In response to Emily Tong, her recent blog post regarding Jennifer Martin’s SIP soda experience well reflected my personal feelings on the importance of packaging. Not only does it better display your product but it is also a means to differentiate your items from other similar products.
As Emily depicted, the packaging of SIP soda consists of a glass bottle with a simple, bright refreshing color graphics. The packaging, for example the label’s white base color, directly reflects the Jennifer’s goals: an “authentic, healthy, barely sweet” drink. Furthermore, Jennifer Martin explained that the color scheme for each drink reflects each soda’s flavour. Another means of differentiation that SIP Soda uses is its unique flavours – Lavender Lemon-Peel, Rosemary Line, and Coriander. Ultimately, SIP Soda is currently in a niche market, located on Focused Differentiation strategy because of SIP pushed for natural, healthy soda, with unique naturally infused flavours.
The importance of packaging can also be seen with the large range of water pricing in grocery stores. For example, DASANI water and VOSS water are both known for their pure and refreshing tastes. However, they differ in packaging; VOSS uses clear thick glass bottles whereas DASANI aims for an innovative plastic bottle design. The difference in bottling material greatly changes the price per bottle. For example, DASANI 500ml costs approximately $1.50 in comparison to VOSS 500ml which costs a little more than $2.00.
Thus, packaging is one of the greatest price contributors towards the cost of an item and it greatly reflects the message the company wishes to deliver.
Emily’s Blog: http://blogs.ubc.ca/emilytong/