Online Exclusive: Use Packaging Design as a Sales Catalyst
Design has the ability to drive business.
By Joe Duffy

Despite considerable global economic uncertainty, there is good news in the beauty industry. Many sources continue to report positive sales growth and expectations remain cautious but optimistic for similar trends into next year.

However, as the category grows and new players continue to enter the market, a key question to ask as

The Thymes packaging system delivers more choices to more people.

you strive to not only maintain, but grow your share and stand out on the ever more cluttered store shelves is: can design help bolster my business?

The answer is yes—design has proven time and again its ability to drive business for many reasons.

Design Facilitates Choice
As shoppers, we sometimes want something more or something different, but at the same time, want something that we’re confident will deliver quality. Good design can create the perfect balance in communicating the difference in product attributes with a reassurance of consistent value. Thymes’ packaging system was a solution designed to deliver more choices to more people. Graphics inspired by unique fragrance profiles, along with special ingredients connected to indigenous places and cultures, delivered a broad and artistic selection of finely crafted personal care and beauty products. This drives increased interest from retailers and shoppers alike while also reinvigorating the pioneer of a mature category.

Design Differentiates

With Aveda Men, the packaging is designed to tell men that this product is right for them.

Design helps edit a hurried and harried shopping experience. Imagine a day of shopping and then transport yourself to Seoul, South Korea, one of the most active cosmetics and beauty retail centers in the world. You’ll find store after store of options and hundreds of choices in any one shop.

The question is: how do you stand out? One brand to the next? One product from the next? The answer is to use design to say something about philosophy and product and build an emotional connection with the shopper.

Innisfree, one of South Korea’s first all natural brands, uses design to tell its story. Innisfree believes in and markets the beauty of nature, pure and simple. It projects a vibrant and vital image, connecting with the youthful spirit of its biggest fans. Innisfree uses color and botanical imagery to help boldly and quickly differentiate one product from the next. As this brand introduced a revitalized packaging system with the new Magic Floral collection, it witnessed dramatic sales increases of over 30%.

Design as Personal Expression
Sometimes, the job for packaging design is to speak to specific people and to tell them that a product is right for them. This was the case with the design of the Aveda Men brand. With thousands of hair care product offerings in the world, the number directed to men who are attuned with nature and have a developed sense of personal style and fashion is much more limited. This was the opportunity for Aveda Men – to speak to these men with shapes and colors and textures that acknowledged their appreciation for the art and science of looking and feeling your best in a uniquely masculine sensibility.

The formula worked – for the product and the branding – growing a negligible male shopper and retail product segment into a nearly instantaneous international success with franchisees and men alike.