The sellers lose their sales of most products even before a customer picks them. A shopper reads a shelf within a time frame of less than three seconds. When your product fails to interrupt that scan, when the wrapping fails to give something to make you stop, the purchase goes to the one that does. It is not a problem with the quality of the product. It is a packaging positioning issue.

Display packaging is the type created to address this. It places the product directly in view, takes advantage of structure and print to attract attention and acts as a silent salesperson upon point of purchase. Brands that know how to make use of it and how to source it right will have a quantifiable advantage over brands that are still using closed boxes stacked behind glass.

What Is Display Packaging and Why Does It Perform Differently at Retail?

Display packaging is a type of packaging that is used to display a product visibly at the point of sale at a counter, shelf, pegboard or floor stand. Display formats also have open fronts, window panels or tiered tray structures, unlike the closed boxes, to place the actual product in view.

Exposure is the essence of the benefit. The barrier between interest and decision is reduced when the customer views the actual product rather than an image of the product. Retail psychological studies have always indicated that visible products get handled more and handled products get sold at much higher prices than those packaged closed.

That is why display packaging is a common commodity among consumer goods brands in cosmetics, confectionery, electronics accessories, health products and seasonal retail any category where the appearance of the product in itself is a source of desire.

What Makes Custom Display Packaging More Effective Than Generic Alternatives?

Products are placed on a shelf on generic display trays and stock counter units. Individual display packaging makes them stand out and be remembered. The disparity manifests itself in sales velocity. This is what custom design provides:

• Brand-specific structure: Custom display boxes for products are designed to fit your specific SKU sizes, with no dead space, no product movement, and no awkward proportions that destroy the appearance.

• Full surface for brand communication: All the panels of a custom display unit can be printed: product benefits, usage hints, ingredients, certifications and brand story can all be placed within the structure.

• Retail placement authority: The retailer should know where their display unit fits in through a well-developed display unit. Placement is communicated by branded floor stands, counter displays, units of header cards and is not negotiated.

• Consistency across locations: In brands that retail in a variety of retail outlets, custom display packaging ensures that the product appears the same in all stores no haphazard designs of a store employee.

Which Display Packaging Format Is Right for Your Product Category?

Not every product is compatible with every display format. Selecting the inappropriate structure will cost money and fail at the shelf. The following are the most common formats and their best place of use:

Counter Display Boxes

Created to be used on checkout counters and service desks. Small footprint, high impulse-buy conversion. Ideal when selling single serve products, travel sizes, add-on accessories and products priced below $20.

Shelf-Ready Display Packaging Boxes

These are loaded as a closed case and unpacked into a shelf-ready tray. Retailers like them due to faster restocking. On brands, they ensure that they are always presented on shelves. This form of display packaging boxes is common among grocery, pharmacy and mass-market stores.

Pegboard and Hook Display Packaging

Header cards and hang-tab packs transform the ordinary pegboard fittings into branded display area. Usually found in the hardware, beauty supply and convenience stores where there is limited shelf space and lots of wall space.

How to Source Display Packaging Wholesale Without Sacrificing Quality

The best method of minimizing per-unit cost without compromising quality is sourcing display packaging wholesale directly with an actual manufacturer, rather than a distributor or a broker. Brokers mark up each order are less leveraged on scheduling production and does not provide the same customization flexibility that a direct manufacturer does.

When considering a manufacturer, ensure that they do provide structural dieline engineering to your product size, low MOQ to start with test production and all types of print finishes. The compliance of food grade is important if there is any contact of your product with consumable items; it is crucial to check this before authorizing materials.

Manufacturers such as Kwick Packaging make custom display packaging boxes right off-site at their plant including counter displays, shelf-ready trays and custom structures at low MOQs that are effective with new brands and wholesale pricing that increases with the size of order.

Top Display Packaging Manufacturers in the USA Kwick Packaging and Leading Competitors

Three American producers who have traditionally been known to produce quality custom display packaging:

• The Custom Boxes: A long-standing US packaging firm offering a variety of packaging solutions that include custom display trays, retail boxes, and shelf ready formats in various industries.

• Plus Printers: A manufacturer based in the US that specializes in custom printed display packaging of cosmetics, food and CPG brands at competitive prices with good print quality at mid-range volumes.

• Kwick Packaging: A direct supplier of custom display packaging boxes with complete structural design flexibility, low minimum order quantities and wholesale pricing levels that are affordable to small-scale businesses in their initial phases and businesses that require scaling.

Your Product Deserves to Be Seen Not Hidden Behind a Closed Box

Custom display packaging is no longer a device of big CPG brands having retail place groups and agency budgets. Direct manufacturers are providing growing brands with the same shelf presence that longtime competitors have enjoyed over the decades.

The shelf is a competition. Each brand on it is competing to have three seconds of attention of a shopper who has already viewed dozens of products. Brands win that fight by displaying packaging, every time, every volume and at a price that works the first time a test is run to full retail.

FAQs

What is the difference between display packaging and regular retail packaging?

The standard retail packaging completely wraps the product and uses print to convey what is within it. Display packaging: The product itself is literally visible in the point of sale through display packaging like counter trays, shelf-ready boxes or open-front units. 

Do small brands have the option of ordering display packaging boxes in low quantities?

Yes, as long as they deal with a direct manufacturer not a broker or distributor. Most direct manufacturers now offer low MOQ runs as low as a few hundred units. 

What are your display packaging print finishes?

Full CMYK / PMS color printing is supported with custom display packaging on all structural panels. Finishes that are available are matte and gloss lamination, spot UV coating, soft-touch lamination, foil stamping, embossing and debossing.