What is Extended Packaging

In this age of digitalization and technology, industries and cooperation are looking for additional ways to improve their marketing strategies to attract more customers and increase their sales. Most products are famous just because of their unique packaging and not more than that. A product's packaging is a crucial part of its marketing plan and now it has become a medium to interact with regular consumers and potential customers because of extended packaging. Extended packaging has transformed the way we shop and has made our shopping experience productive and efficient.

What is meant by Extended Packaging?

Through an extended packaging, one can deliver information to their consumers through mobile devices. This information can be a text, a video, picture or augmented reality (AR) etc. All of this is possible when you translate a QR code or a 2D code using your mobile devices.

What is QR and 2D code?

The Quick Response code (QR) and 2D barcodes are codes that can only be read with the help of a machine but in recent years, almost all smartphones have this feature that lets you scan barcodes. These codes are consists of square and rectangles and won’t make sense if we look at it with human eye. These codes can be as small as few centimeters or as large as few inches. The size of the code does not affect how the machine or your smartphone reads it. Now almost all products from a chocolate bar to big electrical appliances have their QR and 2D barcodes printed on their packaging.

If cellular mobile companies didn’t develop this feature in smartphones, then scanning barcodes would have been an expensive process and retail market would not have been able to improve customer experience and their sales wouldn’t have gone up. Without this facility, people prefer to stay at home and shop online where everything they want to know about the product is available at one place and is just one click away.

Extended Packaging and the Concept of Augmented Reality:

Extended packaging is not only an extension of your package; it can create an augmented reality through multimedia. It is important to understand the concept of augmented reality before going further with extended packaging.

When you use all this different multimedia to deliver information, you are in fact projecting virtual reality onto the actual reality. The concept is new but not foreign and is easy to implicate.

Most smartphones allow you to translate QR codes and AR technology. Software like ARKit and ARCode from Google and Apple facilitate the use of this new technology in the practical world.

It is better to understand the purpose and intents of any product's packaging before diving deeper into extended packaging.

Background:

During the industrial revolution, a product's packaging was also revolutionized but not so much as it did in the past few decades. Before that, it was just a way to deliver your product to the consumer without any damage. For example, mouthwash was just a liquid in a container marked with the company’s name and the product's weight. Nowadays, packaging is more than just a safety measure.

A Company’s Intents with Packaging:

A product’s packaging serves many purposes and is essential for any country’s marketing strategy. Buyers judge a product based on its advertisement campaign across different media forms. But a product's packaging is what sells a product by catching a customer's focus. There are many products that are famous for their packaging such as Kinder Chocolate.

A product's packaging should be proficient in serving the following purposes:

Safety & Protection:

It should provide protection to the goods inside and do not let it get damaged. Bubble wraps and other safety precautions are necessary for certain fragile products.

Marketing:

Your product's packaging should sell itself and be its own ad. For any company, packaging is as important in their marketing plan as their advertisement campaign. It should highlight the product's strong points but still remain on the minimalist side. When it comes to packaging, a packaging that’s simple but still serves all its purposes is an ideal packaging.

Why is extended technology necessary?

Gone are the days when people used to judge a product by its packaging or advertisement. Now they need as much information as they can get before making their purchase. Extended packaging helps them with that. This is particularly important in a world where sometimes people see something that interests them, pick it up from the shelf and just search about it on their smartphone but if the company has provided a QR code at the back of the package then it saves the customer’s time and effort. If you want to sell something to someone, then the more you can facilitate a potential buyer, the better your chances.

Translating the QR code or the 2D bar code is the most effective way of delivering information to your customers without causing them any hassle.

How does it work?

Translating the QR code and the 2D bar code is easy and anyone owning a smartphone can do it. You just have to put your phone's camera on the code and in most smartphones, there is an option that let’s you translate your code. Different smartphones have different functions and settings. You need to check your phone's settings to know more about how it works.

Extended Packaging: an extension of packaging

Technology is moving forward and so is the world. People not only want to know what they are buying but also where it’s coming from and how it’s prepared. The need to know the smallest details about the product one us buying has increased in this decade. If someone is buying a TV, they will try to know everything about its features as well as functions then he will check reviews as well as judge a company’s market reputation based on those reviews.

Such additional information can not be delivered through advertisement as it should also be concise. So the concept of extended packaging came into being. Through this companies convey additional information about their products to the consumer. For instance, while buying an energy bar you not only want to know about its ingredients but as well as its nutritional benefits. Sometimes companies will provide more than what you bargained for. After translating the QR code on any food supplement's house, you can be directed to a diet plan suitable for your body. By doing this, manufacturer is providing customers more than what they paid for or at least creating the illusion that they are getting something extra.

Often times, companies use this method to launch giveaways with the intention to improve their relationship with their customers. They use this method to keep their customers engaged with their product and make them keep coming back for more.

Extended packaging is more than a marketing strategy though it is often mistaken as such. Most companies use this mean to let their consumer know what they are buying, how it’s prepared, where it comes from and where else you can buy it.

The QR or 2D code can take you to different interactive media. It can be either a text written in the form of an article or a blog or it can be a video or a picture.

These are often used to provide details about the product that includes the manufacturing process as well as packaging process. Consumers these days are not easily satisfied; they want to know what they are consuming and where it’s coming from. Not only do they judge the quality of the product but they also judge a company’s attitude towards them and how much effort it’s putting in to hold on to them.

