As a coffee roaster, you spend time, money, and energy on sourcing and roasting your coffee. But once it’s ready to go out to consumers, you need to consider how it will be packaged.
With so many coffee brands on offer, potential customers may miss your brand if your packaging isn’t eye-catching.
Custom print packaging helps attract the attention of customers, and tells them everything they need to know about your brand with a single glance. To learn more, I spoke to Corina Ye, one of our Senior Account Managers at MTPak Coffee.
See also: Eco-friendly Coffee Bags: Why Are Some Inks & Labels More Sustainable Than Others?
What Is Custom Print Packaging?
Visit your local supermarket or coffee shop and you’ll notice that many coffee brands use plain packaging, which is often little more than a label or sticker on the front of the coffee bag.
Custom print packaging offers specialty coffee roasters a greater level of customisation by utilising all the available space on a bag to communicate your brand identity to potential customers.
As a Senior Account Manager at MTPak Coffee, Corina Ye has worked with specialty and third-wave coffee roasters all across Europe. She says that custom print packaging, in its simplest form, is packaging that leverages a brand’s own design or artwork across the entire bag.
“It’s packaging that’s special and unique,” she says. “The most important role of customised packaging is reflecting the company’s philosophy in a visual way.
“It helps customers understand your company and your roastery… you can tell them exactly who you are.”
A Mark Of Coffee Quality
Corina says that choosing custom print packaging is key for coffee roasters who want to differentiate themselves from other competitors in the market. “In the 21st century, appearance and first impressions matter,” she says. “If something is customised to suit you, and only you, you will instantly stand out from the crowd.”
Research carried out by FedEx found that 80% of business owners believe that printed materials help their brand stand out among competitors, while 90% agreed that “the quality of printed materials is an indication of the quality of service the business provides”.
Industry experts agree that high-quality coffee packaging, custom or otherwise, is only increasing in popularity. In a 2018 Daily Coffee News article, Ray Brigleb of Needmore Designs said that modern trends in coffee packaging design were rooted in “[making] coffee appear less ‘commodity’, and more ‘high-end’”.
Custom print packaging also taps into people’s basic need to share what they find interesting. In a survey by DotCom Distribution, four in ten consumers said they would share photos of a product’s packaging on social media if it was unique.
So, in a competitive retail market, customers need to be able to quickly identify your roastery’s brand when picking up a new bag of beans. Including the basics is a great first step: make sure your bags include your logo, colours, selected font, and any other images or designs associated with your brand.
Why Should You Choose Custom Print Packaging?
Corina tells me that custom print packaging can be very effective in promoting your product, attracting more customers, and building your brand image. But what specific benefits does it offer when packaging coffee?
Specialty coffee often comes with a rich backstory, while transparency and traceability are becoming increasingly important in the coffee sector. Today’s third-wave coffee customers want to know who grew the coffee, where it was produced, which variety it is, and how it was processed, among many other important details.
Custom print packaging allows you to seamlessly integrate information about your coffee onto the bag in a number of ways. For starters, roasters can include it on the actual printed material layer of the packaging, rather than a label. However, if you’re looking to include a way for consumers to access even more traceability information about their coffee, you can use a QR code.
When consumers scan these QR codes, they will be directed to your company’s website and discover more information at their leisure. They can even use the codes to follow social media accounts and find contact details if they would like to get in touch with any feedback. These can also be included separately, on accompanying tasting cards, for instance.
Additionally, custom printing allows you to display one of the most important pieces of information on any coffee bag: the roast date. Coffee is best consumed within a few weeks of roasting to ensure optimal freshness, and letting the consumer know when it was roasted and packed will give them a good idea about when to consume it.
Alongside information about the roast date, you can also provide information on the specific roast profile, as well as certain flavour notes to expect. Of course, you could include this information on a separate label, but by minimising the amount of materials used to package the coffee, you consequently reduce its carbon footprint.
In today’s marketplace, you only have seconds to make an impact on customers and win mindshare for your brand. To maximise your chances of being spotted, invest in packaging that showcases your brand at its best.
Custom print packaging is well-suited to coffee roasters who are looking to build a strong brand identity and want to share it with their customers. It helps improve visibility in a competitive market, and allows you to showcase all that you want to talk about on your coffee bag. At MTPak Coffee, we take the hassle out of managing and delivering your custom print packaging, all the while giving you precise control over the final product.
For more information on our custom print packaging services, you can contact our team here.
Photo credits: Fil Al
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