Luxury packaging can help your products appear more premium and attractive to consumers, therefore making your brand more competitive across the market. Some may assume that luxury packaging is only for top-tier brands that can afford it. However, with current technology and trends, luxury packaging is more accessible than ever.
The first step to achieving luxury packaging is to source high-quality packaging from a trusted source. From there, there are approachable tweaks and additions you can make to your packaging to bring them to the next level to exude sophistication and elegance.
1. Leverage the Potential Packaging Embellishments
There are many additional effects that you can add to your packaging to increase their visual appeal and luxury factor. Foil stamping is a common add-on that adds shiny and metallic details to your packaging. The added layer of reflective foil is often added to logos, text, or decorative details to highlight them. On a production order done for Shamsi, a brand featuring Ancient Egypt-inspired products, foil-stamped details are used to add flair and luster to the packaging.
Luxury packaging often engages more than one of the five human senses. To add a tactile effect, brands will often choose to emboss or deboss their packaging. The raised or sunken designs are a minimalist approach to adding texture to packaging. A little more subtle than foil stamping, the indented designs from embossing and debossing add dimension to the packaging while staying aligned with quiet luxury principles. On a production order done for Recanto, a luxury spa experience, embossing is done on the outside of the lid for as a redefined, understated way to brand their packaging.
Depending on the visual effect you are looking to achieve, different coatings and finishes can also add a degree of elegance to your packaging. The additional protection from varnish and lamination coatings can reduce susceptibility to scratches, maintaining the packaging’s premium look, while different finishes can allow you to achieve visual appearances that are either shiny or softer and smooth. Check out this article for more on the difference between matte and glossy finishes.
2. Maximizing Product Protection For the Illusion of Premium Products
Another way to increase the grandeur of your products is to up the quality and protective nature of your packaging. Premium products will often require increased protection to ensure their safe delivery. Companies can consider using heavier boxes made of rigid materials such as magnetic rigid boxes, rigid boxes, rigid drawer boxes, or unique and elegant options such as pillow boxes. The high quality and protective qualities of the packaging give it its premium look and feel.
Brands are also able to show their attention to the customer's experience with the product by increasing the protection of their products. It shows that the brand aims to design products that maintain longevity and will continue to add value to buyers' lives for prolonged periods.
Custom box inserts made from tailor-made structural design processes are an effective way to not only protect products during shipping but also organize them and present them aesthetically during unboxing. They can significantly alter consumer's perception of your brand through aesthetic and practical means, making them a great starting point if you’re looking to bring your packaging to the next level. They can come in a variety of materials such as foam, corrugated materials, pulp, and more.
Other add-ons such as tissue paper and hang tags can also protect the product either during transport or provide consumers with handling instructions to ensure product quality does not diminish.
3. Prioritize Sustainability For Your Packaging
As of 2023, 81% of consumers expect sustainable packaging when engaging with different brands. With 82% of consumers willing to pay more for eco-conscious packaging, sustainability continues to be more like a benchmark standard for packaging worldwide. By choosing low-impact packaging solutions, companies can not only visually appeal to a larger audience, they can also exhibit their own commitment to environmentally friendly practices across their brand. The additional thought and care that goes into implementing sustainable packaging can demonstrate a sense of luxury to consumers.
It is also important to note that although about 50% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable packaging, most are only willing to pay a small premium for this. Therefore, companies looking to shift towards more green packaging should ensure that they aren’t breaking the bank to achieve this. Brands could consider using soy-based inks, swapping to recycled materials for packaging, using kraft packaging alternatives or getting FSC-certified packaging. On a production order for Bareaya, we printed black soy-based ink on a kraft rigid box. The thumb notches designed in the custom box insert show the company’s focus on creating a seamless experience for their users.
77% of consumers in the UK believe that companies should use as little packaging as possible. Thus, companies may also consider rethinking their packaging to minimize waste and save costs to create more refined and elegant packaging. With 59% of buyers seeking recycling and sustainability information on labels and 46% claiming a large barrier brings unclear labeling, brands can also look to improve labeling as a method to express a well-thought-out customer experience that demonstrates sophistication.
4. Stay On Top of Luxury Packaging Trends
Another approachable way to bring the luxury factor to your packaging is be actively implementing luxury packaging trends. Staying ahead of the curve of such trends can show that your brand invests resources in staying ahead of the curve to provide the most deluxe packaging experience for their customers.
Currently, luxury packaging is turning to simplicity. Brands are implementing an increasing amount of minimalist packaging designs to reduce clutter and exude sophistication. With the rise of quiet luxury and clean beauty, brands are now looking to position their products as an "everyday luxury". We also see a rise in the classic combination of black and white to convey a sense of timelessness. We can see this done through inkless designs, embossing and debossing, or even playing with space through die cutting such as from this packaging sleeve we made with Palms.
By creating an immersive storytelling experience through their packaging and personalizing packaging to their customers, brands can elevate the opulence of their packaging. 74.7% of consumers will come back to your brand when their previous interactions include a personalized touch. Thus, brands can not only add an exclusive feel to their products but also satisfy the desire for tailor-made products and packaging that make consumers feel of great importance and as though they are at the center of the experience.
Finally, creating packaging that utilizes the most innovative technologies can help your brand feel contemporary. The investment spent into implementing the most up-to-date technology allows your company to appear extremely modern and ahead of the competition. Technologies such as 3D printed packaging or implementing smart packaging practices are an approachable way to create an interactive and extravagant unboxing experience. These custom box inserts we made with Square One Design feature a QR code to provide more information whilst keeping a simple and uncluttered design.
Closing Thoughts
While many may feel that luxury packaging is out of their reach, with a couple of simple additions, companies can use packaging to elevate their brands. These additions can help companies create lasting first impressions and develop meaningful connections with their consumers. Custom packaging goes beyond the simplicity of a container and has multitudes of benefits that should be leveraged in order to maximize their impact.
PackMojo is here to help you obtain affordable yet high-quality packaging. Available at low MOQs, our goal is to help you unlock the custom packaging potential for your brand. Explore our full range of products today!