Giving the right gift for friends and family, sometimes the right choice is simple.

Buying gifts can be a challenge, however in this modern age of ecommerce the choice of a gift card can always be the right one. They are a safe and reliable option, with most online retailers accepting various forms of gift card now.

Recent studies have shown that a majority of people have planned on buying gift cards for this holiday seasons, with the recent global circumstances, this will be even more prevalent as families and friends send gifts to each other.

But why are gift cards such a great gift?

• They are easy to purchase. Gift cards are available at most every business and retailer you can think of; including supermarkets, restaurants, spas and clothing stores. You simply just need to either walk into the permise and buy it from the front counter or order it online through various retailers.
• They give the consumer control. Gift cards are the seasonal equivalent of a blank cheque, you are effectively handing over control of what can be bought to the card recipient, and people love this. People love to have choice when the option is available, they would rather receive a £20 gift card over a £25 gift.
  
• They offer a tailored and unique experience. Gift cards are a great way to give your friends and family a sense of excitement and luxury by introducing them to a new brand or whole experience that they may never have thought of before. Good gift card emaples would be a spa treatment at a local resort, an experience climbing or bungee jumping, concert tickets or a sum to spend in a local clothing store.

 

With all the benefits, giving out gift cards for Christmas is likely to not go away anytime soon. From current trends, the act of giving a gift card will only increase exponentially, as people love to give control to their loved ones and allow them to buy a gift that will make them truly happy this holiday season.

Here at Ace Packaging, you can add handcrafted custom inserts to securely hold your voucher or card, use textured paper for a luxury finish or even attach a ribbon bow. Create something as simple or as unique as you want. The vast range of style choices, print finishes and colours available gives you the creative direction to craft your own gift card boxes or gift card holders that will be best suited to your customers for this Christmas holiday season.

If your interested in improving your packaging experience, Get in touch to receive a quote.

The last few years have shown a boom in the subscription box market, ranging from must-have beauty treats to fun and tasty Japanese candies. However, not all companies will find success with their subscription box.

To get the competitive advantage your company needs, the design of your subscription box packaging is incredibly important, as the design and packaging will represent both the product and your brand.

As the market grows, so too does competition from all areas. You need to make sure that your package stand outs, you could be losing out on the battle for your customers attention.

Subscription Boxes, what are those?

Simply put, a subscription box is a paid subscription service that will regularly deliver packaged goods to your doorstep on a frequent cadence, usually monthly or in some occassions weekly. These services offer goods for men, women and even children.

Being unique is key

To succeed as a subscription box service, you need find that unique idea that will inspires joy. Over the last few years, the popularity of subscription packages has increased massively. Families are spending more time indoors, and not spending as much time shopping as we’ve seen in the last decade. But what if you can bring the excitement and joy of shopping into your home?

Subscription delivery companies have become one of the most popular business models in e-commerce. If you can find that unique idea with a place in the market, you could be seeing success soon.

But what else can you do to help succeed in such a tight and competitive market? Well you have to make some initial considerations. For one, the subscription box companies do not have shop windows, rather obviously.

The only means you have as a company to display your service is through the packaging of the product. The packaging and design is everything.

Stand out on Social Media

Social media plays a large role in the marketing of your subscription service. Having excited customers share their experience with your brand and service through photographs online can be a great endorsement of the product and brand.

In terms of packaging and box design, a well designed box with popping colour and flashy design should stand-out and enhance the product or can even overshadow the products itself.

If the box looks fantastic, the customer will be much more likely to want to share their own pictures of it onto social media, which is turn is free publicity.

The packaging experience of your subscription box should be memorable when unboxing, as that is what will draw the customer into the service. The experience of opening a regular dull, brown cardboard box should completely differ from that of an experience of a premium subscription box.

 

Ace Packaging Provides

Our custom postal boxes come in a variety of corrugated card thicknesses depending on how much protection your products need. Corrugated cardboard or postal boxes are one of the safest options to use when it comes to delivering packages via post.

Standard options come in brown or white, laminated or uncoated, the only limit is your creativity and imagination.

We can print full colour on the inside and outside of the box as well as gloss UV printing, which is a shiny, luxury finish.

Being able to design and customise your mailing boxes means you can ensure the first thing your customers will see is your branding when they receive their subscription box.

Brand identity is important in today’s competitive market so your packaging should speak to your customer.

