There are hundreds of popcorn shops in every American city. These tiny, tasty, and delicious munchies have huge demand, so much so that an average American consumes around 43 quarts of popcorn per year. They even have a National Popcorn Day, which will come on January 19, 2025. From a business perspective, this means that there is huge competition among popcorn sellers. The popcorn are divided into two categories: microwave popcorn and ready-to-eat popcorn. This post is about the latter one and its packaging. The premade popcorn is usually packed in boxes. These boxes, when tailored as per a specific design, are known as custom popcorn boxes. Bigger brands can get custom popcorn boxes wholesale from packaging manufactures, whereas smaller brands can get a lesser quantity from printing companies and packaging retailers.
The four elements that play a crucial role in making a popcorn business successful are taste, quality, price, and packaging. Being the packaging experts, we will discuss everything you need to know for making impeccable popcorn boxes. Many people don’t get custom boxes for their popcorn business, thinking that they don’t matter much. This post proves otherwise. After reading this pro guide, all your queries about custom packaging for popcorn will be answered. So let’s go and unveil the world of custom popcorn boxes.
Customer Attraction and Retention
Popcorn sales rely heavily on the attractive appeal of the packaging. A good box with a powerful design can create cravings among onlookers that can inspire them to buy from your shop. Moreover, a good box is also important for customer retention. If tasty popcorn are packed in a low-quality box that tears or breaks after some time, buyers will not have a good experience. On the contrary, if popcorn are sold in solid packaging, buyers may slightly ignore the taste part.
Powerful Marketing Tool
Custom popcorn boxes also serve as an effective marketing tool. Popcorn are an on-the-go snack that buyers buy from a shop and walk with the box for a few minutes before they settle down. All the time, the box is in their hand is a golden chance for buyers to spread their brand’s name. If the box has a nice design with your brand’s name and logo, it will motivate people to give your popcorn a try.
Further, you can also print QR codes and information about your brand and its practices to engage your customers. It creates respect for your brand among buyers and builds a positive relationship.
Offer Personalized Boxes
Popcorn are a must-have menu item for many events, like birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings. Getting special boxes can make your special days more lovely and memorable.
Brands can also print the details of upcoming events. For example, a popcorn shop in a movie theater can have boxes with the next movie release date and postures. A shop in a mall can go for a design that shows the next discount dates. These minor things make people remember your shop’s name as well. They’ll definitely head to your shop when they are nearby.
Green and Eco-Friendly
These boxes are recyclable and eco-friendly, and they don’t impact our environment in a negative way. Brands can use this information to capture buyers who prefer shopping with sustainable brands. A small mention of such features builds trust among buyers.
Cost-Effective
You’ll be surprised to know that these boxes are not too costly. The slight increase in the price is easily covered by the benefits they bring along. So, if you think that a popcorn shop isn’t going to benefit from investing in custom popcorn boxes, you are highly mistaken. The above points prove this.
Now let’s get down to the professional part. This section explains how brands can come up with a popcorn design that can help reap all the above benefits.
Market Research
You’ll be surprised to know that popcorn are loved by people of all ages. Most brands don’t take this into account before buying popcorn boxes. They go for a single design for all types of buyers. Just imagine the difference brands can create by having unique custom popcorn boxes for different segments of their target audience. For example, you can have different boxes for children, teenagers, and adults. Moreover, having girlish colors for female buyers can also create uniqueness. If you like this approach, you can order these boxes in small quantities instead of going for a bulk order.
Box’s Outlook
The outlook of the box comprises fonts, colors and shades, artwork, and graphics. Popcorn boxes must have a design that increases cravings when people look at them. The fonts and colors can also vary as per the target market preference. For example, boxes for kids and teenagers can have playful fonts; for adults, bold fonts with sober colors can do the trick.
Box’s Theme
This is where things really get interesting. The theme refers to the main design of the box. For example, you can go with a flavor-theme design. This type of design shows rich and high-quality images of the particular flavor a buyer is getting. If you are selling honey popcorn, showing some popcorn bathing in honey can give buyers a rich experience.
Similarly, putting superhero images and graphics on the box is also a good idea. Although it is quite common, it is equally effective. You can go with innovative designs that are not too common. The options are limitless.
Another exciting idea is to put cartoon characters on the box. They are best for popcorn shops in amusement parks, near recreational places, and playgrounds.
Innovative Features
Having innovative things like lids, raised corners, and handles on the box can increase its usability. For example, a lid can serve as a way to keep the contents fresh for a long time.
An exciting way to engage buyers is to print games, puzzles, and interesting information about popcorn. You can also go with information that shows how your popcorn are made and how you ensure quality and hygiene.
Design Testing
Once the design is final, share it with a packaging supplier and ask them to provide a sample along with a quote. Make sure you get quotes from at least 3–4 suppliers to get the best possible deal.
Check out the prototype critically, remove any flaws, and then go ahead with the printing part.
Online Marketplaces
Amazon, Alibaba, and Etsy have a lot of options for businesses looking to buy bespoke popcorn boxes. The benefit of these places is that you can check reviews and ratings on the spot. Moreover, since the competition here is tough, many sellers reduce prices in order to attract customers.
Printing Companies
A lot of printing companies buy plain boxes from packaging manufacturers and then print them. These companies usually work with a minimum order quantity. The best part of working with them is that they offer the best printing quality.
This is where things really get beneficial for popcorn businesses. If you want the best services at the lowest rates, deal with packaging manufacturers or wholesalers. However, there is a catch: they usually work with a minimum order quantity.Packaging Mania is one of the best packaging manufacturers in the US. Unlike other manufacturers that have a minimum order quantity (MOQ) of 200–500 boxes, we are happy to work with a MOQ of 100 boxes.
Yes. You can make custom popcorn boxes yourself, but it is a time-consuming process. First of all, you need to find a printable template. You can look up templates online by searching relevant terms, like Batman popcorn template. Once you have the right template, print it on cardstock. Don’t use printer paper, as it can’t hold the weight of the popcorn. You can also make custom templates by putting names, dates, or messages for the event you are celebrating.
Once the template part is ready, score the cut lines gently using a pencil and scale. Now cut the paper along the fold lines and join the sides to see if the box is made correctly. Complete the box by using food-safe glue. You can make as many boxes as you want with this method, but it is overall costly and requires a lot of time and manpower. It is a better option if you want 10–20 boxes, but for events where you need more than 100 boxes, working with a supplier is a feasible approach.
We say this because this guide reaches its climax here: custom popcorn boxes can help you get what you want: an increase in sales volume and a loyal customer base. And Packaging Mania - Custom boxes can deliver these boxes for your business. Contact us today and let us deal with all your packaging needs. We offer free shipping and design support to help small brands get packaging at the lowest rates.
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