There is always a thing going on about the materials. One of the most frequently asked questions from most companies is, which material works best for packaging.
Now, the packaging is the most crucial part of your product. This is the main thing that customers are going to interact with within the supermarkets. Even in this era of online shopping, packaging plays a great role.
Back from the history of product packaging, it has been considered as the best way to make your products sell or increase productivity. Most companies even pay tons of extra money for luxurious packaging on their products to make the customer’s experience a little exciting.
Packaging is also much important because it represents your company. The design, size, texture, font, color combinations, and many more aspects in the packaging are representing what your company is all about. That is the reason why companies are always trying to upgrade the packaging.
Right materials for right products:
Many materials are commonly used for packaging. However, some of the materials are too expensive and do not provide sufficient durability or design to the packaging. In each packaging material that is available in the market right now, advancements have been made to make them extra durable and increasing their sustainability.
The materials may differ in the type of product that you are using. For instance, if you are promoting an item that should be visible because of its beauty, then you should use transparent packaging.
The most common materials that companies use for packaging are:
Corrugated board:
Corrugated board is the most commonly used packaging material for companies. Not only for the texture and design, but the corrugated board is also much flexible and can be used with many other materials for packaging.
Mostly, corrugated boards are used for the packaging of heavy products. With the use of this material, many of the common needs are fulfilled with ease including e-commerce goods, shipping, and subscription kits.
It is much easier to make any design on a corrugated board compared to other materials. Also, corrugated board is much cheaper than most of the other packaging materials. Not only that, but the printing cost is also much less on corrugated board so it is a much better choice for any company to use for its product packaging.
How is a corrugated board built?
As discussed before, corrugated boards are much durable and provide great sustainability. But how does a corrugated board have this much durability?
Well, the answer to that is in how corrugated boards are made. A standard sheet of corrugated board is made of three layers. A sheet of corrugated or fluted material is placed in the center of two plain sheets of paper.
The inner sheet and outer sheet of paper are glued to the middle sheet which gives the paper extra durability and sustainability.
Types of corrugated board walls
There are three types of walls that are used in making different types of corrugated boards.
Single wall corrugated board:
As the name suggests, this corrugated board has only one layer of corrugated sheets which is sandwiched between two walls of paper. This is the most common type of board that we all have seen and love. It provides extra cushioning for the product to stay safe. It is used in the packaging of many products. Many types of cartons can also be made by using this.
Double-wall corrugated board:
The double corrugated board is a little hard to see in the packaging. This board has two layers of corrugated or fluted material sandwiched between two sheets of paper. It offers great durability and the performance is great in regards to shipping. Furthermore, it is a great packaging material for heavy products.
Triple wall corrugated board:
After all the corrugated boards, this one provides durability compared to wood. It promotes a triple layer of corrugated material placed between two sheets of paper and provides unimaginable durability to the paper. Many companies use this type of board for the packaging of automobiles and other heavy machinery.
Types of paper
Many types of paper can be used to make corrugated boards. These papers differ in the texture and feel they provide. Two of the most used papers while making corrugated boards are:
Kraft
This paper is made from softwood trees which gives it a natural feel. Because of the presence of “virgin” fibers, not only is it easy to print on but it is also known as the strongest paper used in corrugated boards.
However, due to its natural dark color, this material should be best used with dark colors. It gives off a traditional matte feel and is very comfortable to interact with. All of its unique features make it to be the best choice for most companies.
Test liners
This paper is recycled and promotes a double layer. It is not easy to print on and doesn’t provide as much strength as kraft. Mostly, it is used for liner on the inside. However, one perk of using test liners is that it is less costly than kraft.
Other than these two papers, there are a lot of papers that can be used for packaging. Each paper has its distinctive properties which define the strength and drawback to them.
All the papers for inner or outer liners are:
Kraft – K: Virgin Kraft paper
Test 3 – T3: Fully recycled liner
Chip – C: Waste based liner
Oyster – OY: Mottled White Kraft
Waste Based – WB: Recycled fibers 100%
White Top – WT: White coated recycled liner
Fully Bleached White – BW: Fully Bleached Kraft liner
Test 2 – T2: Partly recycled liner
Benefits of using corrugated board:
There are a lot of benefits that corrugated boards provide you with which most of the other materials do not have. Even some of the most expensive materials got some drawbacks which can be solved by using the corrugated board.
