Branding
Packaging Ideas for Small Online Businesses
You do not need custom boxes. You need three cheap things applied consistently.
Custom printed boxes cost a fortune and have long lead times. Almost every small brand with packaging you have admired is using plain mailers plus three cheap items, applied the same way every single time.
The three things
A seal sticker
Closes tissue paper, marks a box, holds a bag. It is the item most likely to appear in an unboxing photo and it costs cents. Foil if your budget allows, matt if not. See thank you stickers.
A tag or card
Something separate that gets handled. A foil tag or a small card with a handwritten line does more for repeat purchase than anything printed on the box itself.
Tissue or filler
Plain colored tissue in one consistent color. Not printed, just consistent. Color is what makes packaging recognisable at a glance.
Where to spend and where not to
Spend on
The sticker, because it is photographed. And one good tag, because it is kept.
Do not spend on
Printed mailers, custom boxes at low volume, or ribbon. None of them survive the first ten seconds of unboxing.
Consistency beats variety
The most common mistake is changing the design every few months. Recognition needs repetition. A buyer who has seen your sticker three times knows who you are. A buyer who has seen three different stickers has seen three different shops.
Change the tissue, not the sticker
If you want seasonal variation, vary the filler color and keep the branded items fixed.
Getting photographed
Put your social handle on the sticker or the tag. It converts someone else's unboxing post into a searchable route back to you, and it is the cheapest marketing on the entire parcel.
Quantities and cost
Stickers and tags are the cheapest things you will buy per unit and the price break at 500 pieces is significant. Order three months at a time rather than monthly.
For a standing quote, use the bulk order page and reorder against it rather than requoting each time.
If you sell food
Keep the decorative sticker and the required information label as two separate items. Combining them produces something too cluttered to be attractive and too decorative to be readable. See baked with love labels.
Shop packaging stickers and tags
Shop all stickers and labels →
Related reading
FAQ
1. Do I need custom printed boxes?
At low volume, no. Plain mailers with a branded seal sticker, a tag and consistent tissue achieves more for a fraction of the cost.
2. What is the single highest impact packaging item?
A seal sticker. It is the item most likely to appear in an unboxing photo and it costs cents per order.
3. Should I change my packaging design seasonally?
Change the tissue or filler color and keep the branded sticker and tag fixed. Recognition depends on repetition.
4. How many stickers should I order?
Three months of stock at a time. The price break at 500 pieces is significant enough that monthly ordering costs noticeably more.
5. Should my social handle go on the packaging?
Yes. It turns a customer's unboxing photo into a searchable route back to your shop, which is the cheapest marketing on the parcel.
6. Can one sticker serve as both branding and ingredients label?
No. Keep them separate. A combined label is too cluttered to look good and too decorative to read easily.