The packaging is undergoing significant and profound changes. The omnipresence of smartphones in our purchasing behavior requires rethinking the relationship to products and packaging. Thanks to smart packaging, brands can connect with their consumers in a more meaningful way.
Digital and new technologies are great amplifiers of printed packaging precisely because they free brands from physical constraints for their marketing strategies. Also, dematerialized packaging must be completely redesigned in e-commerce, always with the aim of the best consumer experience. Let’s now dive into the world of packaging 2.0 in the digital age!
Smart packaging: definition
“Smart packaging” or connected packaging is packaging connected to content published on the Internet. Thanks to a network connection, your printed packaging becomes connected and interactive, via a QR-code or other technologies. Consumers then access another level of information and new so-called connected experiences.
Smart packaging makes it possible to overcome the limits relating to the space available on the packaging.
Smart Packaging: a new communication channel
Connected packaging becomes an important source of advice for your customer by providing them with information and services at the right time.
Smart Packaging can serve a marketing strategy, helping brands to maintain their brand awareness and image and reassuring consumers of the integrity of the company. This is reassuring for the customer because he can find out about the quality of the products.
Smart packaging has been shown to influence purchasing decisions and brand loyalty, which is why more and more brands are integrating this technology into their business models. It is also beneficial for marketers as they can identify areas for improvement.
The idea behind smart packaging is to give consumers a better understanding of products, while providing companies with information on consumer behavior: an exchange of good practices, in short.
Augmented packaging
“QR codes”, “Augmented reality”, “Blockchain” are the new best friends of packaging. These new digital tools open up almost unlimited possibilities: recommended sites, social network pages, filmed recipes, immersive brand experiences, frequently asked questions or traceability… These technologies make it possible to overcome the physical constraints of the product and allow new forms of storytelling and experience. These tools must be used wisely and must generate value through content that serves the brand, educates, inspires or entertains. The key words are: storytelling and user experience.
The dematerialization of packaging
Digitization imposes new standards and new behaviors. The inexorable rise of digital commerce and new consumer behaviors are forcing brands to adopt new strategies and rethink the way they present their products.
The size of the visuals, the impact, the segmentation of the offer, the hierarchy of information…: everything that had been thought of for a physical environment needs to be reviewed.
The journey of the digital shopper no longer leaves anything to chance. The packaging has lost its seductive role that generates favorites or impulse purchases. Online shopping depends on the shopping list, itself guided by reason.
Even the hyper-personalization enabled by algorithms cannot replicate the physical, tangible, and multi-sensory experiences allowed in-store. Therefore, the role of packaging, its components and its interaction with the consumer must be fully adapted.
The “mobile ready hero image”
Traditional packshots were not designed for e-commerce in the sense that the elements on the packaging were not always clearly visible and readable.
It is therefore becoming common and sometimes even necessary to modify product visuals before being put online to highlight key information such as brand, variety, recipe and quantity, for an improved shopper experience.
This is the “mobile ready hero image” which therefore consists in facilitating the identification and understanding of products.
It is even possible to recreate all or part of the image of the product to keep only the essential data. It is also good practice to show the content of the product to reassure and inspire, or to add additional pictograms in the frame dedicated to the visual, with the aim of clarifying the offer on the e-shop.
What if tomorrow, the pack no longer exists? It still seemed impossible to us not so long ago but today we have the impression that it is no longer so far from the reality of tomorrow In this future post-packaging, new territories of experiences will have to be reinvented. To go further, one could ask the question: is the best packaging the one that does not exist?