Your product packaging is what attracts people to buy your products. When people go the supermarkets or stores, they interact with your products. And the only way they are going to interact with the product is by the packaging. If the packaging is not eye-catching, people will not be attracted to it.
Apart from attracting customers with its unique texture, there are a lot of benefits to using corrugated boards. Some of these are:
Highly durable:
There are many types of corrugated boards. They differ in the number of layers of corrugated or fluted material that is present in the two layers of paper. The number of a layer present in the paper defines how much durable or stronger the corrugated board will. However, even a single-layered corrugated board is much durable to contain a small product with ease.
Lightweight:
Corrugated boards are much lightweight which is a great thing for shipping. A part of the shipping cost is measured by the weight of the item. And the weight of the item includes the weight of the item along with the weight of its packaging. Also, being a lightweight material, it is easy to carry.
Cost-effective:
Corrugated boards are one of the least expensive materials that are used for packaging. Not only are they cheap themselves, but they also do not require expensive manufacturing tools or labor costs. They are also easy to recycle and do not require any expensive printing techniques.
HD Print Gloss printing
There are a lot of features in which HD Print gloss printing has proved to be worth the attention. Some of these are:
• Premium results:
When this printing is applied on the corrugated board, it enhances the quality of the material and makes it look premium. The results speak for themselves and it exceeds most of the expensive printing methods.
• Flexible design:
This printing method is the best way to save money. No extra cost is required for changing or updating designs. It saves you both time and money by costing you no amount for print setup or print plates. Hence, you can change or update your artwork any time you want with as many image additions, color combinations, or copy changes as you want without being locked into a particular design.
Paperboard:
Paperboard is a paper-based packaging material. It is a thick material, a little thicker than the common writing paper. Paperboard is commonly recycled and has been in use for packaging products for a while now. Most of the companies use paperboard because of its distinct texture and many benefits.
Types of paperboards
There are many types of paperboards. These differ in the amount of recycled content used, color, and the type of coating it has on the surface.
Two main types of paperboards that are commonly used in packaging are:
• SBS – Solid Bleached Sulfate
Solid Bleached Sulfate paperboards are known as premium-grade paperboards. It is white. The reason why it is known as SBS is because of the minimum amount of recycled content present in it. No more than 20 percent of the recycled content is put inside this paperboard. The remaining 80 percent of the content is made of chemically processed and bleached woodchips. SBS paperboard gets its white color both inside and out during the bleaching process.
Solid Bleached Sulfate paperboard is used in everyday products like beverages and food. SBS paperboard is coated with a naturally occurring mineral known as kaolin before printing anything on it.
• CUK – Coated Unbleached Kraft
There are two variations in Coated Unbleached Kraft paperboards. One is solid unbleached sulfate (SUS) and the other is clay natural kraft (CNK). Both are the same as solid bleached sulfate paperboard and similar to that do not contain any more than 20 percent of the recycled content. However, the remaining 80 percent of woodchips that are freshly harvested, are not bleached while being processed. So, the inside and outside layer of paperboard remains natural brown color.
Benefits of using Paperboard:
• Flexible design
The use of paperboard is much beneficial in terms of its ability to take any shape. It is very easy to print on.
• Product protective
Paperboards are much sturdy and do not let the product get damaged. Even while the product is being shipped, paperboard packaging will protect the product from any harm.
• Attractive
Paperboards are much attractive for customers. They are eco-friendly and the ability to take any shape, makes the user experience great which interacting. Moreover, the texture it provides looks stunning. And it is easy to print on paperboards, so paperboards get fine printing.
• Cost-efficient
Paperboard is not as expensive as most other packaging materials in the market. It is one of the least expensive materials present in the market. It does not require any expensive printing or labor fee.
Why Packaging is important?
To make people interact with your packaging you will have to make it super attractive. Not only in the supermarkets or stores, but people can also interact with your packaging anywhere. Like in the house of a friend or a family or even in school.
Not only that, there is a trend of product reviews going on right now. People get your product online or from the stores and review these products on their social platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
You may have seen all those YouTube channels that post review videos. And people love to watch these videos to make sure which product is good. What if a person owning a YouTube channel posted a video of your product on his channel? There are millions of people watching that video. Let’s say your product packaging is rough and out of all boundaries of product respect. People will not only think of the product as useless but also your company’s reputation will be harmed.
And all this can be saved by using good packaging for your products from the start. When your product will be placed in a clean box with fine printing and great design. All the viewers watching that product will be satisfied and in return, your product’s productivity will increase and your company’s reputation will go sky-high.
