5 Reasons to Customize Your Packaging for the Holidays

Tis’ the season for holiday themed treats. All those products with well-loved flavors like pumpkin spice or peppermint fill the shelves where snowflakes and fall leaf designs abound. 

If you’ve been contemplating your packaging lineup, now is the perfect opportunity to get customized packaging for the holiday season. 

Whether you have a new product to show off or not, limited edition holiday packaging is the perfect way to stand out on the shelves. Read on to learn just how important customized packaging can be. 

1. Connect with Customers

Seasonal colors and designs just feel more special for the customer looking to celebrate the season. 

Many brands actually find that customers will enjoy the same product more if it’s in holiday packaging, because it’s all about connecting your company to the good feelings that only the holidays can bring. 

The season is an opportunity to connect with new and returning customers and bring them something special. 

With customized packaging, you can guarantee that you’ll be memorable. Even if the motif is similar to others on the shelf, you’ll stand out because you’re offering the festive spirit that people are looking for.

Customers look forward to the holidays and choose to celebrate in many different ways, including buying their favorites in holiday themed packages. So if you’re looking to become a new favorite, it makes sense to meet those holiday expectations.

Photo from our friends at Two Brothers Toffee

2. Boost Your Social Media

Social media is one of the most important ways to draw in a consumer base, but you have to keep them engaged. One way to drum up some interest is to show off newly created holiday packaging. 

When it comes to the holidays, you’ve been handed a theme that’s on everyone’s mind. Drawing from that collective interest is a great way to make sure that people are clicking on your posts. 

You’ll get many posts from just one holiday design, whether teasing the announcement, showing your new package for the first time, or just framing your bag with a fun on-theme background. 

You can even make a new hashtag for your social media profiles to let everyone know about your new packaging. 

Limited edition pouch from Berres Brothers

If your packaging will be around for a limited time, make sure to get everything you can out of it, and use it to boost your social media.

3. Test Out a New Variation

Photo from our friends at Kettle Head Popcorn

This is the perfect time to test out the ideas you’ve been keeping on the backburner. 

Is there a flavor you’ve been excited to try, but are worried that there won’t be enough sales to cover a whole new permanent variation? Got a great idea for holiday packaging, but the short length of the season has got you nervous? 

Try a limited run holiday package! That allows you to just dip your toe in and see the results, without having to make a big investment.  

The market is full of items proving that people love limited edition flavors. Just look at the number of pumpkin spice or apple cider flavored products that fill the shelves come fall. And people get so excited for it, so it just makes sense to go for some tried-and-true holiday flavors like peppermint or gingerbread. 

Whether it becomes annual or stays for this year, it’s a perfect time to go for customized packaging for the holidays.

4. Ditch the Label

Packaging is an important way to show your brand’s story, values, and tone, so it shouldn’t be left to a sticker on a blank pouch. You want a simple perusal to tell everyone who you are and why they should reach for their wallets. 

If you choose to customize your packaging, customers will be able to pick out the holiday variation in a second, instead of having to pause to read a label. The design should speak for itself. 

Plus, you don’t have to spend all that time and money putting labels on bags, saving you both hours and dollars that can be better applied to your business. 

And with digital printing, customized packaging is the name of the game, with crisp colors and graphics. Every part of the package can be personalized, from the zipper to the gusset. Whether it be snowmen or pumpkins, digitally printing has you covered.

Pouches from Coconut Whisk

5. Smart Packaging

When you pick customized holiday packaging, you have the opportunity to tap into smart packaging, also known as connected packaging

Limited edition pouch from Berres Brothers

Connected packaging uses a unique QR code  printed on each bag to turn your package into a digital tool that can deliver insights to brands and consumers alike.  Each of these codes connects to a digital experience that can be controlled and updated by the brand, even when the package is already in circulation.

One way to use connected packaging is by using the QR codes as a journey to engagement. It’s a snap to share a holiday recipe, download a coupon, or get them to your website or social media page. All customers have to do is scan the code with their cell phone camera and they’re connecting to you directly.

Another way to utilize connected packaging is by turning your QR codes into the saga about the journey of your product from farm or plant to store. 

If you’re a coffee company planning on showcasing a new holiday blend, you can show how and where the beans were harvested, roasted, and packaged. 

If you’re a cookie company excited about your new gingerbread offerings, you can share with your customers all about the process of baking to packaging.  

On the brand owner end, it can be used to track your packaged product. Each individualized code communicates which batch, plant, and even which plant worker created their particular product. 

Plus, you can track where the package has gone once it’s left your business’s hands, seeing which stores are selling the most and whether the package is ending up recycled or in a landfill.

As the weather cools down, the shelves are heating up, with festive treats. So bring holiday joy to your brand with customized holiday packaging.

The Bottom Line

The holiday season is a time of family, beautiful fall colors, warm sweaters and pumpkins spice. It’s a time to form memories and get nostalgic.

With the new capabilities digital printing technology brings to you through flexible packaging, customizing your packaging to tap into that holiday feeling is easier than ever.

You can find new ways of engaging with customers, plus you’ll have new material to share on social media. You can also experiment with new design ideas, and leverage serialized QR codes to engage with consumers beyond the package.

Be creative, have fun, and have a happy holidays!