If you are interested in kickstarting your own subscription box and want to get that competitive edge to succeed, Get in touch for your quote today!

Designing packaging for products is a little more complicated than slapping a sticker on a cardboard box. First of all, you need to identify the packaging medium.

Will it be a simple custom printed cardboard box, or will it be a high-end rigid box?

The medium of your packaging is very often overlooked.

Once you’ve decided on a material, consider the following:

• Graphic and packaging design
• Physical packaging design
• Marketing and packaging design
• Each one of these defines product packaging design in a different way.

Understanding these various points of views will also help you find the best packaging for the products you’re selling.

Graphic design and packaging design
From a graphic designer’s point of view, packaging design is how the brand’s design is reflected in the product boxes.

In this sense, the design concept needs to attract the customer, but also provide information about the product.

Packaging graphics should also take the brand’s design and motives and show it off on the box.

Marketing and packaging design

The third topic in the discussion about packaging design is marketing.

Marketing on product packaging, sometimes called “Packvertising” is a crucial, and often overlooked part of box packaging design.

In a well-thought definition, provided by O’Reilly, you find that:

“Packaging design is the connection of form, structure, materials, colour, imagery, typography, and regulatory information with ancillary design elements to make a product suitable for marketing.”

To put that into a simpler form:

Your packaging is an element of your marketing strategy.

It needs to:

• • • Appeal to a well-defined buyer persona
    • Promote your product’s unique selling point
    • Communicate your brands identity
    • Below is an example of how Coco & Eve use their product packaging to remind the customer that they’ve made the right choice.

Simon Preece from Forbes says:

“Consumers act when a brand makes them feel something. When someone looks at you, you’re compelled to look back to determine the nature of the attraction. That’s your survival instinct at work.”

Evoking emotions is key.

Packaging is the most natural medium to make customer care about a product they haven’t yet bought.

A unique shape, pattern or colour can set your brand apart from the competition it’s sitting right next to on the shelf.

After you’ve caught the customer’s attention, the smaller elements take over.

Copy, imagery and communication that built that rapport and trust between product and customer.

Requesting a quote on your custom packaging is now faster and easier than ever, thanks to ACE’s Instant Quotes.

We know that having to wait is hard, especially when you have to wait on a quote for that new custom packaging you’ve been so excited about.

That’s why we’ve ensure every quote is dealt with right away by a member of our friendly team! And it’s super simple to get in touch, just click here to request a quote!

In this article, we’ll give a step by step guide on how you can get an instant quote.

Choose your packaging product

This may be the toughest part of the entire process. Take a look and browse through ACE Packaging’s wide range of products and choose the one that best suits your brand’s needs.

But take it up a notch! The best choice of packaging is not only the one that can ship your products but one that can do more than that.

Choose something that not only does the job but also catches the eye of your customers.

Perhaps a Printed Mailing Box will do. But then adding Printed Tissue Paper & Stickers with a custom design will surely impress your customers and help you build a bond that has them coming back.

Pro Tip: The right choice of packaging will go above and beyond your expectations.

Tell us what you want

So once you’re sure about the packaging you want to use for your brand, click here and you’ll get started on the Instant Quote process.

On the page for the product you chose, you’ll then be able to see all of the packaging specifications, including the features, inspirations, and FAQs.

If you’re a brand that’s considering using sustainable packaging, here are a few tips to make sure you get the most from the process.

1- Don’t change everything at once

Whether you’re selling 1 product or several thousand, it’s best not to commit totally to packaging sustainability before you’ve tested the concept. You can do that by sampling packaging options.

2 – Order product samples

As just mentioned, it’s risky to commit to a new packaging solution before testing it. Consider ordering a sample pack to inspect the quality of the packaging for yourself. Once you’re convinced that this is a practical option, then order in bigger quantities.

3 – Consider a redesign

Implementing new packaging can be a double-edged sword if done at the same time as launching a new redesign of the brand.

A new logo, a new colour pallet and design assets can truly be complemented by sustainable product packaging.

4 – Adjust your pricing

Price is obviously a factor that needs to be considered. You may be surprised to know that packaging made from 80% recycled material can be had for as little as £0.26 per piece.

Once you’ve settled on an eco-friendly packaging option, it’s important to calculate if you can absorb the cost of packaging or whether you need to increase prices accordingly.

