7 Design Elements of Shelf-Ready Packaging

Did you know that 70% of purchase decisions are made while shopping? That means that product presentation goes a long way in making a sale.

Shelf-Ready Packaging is a great tool for this exact reason, and we wanted to share some design elements you need for your next design.

When your product is out of stock, customers are likely to choose the next option available, rather than come back for your brand. By using Shelf-Ready Packaging, also known as Retail-Ready Packaging, you cut down on empty shelves and increase sales.

Keep reading for 7 Design Elements of Shelf-Ready Packaging.

Contact Bennett today about Shelf-Ready Packaging

Shelf-Ready Packaging, or SRP, is all about making your product “ready for sale”. The packaging used to ship and store the product is made to be put on the shelf and makes retailers' lives easier.

The goal is a tearaway design that reduces packaging materials and makes restocking faster and safer. It not only gives you efficiency increases, but you also get more control over your product's presentation.

That means no more going to retail and seeing a shelf in disarray. Your products are always in the perfect order, and you even have a branded appearance.

While every retailer has their own guidelines to follow, there are design elements crucial to your success. Here are 7 Design Elements of Shelf-Ready Packaging.

First, your SRP, or RRP, is a blank canvas for your product and brand. It shouldn’t be treated solely as a utility solution, but as a branded advertising solution.

All of your product and brand color choices, logos, and fonts should be extended to your Shelf-Ready packaging. That will make your products even more appealing.

Not only that, but you’ll visually occupy real estate on the shelf and not just look like another product.

• SRP should extend the branding, not only be a utility design
• All angles of your packaging should communicate the selling points, in case some sides are obscured by products.
• Last, make sure to print on the inside for when there is downtime on the shelf. Reassure your customer that a restock is coming.

Related: Get Products On The Shelf With SRP

Retail packaging that is stored in secondary packaging typically requires knives to open. This takes up retail time and can cause accidents or damage to your products inside.

The goal of an RRP design is to remove the entire need for box cutters. In fact, most designs are made with perforated edges, allowing for a tear-away design for quick and easy access.

This needs to be a design that doesn’t accidentally tear and damage the packaging, or else you would ruin the entire point of an RRP.

2 Common Designs:

• A two-part design with a tray and a tearaway hood. 
• Perforated designs that easily tear open.

Next, the goal of SRP is to reduce any labor for the retailer. A well-designed SRP needs little set up for staff to restock on the shelf.

This can cut down labor costs by huge percentages, and it’s why more retailers are demanding new relationships have an SRP design.

By making restocking easier, you reduce downtime and increase sales. So, it’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Related: 5 Design Tips for SRP

Now, think about RRP from the shopper's perspective. By having a branded look to your product display, you grab their attention, and they want to interact with the product.

Using an effective RRP allows you to communicate product benefits and other branded information that informs the customer.

Lastly, with the reduced downtime, the customer has more of a chance to buy your product. They are a great way to increase sales at retail stores!

3 Tips To Aid Shopping:

• Keep a moderate size. Don’t force customers to reach far inside.
• Make sure as products are taken out, the design doesn’t start to warp.
• Find other marketing innovations to combine with your SRP.

Next, think about what you can include on your SRP design. By not opting for a kraft brown with simple branding, you create a branded experience for the customer.

By doing this, you lift your product’s importance in the customer's mind, making you more attractive than your competitor.

There is still so much room for competition in this category, and the brands that jump in are going to benefit ten-fold in the coming years.

By switching to a Shelf-Ready Packaging design, you cut down on all materials. That means less waste overall.

This is a massive benefit to your entire supply chain. By optimizing your packaging, you can fit more per shipment, meaning fewer shipments.

You can even include this new design and sustainable design in your marketing.

Finally, optimizing the entire supply chain from start to finish is a great way to cut costs. So many brands have efficient packaging solutions that incur hidden costs that are easily reducible.

Simpler designs, branded appearances, and optimized shopping - could Shelf-Ready Packaging get any better?

Your packaging is some of the most valuable real estate for you. It creates a mini-billboard for you at retail, and when you stack a number of products in a display, you create a full-size billboard effect at retail. 

Think about your target audience, and even do some focus group testing. Watch how they interact with your packaging. What are the biggest issues?

Do not wait until the last minute to consider these improvements. You should be constantly coming back to your key questions and goals to ensure you’re going in the right direction.

Digital Printing is the industry's future, providing brands access to things that analog methods simply can not. 

Removing printing plates from the equation, which is a one-color operation at a time, ensures that you substantially reduce manufacturing costs and time. 

Colorful patterns such as gradients were not really feasible until digital. Now, you can really use color psychology at retail and online to meet your customers more clearly.

Using other techniques, a small design change means beginning over - more money and time. Digital enables you to adjust the artwork on the fly, not guess, working with the market.

1. No Minimum

Digital production allows you to create short-run designs for all your SKUs, not just a signal design/look. Or quickly create alternate designs for test marketing.

2. Print Direct-To-Corrugate

A single-pass direct-to-corrugate process is a complete game changer. This cuts down on production time and potential production problems.

3. Speed-to-Market

Have a new product and need to get to market fast? Digital cuts down all the production time to an INSANE degree! Change your designs on the fly. It’s as easy as emailing a file.

4. Multiple Designs

No more one-size-fits-all designs. Print as many marketing variations as your team can create. Every season, SKU, sale, or promotion deserves a unique look.

5. Prototyping

True-production proofs that reflect final product quality with 100% accuracy.

6. Environmentally Friendly

Cut your packaging waste down immensely. Use digital inks that are better for the environment. Your new packaging will be more recyclable than your previous design.

7. Consistent High Quality

No print variance. Every print off the production line is the same as the last. Accurate and repeatable.

8. Digital Marketing Integration

How many innovations have entered the market in the last 5 years? What if you started using QR codes or other ideas in your packaging?

9. Flexibility

Easily expand production when there is an increase in market demand. Slow down and regroup when the demand slumps. Test out new designs. You can’t do that with Litho.

10. Efficient Production

No creating printing plates, no artwork change over time, no issues, just printing.

Related: 5 Digital Printing Tips For SRP

Bennett is a premier packaging and retail displays manufacturing company striving to protect and promote our clients' products with customized corrugated solutions. When you work with us, you’re part of the family. We will partner with you every step of the way.

With our fully integrated design-to-delivery process, we can be the single supplier source. We are an award-winning manufacturer of virtually anything corrugate. We offer everything from plain brown shipping boxes to sophisticated, high-graphic printed point-of-purchase displays and everything in between.

Contact Bennett today about Shelf-Ready Packaging