Currently, online shopping has become one of the main ways of consumption for people. Due to the fact that online shopping products are generally transported as individual items, online shopping packaging should not only emphasize the protective performance of a certain product, but also provide consumers with a thoughtful shopping experience. Therefore, in the online shopping mode, traditional product packaging will undergo certain changes.
Whether it is the form of shopping, product display, or consumer purchasing behavior, online shopping and physical store shopping are vastly different, and the packaging design of the two products naturally also has significant differences.
Different design directions
When consumers shop in physical stores, they often choose through the packaging of their products. Therefore, it is required that the packaging should focus on promotional functions while ensuring protective performance. There are strict requirements for visual elements (graphics, colors, text, and their constituent forms) in packaging design, aiming to stimulate consumers' purchasing desire through excellent packaging design. On the other hand, online shopping packaging is not the case. In the online shopping mode, the products sold are displayed through detailed text and comprehensive pictures. Consumers can obtain relevant information about the products themselves, and even consult with the seller through the internet to obtain more detailed information about the products they want to purchase. Here, consumers are concerned about the practical functions of the product itself, and the packaging requirements are limited to ensuring the safe arrival of the product at home. Therefore, the packaging design of online shopping products focuses on the display design of online products and the safety design during the circulation process.
Different display designs
Usually, when consumers shop in department stores and supermarkets, they see packaged products displayed on the shelves, and the front image of the product will face the consumer. Therefore, the front design of the product packaging is generally simple and clear, attracting consumers' attention. Consumers can learn about the product through specific product displays and information on the outer packaging, and can also hold the product in their hands and repeatedly review it for comparison, selection, and purchase. In the online shopping mode, merchants display the details of their products to consumers through pictures of products or product packaging from various angles on the webpage. Moreover, when consumers search for a certain product, similar products from different merchants are often arranged on the same page, and each product can only have the opportunity to display one image, relying on a single image to attract consumers' attention. The effect of product packaging presented online is actually a comprehensive reflection of printing effect, electronic effect, and photography effect. Therefore, when designing product packaging based on online sales, it is also necessary to consider the effect when it is displayed on a computer screen after photography processing.
In addition, when displaying certain product images on the webpage, they may become blurry due to the limitation of webpage resolution, causing consumers to be unable to understand certain details of the product in a timely manner. Smart online store merchants place the magnified effect of the product on the webpage, which is more conducive to consumers' understanding of the product. In order to facilitate consumers to view the actual product, traditional product packaging often uses transparent packaging, window type packaging, etc. Online shopping products do not need to be designed in this way because they display a large number of physical images directly. For the same reason, the traditional design method of using physical product photography images as the main image in packaging design will also lose its significance in online shopping packaging design. This change will create a significant difference in visual effects between the packaging design of online shopping products and traditional packaging design.
Different customer experiences
There are many factors to consider in online shopping packaging design. Online stores have the advantage of relying on repeat customers for development compared to traditional physical stores. Traditional physical stores are often unable to serve certain customers who wish to consume again due to geographical and time constraints, such as tourist destinations, stations, docks, and other places where shops have fewer repeat customers. Online stores are not limited by time and location. As long as consumers establish a good impression of online stores, they may become repeat customers and can affect many online shopping consumers. The role of packaging design cannot be ignored if consumers want to establish a favorable impression of online stores. Therefore, encouraging repeat consumption is very important for the business expansion of online stores. For example, placing a small thank you card, discount card, welcome card, etc. in the packaging of online shopping products can make consumers feel warm and enhance their impression of the product and online store.
Changes in packaging materials
To ensure that online shopping products are safely transported to consumers after a long journey, the packaging should be strong enough to prevent packaging breakage, leakage, and loss of content during transportation; To prevent damage or deterioration of goods caused by placement, friction, vibration, or changes in sunlight, air pressure, or temperature; Prevent injury to operators or contamination of transportation equipment, ground equipment, and other items. Therefore, in addition to adapting to the nature, condition, and weight of online shopping packaging, the packaging materials for online shopping products should also be clean, dry, and free from odors and oil stains; The outer surface of the packaging should not have protruding nails, hooks, thorns, etc., and should be easy to handle, load and unload, and place. Therefore, in addition to the more reasonable structure of online shopping packaging, many factors should be considered in the selection of packaging materials. In addition to the original packaging of goods, appropriate outer packaging and fillers will be selected according to the size, weight and characteristics of express goods.