5 – Order small volumes

Part of testing how your brand (and customers) take up sustainable packaging, is to do so in small volumes. Order as little as 50 pieces and judge the reaction of your team and customers. When everything is assured, scale up your order size!

6 – FIFO

FIFO stands for ‘First in, first out’ and it’s a method you might like to apply to your packaging. Before using your new packaging design, make sure that you’ve used up all your old packaging first.

7 – Consider eco-ing your product

Once your customers have taken well to your new packaging solution, consider bringing the concept of sustainability to your product itself. An eco-friendly product in an environmentally friendly box is a double-edged marketing sword!

8 – Flaunt your eco packaging

A brand that aligns itself for the good of the environment is something that the world wants to hear about. It’s a moral that can make your brand stand out and be seen over your competition.

Work your sustainability into your marketing campaigns and make sure that people know that you’re out there to help the environment. If you need inspiration have a look at our eco-friendly carrier bags!

Sustainable packaging companies
As a young packaging company, Packhelp knows only sustainability and working alongside the environment.

We have a responsibility to care for the environment and help our customers do the same.

Being a fresh and disruptive brand to the stagnant and old-fashion packaging industry, we’ve learnt many things. None more important than this:

Most small to medium brands want to sell their product in packaging that doesn’t damage the environment.

That’s why every single cardboard product in our range is made from a minimum of 80% recycled cardboard. This means that when you order custom packaging from us, you’re getting a material that was a school book, cereal box or a bank statement in another life.

Sliding Boxes

If you’re looking to get started with sustainable packaging, check out ACE Packaging’s range of customised packaging options, or contact us so we can help create your unique packaging idea.

Most companies begin preparing when it’s already too late and only a handful realise the importance of the “Christmas in July” term. And in these unprecedented times, with the pandemic still affecting your sales, you need to be extra prepared.

However, there is hardly a business out there that can focus all of its resources on Christmas in August or even September.To avoid the last-minute frantic rush, there’s a secret ingredient that you may already have.

That secret ingredient is planning ahead.

Packaging is one of these elements that you can – and should – plan well in advance. In the end, Christmas is the ultimate challenge for all eCommerce owners, retailers and marketers alike.

There are several benefits of implementing a special line of packaging for Christmas.

• Festive packaging refreshes your brand image
• Allows you to create special variants of your product
• Creates an opportunity to surprise your customers
• Emphasizes the special holiday offer

Get in touch with a member of our team today to plan ahead.

Once the go-to for packaging bottled drinks, cylindrical boxes, or tubes, have largely been replaced in recent years by rectangular boxes that are simpler to store. But as manufacturers increasingly look to packaging to differentiate their products on the shelf, tubes are enjoying a comeback – and one that is no longer exclusive to the drinks market. Tubes are ideal for packaging all sorts of food and drink products. Made from sturdy cardboard, they’re ideal for protecting delicate items, from glass bottles to artisan biscuits.

They also offer a quirky packaging solution for other products, such as cosmetics, clothing, luxury candles, high-end homewares and even technology. Their weighty feel and eye-catching appearance make them popular with brands looking to project a premium or niche image.

Butt joint tubes are made entirely from card and have telescopic shoulder. This can be printed in a contrasting colour or pattern, and exposed for even greater visual impact. These tubes can be fully wrapped for a bold look, or left in a kraft finish which is becoming hugely popular with companies looking to project an eco-conscious image. They also make wonderful keepsakes, offering practical storage for all sorts of small items should the customer wish to repurpose their tube!

Push-in lid tubes are made from rigid cardboard with a push in base and lid, usually made from metal. These tubes are extremely popular with drinks and spirits manufacturers and offer a truly premium feel – the tube itself can be wrapped and full colour printed while the metal end caps can be either printed or embossed for a custom, luxury look.

Get in touch for your quote today!

What is the one piece of marketing that reaches every single one of your customers?

Your packaging…

There’s one thing that all your customers have in common, and that is that they will all see, touch and use your product. Therefore, the way your product is presented to your customer is of the utmost importance. This is just one of the many many reasons why custom packaging is important to your small brand.

Whether you’re in retail, ecommerce, dropshipping or any other form of selling a physical product, your custom packaging needs to be aligned with your branding.

And it doesn’t have to eat up your profits, either. With custom packaging solutions starting from as little as £0.26 per unit, you can have your box and…pack it, too?

