Seasonal packaging: the 7 do’s and don’ts for success

If you want to create an impact in retail stores, drive sales and win customers this Christmas, your seasonal packaging can play a crucial role.

Even with uncertainty regarding the UK economy, the cost-of-living crisis, stock shortages, and other issues, almost half of UK shoppers expect to increase their spending over Christmas.

To capitalise, many businesses will look to limited-time promotions, marketing campaigns, and seasonal packaging to capture a share of these additional sales.

But what should you consider if you plan to use your packaging as a promotional tool? This guide covers the seven do’s and don’ts when creating seasonal packaging, covering:

• Maintaining your brand recognition.
• Consideration of target consumers, demographics, and competitors.
• How specific you should make your seasonal packaging designs.
• And much more besides.

Whilst there is ongoing pessimism amongst UK consumers regarding the UK economy, nearly half of UK households (47%) do not expect cost of living pressures to affect their Christmas spending this year. This figure is an increase from 43% in 2023.

As a result, UK shoppers plan to spend an average of £362 on gifts, a 10% increase from last year. The same consumers will typically spend a further £317 on festive food and drink, up nearly 60% (although these figures do not account for the effect of inflation on higher costs).

Conversely, though, one-third (32%) expect to spend less this Christmas, buying fewer presents and finding cheaper food alternatives.

Whichever way you interpret these figures, one thing is clear—your seasonal packaging becomes even more crucial during the key festive sales period.

Seasonal packaging is used for a specific event, time period, or promotion. Popular at Christmas, seasonal product packaging aims to drive sales amongst consumers who would not usually (or infrequently) buy a specific product. Limited edition packaging can include different prints, designs, colours, sizes, or even materials.

With competition for sales as fierce as ever in 2024, leveraging your packaging as a promotional tool is vital.

Seasonal products, promotions, and packaging remain crucial considerations (as highlighted by these Christmas packaging facts).

But why use seasonal packaging?

Done correctly, seasonal packaging can significantly increase sales volumes, brand awareness, and impulse purchases. It can also help you stand out from the competition, attract additional shelf space, and, in the longer term, drive consumer loyalty and repeat sales.

Ultimately, it can be the difference between a red-hot sales period and a lukewarm (or worse) festive season.

But critically, your packaging must be on point to achieve this. As such, this guide covers the seven things you should do when creating seasonal packaging and the seven things you really shouldn’t – the seven deadly sins, if you will.

The seven most important considerations – and targets you should be aiming to hit – when creating seasonal packaging are:

• Increasing product appeal to persuade consumers to buy.
• Upselling.
• Adding value to your packs.
• Building brand loyalty.
• Adding personalisation to your seasonal packaging design
• Aligning with existing branding.
• Having a promotional strategy.

Of course, the key objective of your seasonal packaging should be to increase the appeal of your products in a retail environment.

Taking Christmas as the obvious example, many shoppers look for festive-themed packaging suitable for gifting. This appeal is particularly important for products that would otherwise not be associated with the season.

Festive or seasonal packs are also more likely to be in tune with consumers’ moods and will lead to increased impulse purchasing.

Another aspect to consider here is to add a sense of luxury or drama. Doing so can be achieved through special finishes on your packs (such as foil embossing or spot varnishing) or clever structural design that makes the pack unusual or different compared to the alternative options. Even well-designed print can make a significant difference here.

Limited editions (see Starbucks, winter cups and the hype surrounding “Pumpkin spiced lattes”) can also create excitement amongst regular, loyal customers.

Ultimately, you should decide what your goals are for your seasonal packaging – such as brand awareness, overall sales volume, average order value, etc. – and you can then design it to help meet these.

Achieving this can be as simple as ensuring consistent seasonal branding across all your existing product lines.

However, businesses can also achieve this by creating multi-packs or gift packs, which offer bundles of products together in a larger outer box.

Packaging (and offers) of this type can encourage consumers to purchase your products as gifts for friends or family members and to buy more of them.