Texts can be taxing to read and are not often able to keep people interested in the topic, no matter how much they want to know about your product. They often skim through the material to get the gist of the text. Videos and pictures are more efficient in keeping people interested.

Videos:

Often the QR code takes you to a video that tells you more about the product you are purchasing in a more elaborate form. These videos should not be an ad because it will only annoy your customer and deter him from translating QR and 2D codes in the future.

Consumers have now become aware of most marketing strategies and they know when someone is trying to sell them something. That’s why blatant and too strong marketing strategies are not appreciated nowadays. Package marketing should be as subtle as possible. So using extended packaging to lead your customer to your ad will not earn you any golden points.

Extended packaging is better treated as a means to get more information instead of another marketing trap. It should excite people when they think of your product instead of rolling their eyes and not bothering to even translate your code.

Most videos take you to a video that either uses actors to give you the intended information or use illustrations in the videos. The art of storytelling is of utmost significance here. Companies can tell how they started from the scratch and got here through these videos or they can share their family business's esteemed background. Discovery’s Food Factory is a good example of how you can use extended packaging in your favor without rubbing your customer the wrong way.

Pictures & Infographics:

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words so if a company decides to use a picture to deliver their message then the picture should be impactful and insightful. Often times, companies use pictures to promote a campaign it causes that they are associated with. For example, if a company donates a certain amount of percentage of their earnings to UNICEF then a picture that promotes their cause and encourages consumer to participate will be appreciated by consumers.

For instance, most soaps actively spread awareness about conserving water so a picture highlighting what is happening in some other part of the world because of the shortage of water packs a punch. Here extended packaging is used as more than just a marketing trap or a product's guidebook. Itserves a purpose and builds a favorable opinion of a company among the masses.

Often times, infographics are used to deliver the intended information. You must have seen pyramids on some food packages such as baby milk or pet food; similarly extended packaging translates to infographics and gives you information in a more interactive way.

Advantages of Extended Packaging:

People are often skeptical about the new technologies used by different companies. They think that cooperate world makes money by fooling them so in recent years; people are more cautious than they were ever before and they don’t easily accept change.

Extended advantage is unlike anything else introduced by companies and industries. It benefits not only the manufacturers but consumers too. Following are some advantages of making extended package a part of your product's packaging.

Introducing new technology:

In this age of technological development, people get curious about new technologies no matter how skeptical they’ve become because of marketing traps. So there is a small window of opportunity for brands to build their rapport with this technology.

Introducing Extended Packaging Will Give You an Advantage:

Marketsare filled with countless brands and products but most have fallen prey to monotony. Everyone is using same recycled ways of marketing to attract customers and to sell their idea. Amidst all this, originality is appreciated and accepted more readily.

Extending your project's packaging with the help of AR technology sets you apart among your competitors. Though it is not a marketing strategy in the strictest sense but it gives you the power to go beyond all that.

Helps build reputation:

In the most recent years, just the quality of your product is not enough to build your reputation in the market. You have to actively build your reputation by associating yourself with organizations that are working for the betterment of the world.

Extended packaging can help a company build its reputation. They can spread awareness about the causes they are supporting through it. It adds esteem to a company’s name as well as helps the planet and the needy.

Customer and Company Relationship:

For any company, maintaining a good relationship with their customers is important. There are customers that have been using the same product, service or brand for more than a decade. Though this happened without the help of extended packaging but now with the help of extended packaging, the process has become easy and efficient.

Over time, customers' expectations have risen. We are now dealing with a generation that knows so much about technology in their teens that it’s hard to keep their focus on one thing longer than needed. They are quick swipes and snaps and don’t like complexities. They make decisions on the go on their phones. Using extended technology to keep them interested is difficult but not impossible.

Purchase patterns and personalization:

Companies are able to better their customer's buying experience with the help of extended packaging. When a customer scans a product, companies are able to trace where and when the product was traced and by compiling your scanning history, they are able make an intelligent guess about your shopping preferences.

Retail Experience:

With the help of extended packaging, manufacturers are able to better the retail experience of people. Now people don’t need to return home without making a purchase just because they couldn’t decide what they want to buy.

Extended packaging has combined the online shopping experience with retail shopping in the best possible way. Customers are able to make quick decisions on the go. For example, while shopping in a bookstore you see a QR code at the back of the book you like and once you scan it, you’ll know other books from the same author.

Closing:

Extended packaging in general has benefited not only manufacturers, retailers but also customers. It is efficient and hassle free and let’s you know everything you want to know about a product just by scanning a simple code.

It increases engagements between the brand and the customer and makes shopping more fun. By scanning a product, the customer helps the manufacturer understand what and where the product is in demand and provides insights about the customer’s buying habits. This information is used to improve your future purchase experiences.

Extended packaging has opened doors for many things in the retail market. It is just not a way of promoting your product or a part of a marketing strategy but it actually helps people make decision to make a purchase. In recent years, extended packaging has become a necessary addition in any product's packaging and people actively lookfor a QR or 2D code to scan.

It is estimated that as we move forward in retail and technology, we'll be able improve this experience as well as introduce new ways to bridge that gap between online and retail shopping.