A Deep Dive into Retail Packaging
Here’s an overview of retail packaging, from sustainability and material choices to shelf design, inserts, and more.
Your retail packaging says a lot about your product. Packaging keeps your product safe and secure during shipping and stocking, proudly displays your items to consumers, and creates tamper-resistance. Finding the right retail packaging for your products, whether you’re opting for stock or custom, can deliver the right security, branding, and recyclability your customers look for. Let’s take a look at retail packaging and highlight some of the crucial elements to consider in this blog.
Stock or Custom Retail?
One of the first things to consider when you’re selecting packaging is if you’re interested in custom parts or if you’re opting for stock packaging. Stock retail packaging may be ideal for you if you’re just getting started as a business, if you have parts that can fit into standard sized packages, or if you’re looking for an option with no tooling costs. Stock parts are available and ready to ship, and you can order samples ahead of time to ensure your product fits nicely.
Custom retail packaging can offer premium branding, an elevated look and feel, enhanced recognition on the shelf, and can be made to fit your product dimensions exactly for a durable finish. Custom packaging requires longer lead times for design iteration, tool build, and prototyping, and there are associated tooling costs with custom designs, but the result is a premium, elevated solution (and perhaps even award-winning, too!).
Material Selection
Your material choice for your retail packaging can depend on what level of clarity, recyclability, and thickness is desired. Our material engineers can help you with any questions about performance or plastic options. The majority of the stock lineup of retail packaging is our EcoStar® 50S, which is made with post-consumer recycled material to meet legal requirements in all 50 states. This material is durable, crystal clear RPET, and fits sustainability goals for consumers, legal requirements, and your internal green initiatives.
Shelf Display
The first thing to consider about shelf display for your product is how will it be presented to consumers? Are you opting for a hang hole for bulk retail display? Are you choosing a flat box for easy stacking? What about a box that can be merchandised both standing or hanging? Thinking through how you want consumers and end users to interact with your product can help guide your design or selection.
Branding and Customization
Regardless of whether you choose stock or custom packaging, you have a few ways and opportunities to create brand awareness. For custom packaging, our sales team can help design features that are interactive, showcase your unique selling feature, or call attention to a specific innovation. For stock retail, you may decide to use a package that offers a built-in graphic card holder that can serve as branding or call out specific product details. Our GraphicBox lineup of products is a great example of the internal card holder that can draw attention to your product and brand. Another easy and cost-effective way of branding your stock retail packaging is with stickers or seals. These can be labeled with your logo or brand, and are also ideal for ensuring your product remains tamper-free.
What Your Retail Packaging Says About Your Product
Your retail packaging is the first thing consumers see or interact with when looking at your product. Let’s make sure it’s a good first impression; our custom retail and stock retail sales teams can help you find the right solution for your product. Reach out to our team for additional details or to get started on the process.
ABOUT PLACON
Since 1966, Placon has been a leading designer and manufacturer of innovative and sustainable plastic packaging for medical, food, and consumer goods markets. Placon has manufacturing operations in Madison, WI; West Springfield, MA; Elkhart, IN; and Plymouth, MN, and is currently ranked in the Top 20 in Plastics News 2025 Thermoformers Rankings. Placon delivers packaging breakthroughs that inspire better engagement between people and products.