Other options include money off or BOGOF (buy one get one free) on all seasonally branded items. However, you should use this tactic sparingly as it will drive volume but not margin and can alter your brand positioning and perception.

You should aim to design your Christmas packaging in such a way that it drives brand loyalty amongst your existing customer base, as well as attempt to foster this with new customers.

Your packaging can do so by using colours, graphic designs, messaging, and effectively arousing positive emotions. These could include a sense of inclusivity, luxury, care for the environment, or even evoking positive childhood memories.

Limited edition packaging can also drive sales amongst your existing customers, especially alongside suitable promotional activity. A limited run will generate a feeling of scarcity, a powerful way to increase sales of more expensive items.

Personalisation can be challenging to implement at scale, but it is a tactic you should consider for your packaging.

For example, offering personalised notes included with eCommerce orders can be a great way to make that gift extra special.

Digital printing can allow for personalised packs and products, too, which increases the item’s perceived value and shows a level of thought and consideration (which reflects well on both the gift giver and your brand).

A criticism of most seasonal packaging is that it effectively increases the amount of material used, harms the environment, and puts the burden of disposal on the end recipient.

However, a way to avoid these negative associations – whilst also boosting perceived value in-store – is to design your packaging to add value to your products.

An example of adding value would be a gift box or case the recipient retains for ongoing storage of the items (or even for another purpose).

This strategy is a real win-win for brands. Firstly, consumers see the product as more desirable and valuable, leading to higher sales at a higher cost. Secondly, it also allows your branding to remain in the consumer’s conscience as they retain the pack over a prolonged period.

Loyal customers look for your products when purchasing gifts for their loved ones (or even themselves). They are already aware of the benefits and qualities that your products bring.

However, if your limited edition packaging is almost unrecognisable from your existing branding, it can turn off your loyal customer base. Even worse, it can mean they miss your products altogether.

This problem also allows competitors to showcase their products, potentially gaining customers you may never win back.

As such, you must strike a balance. Your festive packaging must look different enough to appear special. Yet it must remain close enough to your branding to reassure existing customers and maintain your previously earned brand loyalty and recognition. A coherent limited-edition packaging strategy is vital.

Whilst seasonal packaging is a great marketing tool in its own right, even with the perfect packs, it is still crucial to have an overall promotional plan in place.

Your broader strategy can include sending email newsletters to subscribers, giving them a “sneak peek” or early access to your seasonal or limited-edition packs. You should also consider general advertising, influencer mentions (including popular unboxing channels on YouTube), and securing prominent positions in retail outlets.

You should also consider coordinated point-of-sale stands (such as CTUs or FSDUs), which allow you to place your promotional packs at the locations most likely to grab consumer attention or drive impulse purchases.

Whilst you could nail all of the points detailed in this guide and sit back, safe in the belief that your seasonal packaging will soon increase your sales, avoiding the seven pitfalls in the following section is equally imperative. Each of these could seriously dent your performance.

When considering your seasonal packaging, you must avoid the following:

• Overestimating stock.
• Overspending on your packaging or design.
• Focusing on holidays which are too specific.
• Focusing on the wrong holidays or demographics.
• Mimicking competitors.
• Losing your brand differentiators.
• Making basic mistakes in your artwork.

While it is easy to do, especially given the difficulties of forecasting in the current climate, it is important not to overestimate the stock levels of seasonal packaging you require.

Firstly, whilst flooding the market can be a good tactic in specific scenarios, being too visible can erode any exclusivity that seasonal packs typically convey (this is more critical with luxury and higher-value products).

Secondly, it could also mean significantly discounting products towards the end of the seasonal period to avoid leftover (and unsellable) festive lines. As a pricing strategy (whether planned or not), it could impact your brand positioning. For example, a luxury or upmarket brand discounting large volumes of products or packs can quickly harm your brand equity.

Finally, you may also be left with a large amount of packaging that you simply have to write off (and the financial implications of doing so).

It can be pretty easy to get carried away with your festive or seasonal packaging, with a new print, specialist finishes, a unique structural design, a mix of materials, larger dimensions, etc.

