packing that can reveal easily any effort for faking.
Beauty, attraction and validation of the product:
If the package can have a meaningful design adequate to the product containing all the necessary information about the product, it can transfer the message of the manufacturer immediately and explicitly to motivate the customers. That is the reason why we call the packaging “ the silent seller”.
One of the most important benefits of packaging is to attract and encourage the customers to shop but it should be an adequate, beautiful and creative designing to impress the customers.
Nowadays, we can see that the products having a creative packing design convenient to the product have more chance to be sold comparing with other products with the same or even higher quality but without any attractive packaging. This can cause a major difference in sales statistics of rival manufacturers. That is why the successful managers and market activists pay an important amount of attention and budget to the packaging and designing in the advertisement field.
The up-to-date technology, the creative and experienced designers and also the market experts have all come to help to the designers to offer a product to the market that can attract the eyes in the first glance and also turn a random or potential user to a real buyer.
