High-quality packages reflect the value of their contents, so choosing the right approach directly impacts the bottom-line for supplement sales. Packaging experts help boost market shares by guiding manufacturers and distributors into the best available options. Choices for supplement makers include rigid options like bottles, jars, and canisters as well as soft packages like packets and sachets.
While each type of package carries inherent advantages and disadvantages, the best alternatives are selected when a few questions are considered first:
- Is the supplement liquid, powdered, or solid?
- Where will the supplements be sold?
- How are the supplements taken by end-users?
Bottles for Gummies
Gummy candy-type supplements are finding their way into the industry mainstream, including those containing vitamins and others promising energy boosts. The nature of the products makes them perfect for rigid enclosures like bottles and jars. Multi-colored gummy supplements present particularly well on retail shelves, when they are bottled in clear-sided containers that enhance their colorful appearance. Distinctly shaped gummies also aid merchandising efforts – when strawberry-flavored supplements look like real strawberries, for example.
Whether marketing to kids, health-conscious adults, or sports enthusiasts seeking to replenish during workouts, contract packaging professionals have the right answers for gummy supplements.
Canisters for Sports Supplements
Powdered sports supplements represent one of the most competitive industries marketing to the public, so establishing brand awareness is paramount to success. With store shelves packed end-to-end with sports powders, unique visual identity at the point of sale is particularly important.
Effective primary and secondary packaging strategies cut through the crowded marketplace, to capture niche sales for established and new powdered brands. Bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts use substantial quantities of their chosen supplements, so they are best packaged in bulk containers. Screw-cap bottles and canisters allow users to efficiently measure doses and secure the powders between uses. Two distinct approaches dominate the packaging market in this category: Stock and custom.
When standard containers are used, graphics set them apart from other brands – including holographic effects and metallic labels. Custom packaging provides the greatest impact; however, allowing manufacturers to color-match bottles with their brands and reinforce sales with distinctly shaped containers. For multi-phase sports supplement formulas, canisters are placed in boxes and other secondary packaging that supports merchandising efforts.
Additional Packaging Solutions for Supplements
Over-the-counter nutraceuticals and other unique supplements require creative packaging alternatives that facilitate easy use by consumers. Samples and single-serving supplements are packaged in pouches, packets, sticks and bags that allow users to easily combine them with liquids or take them directly.
Soft, flexible packets and sachets made of paper, Mylar, and foil provide economical options for supplement manufacturers, which can be bundled in secondary packages for multi-piece sales. And stick packages are particularly effective for single-dose powders and liquids, because they are highly portable and use less material than traditional packets.
Contract packaging professionals consider the composition of each product, the marketing objectives of the manufacturer, and the desired user experience to provide effective turnkey solutions for the supplement industry.
