Packaging used to be simply a means to an end. The item was placed inside a protective box and shipped to stores or online customers. The empty box was then usually discarded and left in the packaging trash. This is no longer the case with packaging for electronics. To many, packaging has evolved into a major business asset. It can determine consumer buying behavior before they actually see the item, cause consumers to choose one product over a competitor because of first impressions of the box, and give brands an emotional connection with customers. If done correctly, investing in your custom electronics boxes will become one of the best investments you make throughout the product development process.
The Unboxing Revolution Changed Everything
How unboxing electronics has become a lucrative form of entertainment on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Traditionally something you would do privately before first using a product, now many decide on a purchase based on the initial impressions created by the packaging. With top influencers amassing millions of followers, a single unboxing video can amass higher viewership than many traditional advertising campaigns. The packaging and how it is first revealed to the audience becomes central to whether the review is positive or negative.
Packaging used to be judged by the final recipient — now it is judged by the wider public seeing the unboxing experience on social media. Electronics brands achieve organic marketing content worth tens of millions should their packaging create an engaging unboxing experience for mere increment in packaging cost. Conversely packaging and packaging insert design that fails to impress — through the use of a loose, unsuitable or flimsy box and packaging materials, plus a poor and unorganised distribution of components within the packaging — leads to a highly publicised let down for the brand and its customers.
The unboxing movement has also taught consumers what high-end packaging looks and feels like and alerted electronics manufacturers to the importance of packaging experience long ago for Apple. The decades of investment in packaging experience Apple has put into crafting a seamless unboxing experience has educated consumers on what to expect from high end electronics and that expectation now accompanies every electronics purchase regardless of brand or price point.
Packaging as the First Product Experience
For the vast number of consumer electronics transactions now taking place online, packaging becomes the first physical experience of the brand for electronics customers. By the time the packaging reaches the customer all prior interactions with the brand have been digital; including photography on the brand’s website, video reviews and comparisons of specifications, and recommendations from friends and family online. The first physical experience of the brand sets the emotional context in which the product exists and thus is a disproportionately influential aspect of overall packaging design.
Research into consumer behaviour has shown time and again that our emotional state when we first come into contact with a product has a profound effect on our later impressions of it. Delight and anticipation when unwrapping a product result in a more positive assessment of what’s inside than a neutral or disappointing unboxing experience. This well-documented priming effect is precisely why you get a return on your packaging investment — not just in terms of brand perception but in product satisfaction too.
It unpacks how the sequence and layout of the components of the unboxing experience can be tuned to build up excitement towards a high point where the product is revealed at its most impactful. A great electronics packaging experience is not just about getting the product out of the box, it leads customers on a journey culminating in a compelling reveal of the main product.
Protection That Communicates Quality
The protective function of electronics packaging is an often-overlooked dimension of brand communication. How a product is protected by its packaging tells the customer about the level of value that has been placed on the product and the dimensions of the product that the brand perceives itself to be working within. A well designed package includes precisely fitted internal structures that securely hold the components within, demonstrating to the customer that the brand understands the product and has made appropriate provisions for its protection. Generic, loosely positioned padding that allows the product to shift around during packaging tells the customer that no particular thought or care has been given to the product and by extension that no particular thought or care has been given to the product’s quality.
When it comes to ensuring that products are protected from damage during packaging and distribution, electronics products present particular challenges for packaging designers. These products need to be insulated against electrostatic discharge to protect sensitive components. Additional challenges exist when packaging screens and displays that need cushioning to protect against pressure, but without excessive height or bulk. Packaging of accessories such as cables, adapters and instruction booklets also requires careful consideration, in order to ensure these items are located and readily to hand, while avoiding the risk of scratching the main product. With the level of specialised knowledge accumulated over many years by electronics packaging specialists like Electro Packaging, a brand that requires electronics packaging solutions can rest assured that specialist expertise will design a package that accurately meets their particular needs, and which general packaging products will not.