Read on to see how else custom branded packaging can benefit you, and how to find the best custom packaging for your brand…

1 – Custom packaging is like a the suit you wear to a job interview.

You only get one first impression. That first impression comes when your customer physically receives their purchase.

Having your product wrapped in a simple cardboard box cheapens the entire branding experience for your customer.

Branded mailer boxes give you, the seller, an opportunity to wow and bedazzle your customer from the moment they see their parcel has arrived.

Using packing that reflects your brand’s imagery shows you went the extra mile and care about your brand.

It shows that you care about your product and your customer’s experience.

We’ve all bought cheap electronics from Amazon or eBay.

Remember the flimsy box and cheap plastic bag that your purchase came in?

Do you think that other customers will remember the name of the company that they bought the product from?

Probably not.

But you do remember the cosmetics that you bought yourself, because the box itself said hello when you opened it up.

Of course you do. Not only do you remember that purchase, but you remember the products, the brand, the packaging.

2 – Custom packaging echos your branding

When the packaging you provide in on par with your branding, it creates a harmonious experience.

Today, where there is so much competition in nearly every industry, your product experience is one thing that can help you stand out from the noise.

From the moment your customer sets eyes on your branded box, they’re assured that they’ve made the right decision.

When they could have easily gone with your competitor, a high-quality branded box says ‘hey there, you made the right choice’.

This does wonders when it comes to not only satisfying your customer the first time, but turning them into a repeat buyer and a brand advocate

Natural products, natural packaging

3 – Personalised boxes align with your brand’s morals

Your brand’s unique selling points are what sets it apart from the competition.

Today, with the environment in the condition that it’s in, more and more small brands are taking on bigger brands and standing out by being environmentally friendly.

Sustainable packaging plays a big role here.

If your brand has similar morals, using sustainable and ethically-sourced product packaging is itself another unique selling point.

You’re able to draw attention to your packaging and show that it too aligns with the same principles that your brand is based on.

4 – Social media, Influencers and branded boxes

No one needs to be told the role that social media plays in commerce, both online and offline.

By going out of your way to create a complete buying experience for your customer, you’re setting yourself up to get some User Generated Content posted on social media.

UGC, coupled with influencer marketing, is a great way to launch your product in front of a huge number of engaged buyers.

What’s more, if you customer turns into a brand advocate, you may find your brand in the middle of an unboxing video.

5 – Unboxing experiences are the new black

Have you watched an unboxing video on YouTube?

Chances are that you have. A simple search for the word ‘unboxing’ presents an insane amount of videos.

From people unboxing brand new phones, to 35 year old Nintendo consoles, it’s safe to say that there’ something attractive about unboxing videos.

Here’s an unboxing video with over 263 million views:

So, what role do unboxing videos play with your custom packaging?

If you’re lucky enough to have an unboxing video of your product made by a customer or influencer, it plays a very important role!

While a lot of these YouTube unboxing videos are of products made by massive international conglomerates, there’s a few smaller brands that have unboxing videos with a few hundred thousand views.

If your product has quality packaging, your customer’s unboxing video is free advertising!

6 – The box can be a second product itself

If you’re one of those creative crazy geniuses, you can use your custom packaging to add value to your original product.

In the below example, you can see how the box of a children’s board game doubles as a colouring book.

You can do more than just turn your packaging into a place for kids to scribble.

With a little geometry, cutting and folding, the box that this shirt came in has been transformed into a coat hanger.

The added bonus here is that the packaging itself isn’t wasted – it’s turned into a second, reusable product. This is just one of many Christmas marketing ideas you can use in the lead up to the silly season!

7 – Packaging is more than just boxes

Looking to use some bespoke packaging that’s not a box?

If your packaging is a major part of your product, use a poly mailer bag to protect it during shipping while maintaining consistent branding.

What are the benefits of using a poly mailer?

• • Lightweight
  • Protects from water & humidity
  • Flexible, elastic and durable

 

A big problem that ecommerce retailers face is that they sell other brands. For example, if you’re reselling shoes, your customer will struggle to remember your brand name when they’re buying Nike.

Throw your shoe box in a branded mail bag and your logo is the first thing your customer sees.

Unlike your traditional envelope, you don’t have to lick a poly mailer bag to seal it. A self-sealing strip means that your product will be secure during shipping.

If you are inspired to improve your packaging experience, get in touch!

A member of our friendly team is waiting to help.