When you make the decision to re-brand your packaging you run the risk of losing customers. Not because they no longer like your product. After all the contents have not changed. The taste, or the effectiveness of your product is still the same. You risk losing customers because they do not know that it is still your same product that they like and buy on a regular basis.
There are steps you can take to make sure that your sales do not drop because you have changed your packaging.
After taking those steps to maintain your sales, you can focus on growing your sales with new customers.
At a recent Fancy Food Show here in New York, I was looking for items that could be included in holiday gift baskets. One of the exhibitors, whose booth I almost walked right past, is a brand that we buy for our own use (not why I was at the show). I almost walked right past the booth because they had just re-branded. While the new packaging says “New Look” the lettering was too small to be noticed when lined up on the table in the front of their booth. Furthermore, there was nothing in the booth to tell me that they had new packaging even though the product is still the same one that we enjoy.
Now multiply that effect on the overcrowded shelves of the supermarket for shoppers who are trying to finish and get out of the store.
You have spent lots of money with a graphic designer or branding agency. You have come up with a beautiful new look for your packaging. This new look even conveys an important message about your brand. Now comes the tough part. You have to get your staff on board and excited about the new look, and more importantly, you have to convey to your customers that you have a new look.
It is this critical step of conveying the new look in a bold creative way to the store buyers and the consumers that can prevent a dip in your sales.
Something as simple as a floor decal with a creative flair can convey the message and convey your new look to consumers. If you cut out the decal to the shape of your new packaging you can make it even easier for consumers to find your new look on the shelf.
Don’t have access to floor space, consider using shelf hangers to call attention to your new look. Use a graphic that shows the old packaging and the new. This will highlight for the consumer what they want to reach for.
Want to have a larger impact? Consider Mylar helium balloons in the shape of your packaging, with the label printed on one side and a message about the new look on the other. Mylar helium balloons will stay afloat long enough to roll out your new packaging. If you are able to run some in-store events to coincide with the new packaging launch you can print small Mylar balloons and put them on sticks to give out to children as they walk the aisles.
What ever method you use, remember, that you need to convey the fact that you have a new look in a bold eye catching way so that your customers know it is still the product that they want to purchase.