Here are 4 things you need to know about your product offering for a quicker, smoother packaging and launch process!

➊ Product Tree

A product tree shows the relationship between each product in your range or sub range and your brand. It allows you see the overall purpose or reason for being for the range and how each product is necessary to tell the story of the range.

• Does each product fill a different need?
  Eg. Green tea for daily health versus a berry infusion for relaxed wellness?
• Does it guide your customer through your brand?
  Eg. Entry level offering versus advanced or premium offering.

➋ Customer & Shopper

Understanding your customer and shopper makes developing your product and packaging so much easier. Ultimately, every part of your offering is designed with your customer, shopper and/user in mind.

• How does your customer SHOP your products?
  Eg. Do they shop FIRST based on price, flavour or format. This determines how your packaging helps people find the product quickly.
• Sometimes you need to define your user AND your shopper.
  Eg. For baby products, the baby is the “user” and the parent is the “shopper”. Both will have different needs.

➌ Positioning in Market

This is how your offering fits into your existing niche or industry. Ideally your product and packaging should elevate its point of difference so it places your product in a position which is unique and tailored for your ideal customer.

• How does it fill a gap in the market? What does it offer that is different?
  Eg. What can you leverage in your brand or offer as a clear point of difference?
• How does it solve a specific problem for your customer?
  Eg. Vitable Vitamins provides a personalised vitamin subscription so their customers can get the right nutritional balance their body needs.

➍ Brand Identity:

Your brand identity provides a deeper reason for being for your product, brand and company. It is a cohesive ecosystem of your brand - not just the visual elements but your values, vision, mission and story too!

• What’s the bigger purpose of your brand and business?
  Eg. What are the values, vision, mission and story?
• Are your visual branding elements packaging ready?
  Eg. Your logo should be in EPS. You should also have a font/typographic styling system.