REIMAGINING RETAIL OWN BRANDS: ONLINE PACKAGE DESIGN OPTIMIZATION

For decades retail own brands have been optimizing their physical instore shelf presence and shopper experience through shelf location, strategic end aisles and time spent analyzing consumers’ in-store behaviors when shopping their brands.

Online however, most retailers marketing their own brands have created a less-than-optimized shopping experience that consists of consumers wading through countless thumbnail-sized photographs of their products. These thumbnails are often an exact scaled-down version of their on-shelf design and become a bad reproduction when viewed, particularly for mobile commerce.

An IRCE report concludes that, for 75% of customers, the quality of the images is the most important driver of purchasing decisions. This is where optimization becomes vital.

Online design optimization is the act of making sure your online marketing lives up to its fullest potential, helping drive your brand’s growth and market share. By modifying the information being delivered in your thumbnail product images, design optimization helps steers consumers into buying what they can now recognize, rather than helping them compare products or try something new.

Tips for online design optimization of thumbnails

• Highlight the most important characteristics of your product

• Simplify your design so these characteristics stand out (i.e., the amount of cookies in a bag, the variety, key benefits)

• Remove any information that does not increase sellability

If amplifying some information by removing other information concerns you, remember that the thumbnail’s job is just to bring people to your product page, where you have room to highlight other important information. Optimization is just as important on the product page as the thumbnails. It is here, on the product page, where consumers make the decision whether or not to buy an item.

Tips for online design optimization of product pages

• Have more than one image of your product, with alternative views

• Have a clear emphasis on features and benefits

• Test readability on all devices, including phones

Optimizing your packaging images online design serves one purpose for retailers: it makes it easier for consumers to pick your products in the growing online marketplace.

It’s one of the quickest and most cost-effective changes you can implement right now.

Rebecca Hamilton

Rebecca is the CEO of award-winning Fish Agency and sister agency Whitespace Brands Inc. With over 30 years of experience, she has established herself as one of North America’s leaders in the fields of strategic branding, retail design, and communications for clients in the retail sector.

Under Rebecca’s oversight, the Fish Agency brings brands to life at retail and has consistently delivered high ROI-generating retail experiences for its clients. She mentors and leads highly experienced and integrated teams that provide store design, package design for CPG and private brands, digital/social initiatives, “phygital” experiences, and advertising services.

Rebecca@therealfish.agency