Ecommerce Packaging and Labeling Expo

While your product is king when building a customer base, its packaging is still a huge part of the equation. And much like how consumer taste evolves in terms of goods, it’s similarly important to keep track of packaging trends as they arise in the industry. From sustainable materials to minimalist design ideas, certain choices have become increasingly commonplace in recent years.

The Importance of Strong E-Commerce Packaging

Sellers operating in the traditional retail space have an advantage with packaging, with it acting as the final piece of marketing content to influence customers into grabbing it off the shelf. In the eCommerce space, the packaging has to leave a positive impression post-purchase, ideally influencing customer loyalty.

While it can also be touted as a selling point, it doesn’t truly have a chance to imprint on the customer until it arrives at their home. With generic, uninspired packaging, sellers cut out a potential opportunity to make an impression on their audience, making it a fertile opportunity to differentiate from the competition.

Stay Ahead of the Curve

We’ve put together this blog to highlight 7 of the hottest packaging trends making an impact on this year, and likely to grow in prevalence going forward. Throughout this blog, you should pick up some effective packaging ideas for your own business, whatever you’re selling.

7 E-Commerce Packaging Trends for 2024

#1: Interactive Packaging

Technology is becoming increasingly integrated into every aspect of modern life, and eCommerce packaging is no different. Recently, it’s become common to find packaging materials adorned with QR codes, NFC tags, and RFID labels, all of which facilitate enhanced customer interaction. Online sellers should not ignore interactive packages or labeling in 2024, whether used for tracking customer loyalty, directing to eCommerce platforms, or collecting valuable data.

Application Ideas:

For products like coffee or chocolate, use a QR to link to a product origin story/video.

Use NFC tags to sign customers up for company raffles or lotteries.

#2: Sustainable Materials

Sustainability has become a priority for most consumers, with eco-conscious choices being a great way to communicate brand values and identity to an audience. While not every product can be made with environmentally friendly methods, there are countless options for sustainable eCommerce packaging on the market today. With a wealth of plastic-free, recycled, and biodegradable packaging options available, embracing sustainable materials is an unmissable avenue to differentiate a business.

Application Ideas:

Include clear recycling instructions directly on the packaging.

Use materials and designs that can be reused immediately by buyers.

#3: Personalized Packaging

Personalized packaging can be applied to products in various ways, covering everything from specific sizing to messages and patterns printed directly onto the materials. Offering customizable options is a great way to differentiate from providers of similar products, being especially effective in brands selling gift-friendly goods. Personalized packaging specific to the products being used as a default, circa McDonald’s wrappers, is another way to communicate a degree of effort.

Application Ideas:

Use AI and data analytics to personalize packaging based on customer behavior.

Add customization options for things like color, names, messages, or photos.

#4: Corporate Transparency

In line with the shift towards sustainability, the consumer appetite for corporate transparency has increased massively in recent years. People want to know that they can trust the companies they’re purchasing from, and an important part of this is seeing behind the curtain industry processes. Sellers can include details about their production methods, such as printed statistics about their commitment to sustainability directly on that packaging to showcase corporate transparency in a very tangible way.

Application Ideas:

Link with interactive packaging codes to send customers to production insights.

Use literal transparent materials to showcase the product clearly.

#5: Retro & Rustic Charm

This trend is a two-for-one, as the consumer cravings for rustic and retro design choices are intrinsically married as a yearning for nostalgia. In terms of rustic packaging, materials like kraft cardboard, old-school brown paper, and woven yarns are all great choices that elicit a homely sort of charm, while also getting points for sustainability. Retro designs are more about aesthetics, harkening back to decades-long past, demonstrated effectively by Cadbury’s Chocolate with their 200th anniversary.

Application Ideas:

Use unwashed recycled paper and cardboard for a distressed finish.

Take inspiration from older brands that sold similar products for your designs.

#6: “Less is More”

With businesses aiming for classiness and letting products speak for themselves, there’s been a stark shift toward minimalist design ideas in packaging. Minimalism can take many forms, from the clinical, monochromatic approach chosen by health products to induce a medicinal atmosphere, to isolated patterns used by cosmetic brands to create a premium aura. Minimalist designs can go beyond aesthetics, with some companies using smaller, minimal packages for added sustainability points.

Application Ideas:

Minimize the marketing copy on the packaging, keeping it to bare-bones info.

Focus on one or two subtle colors, clean lines, and simple logos.

#7: Bold Typography

In contrast or convergence with minimalism, businesses can utilize bold typography to make a title or product details stand out. Aspects like statement fonts, contrasting colors, and text size can all be used to communicate a message to the customer more effectively. In many cases, brands let the text do the heavy lifting on packaging, eschewing elaborate imagery or patterning to emphasize titles and product details instead.

Application Ideas:

Use large, eye-catching, but simple fonts for product names and specifications.

Integrate the typography and logo as one, making for visual cohesiveness.

Conclusion

By looking at these packaging trends, understanding the principles that inform them, and paying attention to the directions they might move in, e-Commerce sellers can communicate value to their customers in new and exciting ways. It’s also important to remember that you can embrace more than one of these trends at once, with a combination of multiple principles often being the most effective way to communicate each.

For more insights on this realm of online selling, attend this year’s E-Commerce, Packaging & Labeling Expo. At this event, hundreds of online entrepreneurs will come together to browse the newest packaging options, while interacting to build their business networks.

If you work in this sector, it’s sure to be an unmissable experience, so sign up for your ticket HERE today to join us on May 8th & 9th at the Las Vegas Convention Center!