The choice of materials to be protected also reveals something about a brand. The presence of dense custom-moulded foam inserts implies investment in the design and engineering involved in the product. Soft microfibre wrapping of premium components implies respect for the product and its care. Recycled pulp moulded inserts implies environmental responsibility and technical protection competence. The choices of materials that will be protected and how they are protected communicate brand values to the customer during the unboxing process and are perceived, whether consciously or unconsciously, by the customer.
Sustainability in Electronics Packaging
The environmental footprint of packaging of consumer electronics is an important brand criteria for an increasing part of the purchasing market. Today, the environmental impact of consumer electronics throughout the whole product life cycle — manufacturing, usage, end-of-life recyclability — is high on the agenda for both brands and retailers. Correspondingly, the packaging too is being scrutinised and consumers are making environmental responsibility a non-negotiable part of their purchasing decisions.
Electronics brands that have moved from plastic packaging of components to environmentally friendly, recyclable paperboard based solutions, have stripped back packaging layers and optimised the packaging size to reduce material usage have gained real competitive advantage in the market with the growing numbers of environmentally conscious consumers. But the competitive advantage is not just gained in the initial sale, but also in long term brand loyalty and advocacy that far outweighs the initial investment in the packaging change.
Key sustainability considerations for electronics packaging:
- Remove all single-use plastic films, trays and inserts and replace with moulded paper or cardboard equivalents
- Reduce the size of packaging and materials to better reflect the product dimensions, in order to reduce material usage and carbon emissions from transportation
- Use FSC-certified paperboard from responsibly managed forests for all cardboard parts
- Use water-based inks and natural adhesives allowing the total recyclability of paper materials
- Develop recyclable packaging content and configuration to enable disassembly and segregation for recycling and proper waste management
- Clearly state disposal guidance on packaging to increase actual recycling rates
Competing With Giants Through Packaging Excellence
Independent electronics brands with innovative products and smaller marketing budgets often find themselves at a considerable disadvantage in comparison to large, well-known high-tech brands with deep pockets. While Apple, Samsung, Sony, and other entrenched players have spent decades and billions of dollars refining packaging design and manufacturing, independent and innovative electronics brands with limited marketing budgets can significantly close the perception gap by optimizing packaging.
A well made and high quality designed packaging from an independent electronics brand can assure that quality to the product that advertising copy cannot deliver. When a customer purchases from an unknown brand packaging is as important as anywhere else and with the same care and precision that established brands offer to perceived quality of well known brands, the customer’s expectations of quality are raised for the independent brand. Putting a high quality electronics packaging solution together, matching or eclipsing that set by established leading brands in the market, allows independent brands to compete on quality as opposed to brand awareness.
Even for independent brands, the choice of structural and graphic design for custom packaging allows for differentiation from the standardized packaging of larger corporations. A brand with a uniquely designed packaging solution can achieve recognition that is independent of product and logo recognition and creates deep brand identity through physical experience that compounds through all points of contact to create meaningful market presence.
Documentation and Accessory Presentation
The way in which documentation, cables, adapters and accessories are organised within the packaging of electronics also communicates image. To the customer who finds well-organised accessories in individual sections, clearly laid out manuals, untangled cables etc. it will garner a perception of systematic quality and translate back to the product itself.
Moreover, when all accessories are thrown into a generic black bag, manuals are folded carelessly to fit into whatever available pocket they can be stuffed into and cables are bunched up into a huge knotted mess, all of these minor details create a negative impression in the consumer’s mind. These details matter far more than companies driven purely by cost obsession in packaging design will ever appreciate.
As electronics packaging evolves from an afterthought to a brand asset, one can’t help but notice that the way a product is packaged is as important as the product itself in modern business. Packages are no longer something to be slapped together by the shipping department. Rather, packaging design has become a focal point of the product development process and a key element in differentiating one brand from another. The most successful brands are those who approach packaging with the same attention to engineering, innovative materials and design as they do the product itself, because the electronics customer can easily equate the two as expressions of brand standards.
