Why Design Different Packaging For The Same Product Online And Offline?

Nowadays, everyone is more and more familiar with online shopping, and many products that were only sold in offline physical stores have also appeared on e-commerce platforms one after another. But have you ever noticed that the same brand and same product have completely different online and offline packaging?

Online packaging, also known as e-commerce packaging, is a packaging specially made for online shopping products. Since online shopping greatly reduces the cost of sales, packaging is naturally weakened. Although some large companies still use the same packaging as offline purchases, this is obviously a thankless way.

Online packaging is business-oriented and indispensable, while offline packaging is mostly customer-oriented and simple in function

Online packaging is the secondary packaging of the products sold by e-commerce companies before their property rights are transferred to consumers. Formally, it plays the role of order splitting, and functionally, it must be able to ensure that the goods are intact during the delivery process. In addition, the more important point is that e-commerce companies will directly convey their feelings to consumers through the details of each packaging. For example, plastic packaging with uniform material and transparent color will make consumers feel clean and at ease, and the red wine with air column buffer packaging will make consumers feel professional and safe. Offline packaging is secondary packaging after its property rights are transferred to consumers. Each enterprise is only to meet the necessary needs of customers. Whether it needs packaging and what kind of packaging to choose depends entirely on the customers themselves.

The types of online packaging are rich and diverse, while the types of offline packaging are relatively simple

In order to meet the safety of goods in long-distance distribution, the packagers of e-commerce enterprises should strictly operate according to the packaging specifications according to the size, crush resistance, and fragility of the goods, so as to avoid excessive packaging or improper packaging. That is to say, online packaging requires not only outer packaging such as cartons or plastic bags, but also fillings such as inflatable packaging films, bubble pads, air column buffer bags, adhesive tapes used for sealing, and various labels that provide identification and prompt information. While offline packaging is generally dominated by plastic bags and paper bags, large supermarkets often only have 2 to 3 packaging bags of different sizes to choose from. How to use it is entirely up to the customer.

Online packaging printing highlights the overall visual experience and cultural connotations, while offline packaging printing is relatively simple

Online packaging not only needs to look reliable in material and perfect packaging measures, but its printing patterns are often impressive, which in turn plays a role in promoting the company. Therefore, many e-commerce companies have developed a strict visual identification system based on the characteristics of many types of online packaging and diversified materials, and standardized and serialized the design of all packaging printing patterns, which not only makes it more visually impactful, but also highlights out of the corporate culture. Based on the relatively single type of offline packaging and the uncertainty of use, the design of its printing pattern is relatively simple, and it is more of a sign.

The cost of online packaging is high, and most of the offline packaging is close to zero cost

All online packaging costs are borne by e-commerce companies, which directly offset corporate profits. Especially when a customer returns an order, some packaging materials will be directly lost. Therefore, under the premise of ensuring a good customer experience, e-commerce companies must consider reducing packaging costs as much as possible. The commodity packaging of shopping malls and shopping centers is more from brand owners, that is, most supermarket companies themselves do not bear the cost of this part of the secondary packaging.