Are you shopping for stock clamshell packaging? You’ve gotten your product through research and development, you’ve found manufacturers and suppliers, and now you’re getting ready to reach out to retailers to get your product on the shelf. It might feel like you’ve done the hard part and it’s time to sit back and let the fruit of your labor roll in.
However, your packaging will make or break your products success. If you haven’t found the best stock clamshell packaging for your product, you still have a few hurdles to jump through. You need to find the stock clamshell packaging that protects your product while also displaying it in a way that is appealing to your target audience. In fact, if you don’t have the right stock clamshell packaging for your product, you may find yourself hard up to find retailers who will even give you shelf space in their store. Additionally, depending on the nature of your product, you will have additional packaging requirements such as food-safe lidding films or form fill seal machines for health and safety purposes.
In order to find the right packaging for your product, we’ve put put together a guide of considerations you should make.
Four Things You Need to Consider Before Selecting a Product Packaging Vendor
- Choose a packaging supplier that best fits the size you need.
If you’ve ever been shopping at one of those bulk clubs, you know the principle the more you buy, the better deal you’re going to get per unit. The greater volume of clamshell packaging you’re shopping for, the more leverage you have to negotiate and spend less per package. So sometimes, you might benefit from ordering slightly more packaging than you need presently, getting a lower rate per unit, and setting yourself up for success in the long=run.
However, saving yourself a nickel per package doesn’t make sense if you have to buy more units than you’ll ever need. Don’t let yourself get pushed into a packaging agreement that outsizes your needs. It’s a better idea to work with a packaging supplier who caters to businesses of your size. This way, they’ll offer the lot sizes you need, and are prepared to offer deals that other businesses you’re size can manage without taking too much off the bottom line. - Think about logistics while choosing the size and shape of your product packaging.
As you can imagine, the bigger your clamshell packaging is, the more material will go into making it, and this will cost you more. On top of that though, the larger and heavier your product packaging is, the more storage space you’ll need to store and use them. And, the more it will cost you to ship your products out. Obviously, make sure you select clamshell product packaging that your product fits in (as it’s completely useless if the product doesn’t even fit in it), but keep the size as close to the low-end as you possibly can.
And we’ll throw this in for free: you want your clamshells to be stack-able before they are in use. If you cannot nest your packaging inside each other before you put you’re product in them for retail, you’re shipping and storage costs will go up exponentially. - Weigh out the pros and cons of using custom clamshells vs stock.
Using custom clamshells for your packaging has a lot of advantages. It makes your product look more distinct and often offers functional benefits. If you are going to need more than 30,000 clamshell units, this might be a good option for you.
However, the cost of custom clamshells is a lot greater than stock clamshells, which eats into your profit margin. On top of that, if it becomes necessary to make any changes to your product, your custom packaging might suddenly become unusable. Pouring money down the drain is something you want to avoid as an entrepreneur. Weigh out the pros and cons of custom packaging and those of stock packaging and decide which is most advantageous for you, before you select a packaging vendor. - Consider how the packaging impacts your brand’s mission.
If your brand is eco-friendly, or vegan, or American-made, or any other noble mission, you’ll want to use a clamshell packager that follows it as well.
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