But this can quickly lead to costs ballooning. And if the market you operate in is particularly price-sensitive (something affecting many more sectors this year), these limited-edition packs could quickly erode your margin.

You should also consider that larger packs, while grabbing more attention in-store, are more costly to ship. If you prioritise form over function, you could also see an increased incidence of items damaged in transit.

In essence, the more you spend on your seasonal packaging, the bigger the risks you take (especially considering the potential for over-ordering, as detailed above). It is essential to find the right balance.

Depending on your budget, expected sales and aims for your seasonal packaging, it can be easy to fall into the trap of being too specific with what you are targeting.

For example, whilst you may wish to produce a specific pack for Christmas, this means the design is out of date after 25 December.

However, if you produce a winter pack, this could stay on shelves (without massive discounts) beyond the end of this period and into the following year. Another good example is “Autumn” vs “Halloween” themed packs.

A further consideration, particularly for smaller retailers, is to not shorten the lifespan of your seasonal packaging by including special offers or promos with expiry dates. If you have excess stock, you cannot use a pack featuring “Happy Christmas 2023” the following year.

Considering the design, wording, and specific promotional offers can help keep costs down and profit margins up.

Similarly to the above, poor targeting of consumers or how specific markets behave during certain sales periods can also be disastrous.

As a very crude example, a florist would likely have success with a “Mother’s Day” themed pack or gift box but considerably less with a Father’s Day one.

As such, it is essential to know your target consumers. You can usually ascertain this by looking at historical data or, failing that – creating buyer personas. You can then ensure that your packaging targets shoppers actively looking for your products at that specific time.

Christmas – as just one example – seems to roll around quicker with every passing year. And with retailers’ promotional calendars featuring ever more overlap (mince pies in shops at the end of August, alongside BBQ food, for example!), it can take businesses by surprise.

And being unprepared can create many problems.

Failing to be prepared means you may not get your packaging on time and, in turn, miss out on a chunk of the targeted sales period. It may mean that you rush the design, leading to mistakes. Or your supplier may struggle to hit deadlines, and the quality suffers.

Although easing somewhat in 2024, this final concern has been particularly acute over the past few years. Cardboard shortages, delays in shipping containers arriving from overseas and even the lack of lorry drivers have meant that lead times on corrugated cardboard packaging are often longer than they may have been historically.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

While conducting thorough competitor research and analysis is vital, a common mistake many businesses make is copying their competition.

Mimicking your competitors means your promotional packs will get lost amongst the extra noise during busy sales periods. It can also erode the brand values you have built up over the years (and the reason your loyal customers choose your products).

There is also no guarantee that what your competition is doing (or has done) is or was successful. You may be copying the same mistakes they have learnt from and want to avoid.

Bottom line? Stay true to your brand aesthetics and values.

As with diluting your brand by copying your competition, it is also crucial that your seasonal packaging does not confuse or turn off customers.

Specific examples include Coca-Cola releasing special edition cans that were white instead of the traditional red – with consumer backlash after many believed they were buying the diet version of the drink (and not – inadvertently – the full-fat version).

Changing your packaging to a specific colour can also cause unexpected reactions in consumers due to the colour psychology around certain shades). Poor colour choice for your packaging can also confuse your product with your competition or mean consumers end up with a product they did not intend to buy.

By all means, use seasonal colours to reflect the mood of the holiday you are targeting, but carefully consider how this is likely to be perceived.

Finally, while creating festive or seasonal artwork and designs for your packaging can be a great project, you must ensure that basic mistakes are spotted and removed before final production.

At the lower end of the scale, typos, poor colour choices, or low-quality graphics can look unprofessional and harm sales. At worst, poorly worded terms and conditions or offers can result in you losing money or facing angry consumers (particularly if they have bought your products based on promises your packaging makes but that you cannot keep).

Ensure you ask several colleagues not working directly on the project to proofread all artwork, wording, and other elements. It is incredible what a fresh pair of eyes can spot. Take heed of these ten packaging artwork mistakes, too.