The Christmas tree is glowing, 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' is playing, and Santa's elves are working at full speed, which can only mean that Christmas is around the corner!
For small eCommerce businesses, Christmas is the best time to boost holiday sales and improve customer retention through unique Christmas packaging. If you sell products that can be bought as gifts, offering fun product packaging is an enticing shortcut, particularly for panic buyers or the ones who dread the thought of finding the ends of sticky tape!
Creating unique packaging is essential all year round, but including that festive touch creates the chance to surprise customers, introduce variants of products and emphasise festive offers! Adding those extra touches to your Christmas gifts doesn't have to take much more effort than usual and people will be more likely to order your item as a gift for others if it comes readily wrapped.
Here is our quick guide on ways you can take your gifting to the next level and sleigh the festive season!
Introduce festive colours
If you're not looking for a massive change this year, just applying a new colour scheme to your outer packaging expresses to customers that your business is catering to holiday shoppers. For years, green and red have been the traditional Christmas colours, but don't be afraid to add some gold, white or blue into the mix!
An easy way to do this is by investing in different coloured boxes or custom-design mailbags. If you want to go further, you could create an exciting brand-centric design, meaning your outside packaging reflects what's inside. Think Instagram worthy snaps! Customers will benefit from the exciting aspect of unboxing your product, remembering your brand, and are more likely to buy again in the future.
Don't underestimate those original touches
Showing an extra bit of gratitude is definitely in the spirit of Christmas and can set you apart from the competition. Include a small handwritten thank you note inside your packaging for the customer to receive or perhaps include a blank card for them to write to someone special this year.
You could even include other handmade touches like cut-out holly and ivy to show the care and effort you put into every order. Personalisation on your Christmas product packaging will go a long way, so don't underestimate its worth!
Get style inspiration
Around Christmastime, we see more rustic finishes appear, mirroring the cosy theme of staying out of the cold and in the warm next to a roaring fire.
Natural, earthy tones work best for this kind of stylistic theme, so take inspiration from nature! This theme works well for the packaging you may already own as brown boxes paired with an elegant bow or rustic foliage makes for a fabulous design.
Likewise, you can draw inspiration from prints that are commonly seen around this time of year. The selburose is an emblem of Christmas and can easily be used in packaging to bring some festive cheer. Try and create your own this year with a DIY stamp. Repeat your pattern all over your packaging for a unique design your customers will love!
Festive fonts
If you're looking for a less is more approach to Christmas product packaging, you may want to consider changing your brand font. This can apply to your physical branding just as much as your online store face.
There are hundreds of Christmassy fonts that can be downloaded for free and used in your packaging. When applied to natural cardboard or white boxes, simply changing your font can be the touch needed to get involved in Christmas.
Packaging fillers
Packaging fillers can create a fun unboxing experience that customers will love. Adding internal fillers like wool, shredded coloured paper and even unflavoured popcorn can create another element of presentation and encourage receivers to share your Christmas packaging on social media. These fillers can also work as a protection for the products when being delivered to their destination.
If you aren't sure if fillers will keep items from moving around, think about adding internal partitions. Why not also add a cheesy Christmas joke that your customer can find somewhere inside the box to make things more interesting! This adds a fun interactive element to your packaging, putting you ahead of the rest.
Protect your parcels!
As well as considering the customer's experience of your packaging, you need to make sure your product is well protected. December marks the busiest time of year for parcels (and one of the coldest and wettest) so make sure your package is robust enough to withstand handling in transit.
When boxing your gifts, think to yourself: Is it puncture resistant? Will it be robust enough to withstand transit with minimal movement inside? Is the product adequately cushioned? Will it be protected in wet weather? If you need some tips, check out our handy video below that explains the safest way to send your shipments with us. Please remember, anything you send with us MUST be encased in cardboard otherwise it cannot be shipped.
Send with Interparcel
We love sending Christmas joy, so if you're looking for an easier way to send parcels this season, we can help. Our Shipping Manager allows brands to integrate their store with discounted delivery services and access benefits like Branded Tracking, delivery update notifications and automatic address correction.
Our parcel networks are extremely busy around this festive season, so we recommend you send your packages as early as possible to ensure they get to your loved ones or customers in time. As always, we will continue to provide the best services and prices for delivery to the UK, Europe or Worldwide throughout the Christmas period so your gifts will be travel faster than Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph!
Wrapping Up…
Make Christmas 2021 your time to shine! You're sure to get noticed with packaging created to brighten a customer's day. So, grab your ribbons, boxes, stickers and stuffing and get your Christmas packaging ready for the big day! All in all, you want to show potential customers that you go that extra mile to spread cheer.
Get a quote for your parcel today using our quick Quote Tool for an instant list of affordable and reputable courier services.
If you have any questions about creating an account or sending a parcel with us, speak to our friendly parcel experts by phone, live chat, or email 8 am - 8 pm Monday to Friday, or 9 am – 1 pm at the weekend.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Linked In
YouTube