7 Creative Small Business Packaging Ideas + Examples

This article is part of a larger series on Retail Management .

Katie-Jay aims to put answers in the hands of small business owners by leveraging over 10 years of retail and hospitality experience. With a background in gemology, she specializes in jewelry and luxury ecommerce.

Meaghan has provided content and guidance for indie retailers as the editor for a number of retail publications and a speaker at trade shows. She is Fit Small Business’s authority on retail and ecommerce.

Custom packaging is a key way for small businesses to stand out in the highly saturated ecommerce market. To foster a memorable buying experience and help build brand loyalty, we recommend using branded or unique shipping materials.

In this article we’ll look at how you can customize your external shipping boxes as well as your internal product packaging materials—along with average costs, helpful examples, and resources to get started.

External Packaging Customizations

For ecommerce businesses, think of your shipping container like a storefront. Similar to a stunning window display, a well-designed shipping box will leave a positive first impression on your customers and tell them how they should perceive your brand.

Here’s a rundown of the top three types of shipping container customizations with options for any budget:

1. Fully Customized Packaging

Price: $5–$40 per custom box (depending on size and extent of customization)

Fully custom packages are boxes, mailers, or other types of shipping containers designed to represent your brand through custom features on the inside, outside, or both. These shipping materials go beyond just adding a logo, and they provide a more immersive experience.

This type of packaging is great for increasing brand awareness through shares on social media and unboxing videos.

Unboxing content—in which shoppers film or photograph the process of unpacking new products—often relies on fully customized packaging with unique features that convey a brand.

• The hashtag #unboxing has nearly 3.5 million posts on Instagram
• YouTube currently hosts over 7.9 million unboxing videos

Fully customized packaging is typically your most expensive option, but it will create the biggest impact. It’s most often used for higher-end goods or subscription services.

Check out these successful examples of creative, fully custom packaging:

FabFitFun—a high-end subscription box company specializing in beauty and lifestyle goods—produces a new seasonal box for each of its quarterly deliveries, incorporating design themes shared by its periodic newsletters.

Since FabFitFun’s biggest customer touchpoint comes only four times a year, it makes sense that the company invests heavily in packaging materials to maximize brand impact and customer retention with a memorable experience.

FabFitFun’s spring delivery (shown above) comes packaged in an eye-catching shipping container that reflects the brand and the season. (Source: Housewives of Frederick County)

Nordstrom’s no-longer-operating personalized clothing service, Trunk Club, delivered style boxes that allowed customers to try on curated, high-end apparel in their home.

The business’ packaging featured realistic designs resembling its namesake and conveying its brand. These clever boxes bring to mind the classic luggage that gave rise to the modern luxury handbag industry, which helps boost perceived value and brand impact. (Source: Shopify)

BarkBox—a subscription service specializing in pet products—uses various whimsical themes for its custom packaging design.

The playful box shown above features pirate-themed imagery, including a treasure chest shipping box and tissue paper printed with gold doubloons on an antique-style map. (Source: My Subscription Addiction)

Tip: For more on where you can find fully custom packaging and other creative shipping supplies, read our buyer’s guide for custom shipping materials.

2. Printed Stock Packaging

Price: $1.25–$20 per piece (depending on size and extent of customization)

Printed stock boxes are another small business packaging idea that features a custom touch. These boxes take a stock box (or other shipping container) and add your logo to the outside. This type of customization is a great way to drive your brand and increase recognition without adding much expense.

For this printed stock packaging, you’ll want to ensure that the placement of your logo is prominent—right-side-up on the top or front of the box. Also be sure to use an ink that’s dark enough to create contrast for the best visibility.

For inspiration, reference these creative examples of printed stock boxes:

Bruin Pumps uses bold lettering and highly visible placement to keep its brand in focus on each order’s outer packaging. (Source: Instabox)

Clothing brand Malimo (now called Yahmo) uses simple printing to create edgy and recognizable packaging.

Rather than featuring the business’ name front and center, this creative box invites intrigue with a compelling slogan and sleek logo. (Source: Shift4Shop)

Tangled Wigs creates visual interest on its printed stock packaging by adding attractive debossed texture behind its logo. (Source: Foldabox USA)

Going Green uses brightly colored text printed on a white box to reinforce its branding. (Source: BoxPrinting)

Tip: The key to pulling off any kind of custom packaging is having a distinctive logo and strong brand identity that you can use across many applications.

If you’re serious about building a recognizable brand, consider using a logo design platform for access to logo generators, logo templates, and editing tools—or affordable custom logo design by professionals. Read our guide to the 10 best free and paid sites for logo design.

3. Exterior Logo Stickers

Price: 6 cents–$7 per sticker (depending on size and extent of customization)

Logo stickers can be used on the exterior of your shipping materials to easily and affordably add a touch of customization.

This is the most cost-effective exterior branding option, and, once the stickers and boxes are ordered, assembly can quickly be performed in-house. Exterior logo stickers also allow you to easily add branding to any type of shipping container—making them perfect for businesses that use a variety of box sizes or multiple sources for their shipping supplies.

Here are some examples of effective packaging logo stickers:

Providers like Vistaprint carry a variety of sizes and shapes for custom stickers that work best for your stock packaging.

This cafe uses its logo and design across three different types of stickers, creating an elegant appearance at minimal added cost. (Source: Vistaprint)

Simple, custom stickers can be paired with crisp wrapping paper to create low-cost, polished packaging that’s perfect for gifting. (Source: Vistaprint)

Custom stickers can be ordered in eye-catching colors and unique fonts to convey your brand.

