With the pandemic having driven more retailers and brands online, innovative packaging is creating new marketing opportunities for savvy brands in China.

Writing in The WARC Guide to effective packaging, Victoria Andersen, Regional Brand Innovation and Sustainability Lead for HP in Asia-Pacific and Japan, outlines how packaging that creates an appealing brand experience for customers can help boost loyalty and drive sales.

Advancements in print technology have allowed companies to broaden their horizons in product packaging and consumer marketing, she notes. “Brands are now equipped with new tools, enabling them to enhance consumer experiences in more consumer-centric, engaging and tailored ways.”

Weiquan Food Co. Ltd. in Hangzhou, for example, adapted to changes in consumer preferences by creating packages that enabled their customers to express themselves through their products.

Consumers could print customised messages on their juice bottles and give their significant others a bottle of juice with the message ‘I love you’ or give their parents a bottle with ‘Take care’ written on it when visiting them.

“This is an example of how product packaging became a medium for consumers to express themselves – giving more meaning to the product – beyond just drinking the juice,” says Andersen.

More generally, innovative digitally printed packaging enables brands to:

• Enhance consumer experience through personalised experiences;

• Use critical brand touchpoints in e-commerce through a fully automated process;

• Increase consumer engagement through the adoption of new technology such as QR codes, RFID technology and unique ink capabilities; and

• Become more sustainable by drastically reducing waste, decreasing Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) and eliminating transport costs.

For more details, read Victoria Andersen’s article in full: Connecting through packs that matter: Innovative digitally-printed packaging in China.

Sourced from WARC