Enhancing the Shelf Appeal of Cannabis Packaging Products

Shelf appeal is one of the most important considerations when developing effective cannabis packaging for such products. If your product doesn’t jump off the shelf and into the customer’s arms, there is a good chance nobody will buy it.

But how do we make our packaging appealing to our ideal customers? How can we create text, imagery, and a structural design that shouts “buy me” from the store shelf?

Follow these steps to create a packaging design that has will stand out to customers and drive retail sales.

Understand Your Target Demographic when Choosing Cannabis Packaging

Despite what some people may think, cannabis users do not fall into one easy-to-recognize category. There are many different types of people who use cannabis products and your packaging needs to acknowledge this.

For example, are you targeting medicinal users or recreational users? Are your customers younger people or are they elderly? Are you selling flower, concentrate, or accessories?

These are all questions you need to ask yourself before you design your packaging. If you think that all cannabis users are the same and this stuff will sell itself, you will be sorely mistaken. Do the proper research to identify who your target customers are and what will appeal to them.

High Quality vs Low Quality Cannabis Packaging

The quality of your packaging should match the value of the product you are selling. For example, if you are selling a lower-end cannabis product, using a rigid box won’t always increase shelf appeal. In fact, it may actually hurt sales by deterring customers who have a lower budget.

Conversely, using cheap packaging on a more expensive product will hurt it’s perceived value and cause it to be ignored by customers looking for something high end.

The materials and substrates you use for your packaging will influence a customer’s purchasing decision, even if only subconsciously. For this reason, it is important to use the proper materials and substrates. Ultimately. selecting the right cannabis packaging can increase sales, and the top printing packaging companies can help cannabis brands make the best packaging choices. 

What Visual Elements are Appealing?

The words, imagery, colors, and materials you use will play a very important role in the shelf appeal of legal cannabis products. It is important that your packaging have all the right elements to communicate it’s value to potential buyers.

For example, consider your color palette. The color white is often associated with hospitals and pharmacies, so it’s a good idea for medicinal cannabis products to be housed in packaging that is primarily white. Packaging for organic products will usually be green or brown to illustrate a connection with the earth.  

Understand the Environment

You also need to think about how customers will be interacting with the product in-store. Elements such as text size, color contrast, and image size need to be considered in relation to the environment in which they are being sold.

Will it be held behind the counter or in a glass case? Will customers have a chance to touch the product and see it up close? The manner in which potential buyers will come across your product should directly influence the packaging design.

In a lot of cases packaging that lets the users see what they will get - and possibly even touch the product before purchase - will result in improved retail performance.

Driving Retail Sales

Creating effective product packaging is not an easy task. It takes knowledge of your market, proper research, a lots of experience with product packaging to know what will work for you and what won’t.

Working with a packaging provider who hires both in-house designers and engineers will be a big help in this area. They can help you create a unified packaging design that will speak to your customers and differentiate your brand in the retail space. Just make sure they keep both the design and engineering in-house for the best and most affordable results.