This company uses custom stickers in lieu of packing tape to seal stock boxes. (Source: MOO)

Tip: Many of the best fulfillment companies, including ShipBob and ShipMonk, can help you create custom packaging through their network of providers.

Most third-party fulfillment centers keep standard, generic shipping boxes in stock and can affix custom stickers during the order fulfillment process.

Internal Packaging Customizations

Another small business packaging idea is to add creative custom touches to the inside of your packages. This can include using custom stickers or tags, branded void fill like tissue paper, or unique boxes for your products themselves. It’s another opportunity to make your unboxing experience special, increase brand recognition, and elevate your offerings.

Here are some creative ways you can fill your packages and add a custom feature to your brand experience:

4. Cards or Thank-you Notes

Price: 5 cents–$1 per card (depending on customizations and stationary quality)

Adding a handwritten thank you note, signing your name on a preprinted card, or attaching a coupon voucher for your shopper’s next purchase is an easy and cost-effective way to add a personal touch to your small business packaging.

Cards and notes offer another way for customers to engage with your business and help people remember your brand the next time they’re shopping. They also give ecommerce orders a personal element that helps enforce an emotional connection.

In the clothing boutique managed by our retail expert Brigitte Hodge, she would add handwritten thank you notes for any purchase over $200. Her customers loved to receive these notes, and they helped the store earn repeat clients as well as shares on social media. Plus, they were easy to make—staff would keep blank stationary on hand and use any downtime to fill it out with customizable notes.

Tip: It’s easy to find stationery on a creative marketplace like Etsy. With its extensive selection of retailers, you can find cards, custom stationery, and pre-printed notes in a variety of styles and price points. To order pre-printed custom cards in bulk, VistaPrint is the best option.

Check out these creative examples of businesses that have added notes and cards to their packaging:

Offering a coupon code on a custom-printed insert fosters loyalty and encourages repeat purchases. (Source: Etsy)

Package inserts are a great place to tell your customers more about their purchase. Important details like directions for use, care information, or ingredient lists can be included on a branded note. (Source: Etsy)

Encourage customers to follow your brand and share their experience on social media by featuring a reminder of the social channels that your business uses. (Source: Pinterest)

5. Logo Tags or Stickers

Price: 10 cents–$2 per piece (depending on material and size)

Adding a custom logo tag or sticker to your orders is a great way to convey your brand without breaking the bank.

Typically, custom tags are attached to clothing and small items like inexpensive jewelry, whereas custom stickers are placed on the outside of generic product packaging. VistaPrint is a great resource for printing custom logo tags and stickers.

Here are a few examples of logo tags and stickers in action:

Clothing boutiques often use custom tags on their products secured with bulb pins. This technique can also be used by online resellers to attach their own brand to brand-name merchandise and encourage repeat customers. (Source: Vistaprint)

You can affix a custom tag to the outside of a boxed product with ribbon or twine for an artisanal look. (Source: Avery)

Place custom stickers on stock bags or boxes to create affordable, branded product packaging. (Source: Pinterest)

6. Tissue Paper & Inner Packaging

Price: 2 cents–$4 per order (depending on material and size)

Another way to elevate your product packaging and add a personalized touch is to wrap the individual products within your packages. This shows customers that you took care with their order and that their goods are important and valuable. This level of detail helps your brand stand out and creates an additional opportunity to incorporate branding with customized materials.

Consider wrapping merchandise like clothing in tissue paper, glass goods in well-protected boxes, and jewelry in small, cushioned containers. Some goods will need extra protection, and others just look better when wrapped.

Here are a few strong examples of interior packaging that create a luxurious experience and reinforce branding:

Neatly wrapped tissue paper secured with a sticker creates a special unboxing experience reminiscent of unwrapping a gift. Using custom-printed materials encourages an emotional connection with your brand. (Source: Tower Press)

Choosing colorful tissue paper that aligns with your brand’s aesthetic is an effective alternative to ordering custom-printed materials. (Source: Etsy)

Inner packaging for fragile goods can be both functional and attractive.

This seller uses stock boxes with a cut-out window that displays the branded product inside and a custom sticker to seal the box. (Source: Grandstand)

While most other types of product packaging are immediately discarded, jewelry boxes are often held onto by consumers (especially gift recipients).

A custom sticker can make a stock jewelry box look elegant and serve as a reminder of your brand. (Source: Etsy)

7. Small Gifts or Samples

Nothing makes a bigger impact than free stuff. Including a product sample or small trinket as a gift to your customers can increase overall satisfaction—and it creates a great opportunity to drive further branding throughout your packages.

Product samples give shoppers the chance to explore your offerings and encourage retention as well as increased basket size. Simple gifts (like decals, koozies, or keychains) can be customized to display your logo, turning customers into brand ambassadors everywhere they go. Plus, bonuses like these promote a sense of good value and invite a brand connection.

Check out these examples of custom gifts and product samples in ecommerce packages:

In addition to a handwritten thank-you note, Grilla Grills includes a branded koozie and decal in each order. (Source: Shopify)

This skincare brand sends three free samples of popular products out with every order. (Source: Twitter)

Bottom Line

Creative packaging helps elevate your brand image and boost customer recognition. While custom small business packaging may be more expensive than your standard shipping materials, it’s part of forging a sticky brand and creating a positive customer experience. It can also add a personal touch to the otherwise impersonal ecommerce buying experience. Thanks to the wide array of custom boxes and packaging materials available, you can give your orders a branded experience from the inside out—no matter your budget.

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