What are Some Common Types of Retail Packaging?

Packaging has become a significant and integral part of various marketing efforts adopted by the manufacturers. They used to follow a number of retail packaging techniques to attract consumers. The key purpose of packaging is no more limited to product protection. Today’s modern packaging informs a lot about product inside. It takes important part in product promotion as well as brand recognition.

Let’s have a quick look at various kinds of retail packaging.

• Rigid packaging – Solid materials are usually used for rigid packaging. Some common examples of rigid packaging may include juice containers, cardboard boxes, plastic gallon milk, soda pop bottles, cereal box, beverage containers and last but not the least, household cleaners. Items such as electronic goods and toys also come under rigid packaging. Plastic containers and trays can be considered to be the best example of rigid packaging.

• Flexible packaging – For this type of packaging, wide variety of products are used. Flexible packaging typically loses its actual shape once the packaging is opened. This packaging is perfect for food products, especially the perishable ones like fruits and vegetables. With flexible food packaging, food products come in air-tight bags, plastic bags as well as other containers. A special technique of sealing is applied to flexible packaging. Once it is opened, you can hardly re-seal or close it. Re-seal-able flexible packaging is used for packing dry fruits, frozen foods and similar items. 

• Recycled packaging – This kind of packaging is gaining popularity by every passing day. Rather than using new materials, retail items are getting packaged in recycled plastic, glass, and glass from discarded packages. Leftover raw materials are also sometimes getting recycled for creating packages. Such packaging can save a good amount of money. It is environment friendly too as the resources are not wasted and are rather used for making new products.

• Custom packaging – Custom packaging is basically used for products, which come in uncommon and irregular shapes. Such products don’t fit conventional packaging boxes. Many retailers and even manufacturers choose custom packaging since this helps their products to stand out, stay safe and reach destination safely.

Now it comes to different types of packaging boxes. There are different types of boxes available for packaging and different interchangeable terms are used to describe them – for example, rigid boxes, folding cartons, set-up boxes, cardboard boxes, paperboard boxes and corrugated boxes.

The 3 major types of packaging are folding cartons, rigid boxes and corrugated boxes. All of them are made of paper pulp of different thickness.

• Folding cartons – Folding cartons, also popular as paperboard cartons are some of the most popular and common types of retail packaging boxes that often can be seen at retail stores.

• Rigid boxes – Also called set-up boxes are stronger and don’t get folded or collapsed as folding cartons used to do. They are sometimes used for high-end products like an iPhone.

• Corrugated boxes – These are what commonly known as brown cardboard boxes.

These are just some important notes about packaging options that you might find handy.