Packaging is for your eyes, not for your skin

I recently read that 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in developed nations can be attributed to the packaging sector. This would include anything that offers physical protection, containment, information transmission, marketing, or security for a product. You can also include convenience and portion control to this list as secondary results of a package.

The US GDP15684.80 billion US dollars in 2012.
This means we spent 313 billion dollars on packaging. 

How much of your purchase are based on the packaging of a product, and not what is inside the package? Do you think a pretty box means a good product? Is it disappointing when the packaging and the product quality don't match? Do you care less about the quality of  a gift, as long as it "looks pretty"? 

I have to admit, I fall prey to these marketing tactics too. It takes a while to learn that the ugly tomatoes at the farm market taste better than the pretty ones at the grocery store. It takes longer to learn that this fact most often translates to almost everything in life. 

This is one reason why so many small businesses and handcrafters struggle. We often don't have the knowledge, means, or time to put into something we often see as trivial: packaging. We think that because we have a superior product, the outside box shouldn't matter. But then we are outsold by the mediocre product with the fancy box. 

What should we do? I think there are two options: 1) raise your prices and have your customers pay for pretty packaging, or 2) work your tail off and succeed anyway.

I chose option #2. 

I will admit it. I am more of a farm market soapmaker than a boutique soapmaker. No pretty packaging, just what is legally needed. Simple, no fuss, little to throw away. It keeps the prices low. I splurge a little: teal paper bags rather than kraft brown, nice tubes for the shave brushes, pretty colored lip tube caps, but only when it is in a price range I can afford.

I have looked into opening a storefront. Rent, heat, lights, plus insurance will all equal $1 or more per bar price bump just to keep the place open. Nope, not gonna do it. 

For me it is about longevity. It is about making a product that I use, at a price that I would pay for it if I couldn't make it myself. It is about keeping things simple, not following trends, not getting rich fast (or at all for that matter). It is about keeping it real, and honest, and true. 

So no matter what you are buying, try to scrape the surface a little, find the truth, support the little guys, keep it real, keep it simple. Don't buy into the hype. That is my motto lately: don't try and sell hype, and don't buy into another's hype. The packaging is only for our eyes.