Top 3 Ecommerce Packaging Design Trends for 2023

One-third of consumer purchase decisions are based on packaging. In fact, brands have between three to seven seconds to catch a consumer’s attention before their eye shifts to the next product on the shelf. As consumers shift to online shopping, brands cannot rely on a product’s primary packaging to convey the story. Primary packaging is what separates the product from the consumer whereas secondary packaging secures various components to arrive to the consumer – both play key roles in the consumer experience!

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the ecommerce market has grown by 27.6% according to Inside Intelligence. You know what that means – that means 27.6% of the market needs packaging to fulfil their products for their consumers!

Knowing this, it makes it easier to spot the ecommerce packaging design trends of the year.

Custom ecommerce packaging can be very specific to your company, but there are common noteworthy trends of what consumers want to see when they receive their product/s. The top 3 ecommerce packaging trends for 2023 include:

Top 3 Ecommerce Packaging Design Trends for 2023

Subtle Branding and Minimalism
Vintage Colours
Sustainable Packaging

1. Subtle Branding and Minimalism

As consumers push for more transparency from brands, minimal packaging design gains popularity. The simple and minimalistic design trend has been around for many years but is seeing rapid growth over the last 5 years.

Less is more when it comes to primary and secondary packaging design. Minimal product packaging design is seen as authentic, trustworthy to consumers, and it allows for consumers to focus on the product. Minimal packaging design is not just about the artwork on the product’s primary packaging. The simplicity must also translate to the packaging material.

How to Achieve Minimalism in Product Packaging

Shrink Film: Shrink Film is a perfect simplistic packaging material for bundling and individually packing products. Crystal clear shrink films conform to the product or bundle and let the product be the focus of the packaging design. If you’re concerned with clear shrink film and theft prevention for ecommerce packaging, StealthWrap™ is the perfect solution for you.

StealthWrap™ is a black shrink film that eliminates the need for an extra cardboard shipping box. StealthWrap™ is an easy way for online retailers to translate the minimal packaging trend into their secondary packaging design. It is important to have the right size shrink film or the package could look bulky.

Flow Wrap: Flow Wrap is another minimalist ecommerce packaging material that lets the product be the focus of the overall packaging design. Flow wrap films are completely customizable to fit the product size, weight, and any other specifications it has.

Flow wrapping creates a custom sized bag out of a roll of film to surround a product. Flow wrap film can be clear, printed or labelled with a label applicator attached to a flow wrapper.

Top Seal: Top seal package has seen a tremendous increase in primary packaging over the years and has been proven to use up to 25% less packaging material than other methods. Top seal packaging involves the process of hermetic seals heated to be placed on the trays, typically done by top seal machines.

Top seal film allows the consumer to view the product. Top seal films can perform on plastic, fibre and metal trays to further enhance the look and feel of a product package.

2. Vintage Colours

A consumer’s attention span can shrink within seconds – in less than 30 seconds if you have not grabbed your consumers’ attention, they’re instantly less interested in the product. The use of vintage and bold colours in your ecommerce packaging design increases interest in primary and secondary package design. Vintage colours can be used to increase shelf impact or brand recognition or provoke an emotional response from the consumer.

How to Achieve Vintage Colours in your Packaging Design

Custom Polyethylene Mailers: Custom ecommerce mailers are one of the most common ways to package and fulfil orders. Imagine a packaging option that perfectly fits your products, guarantees protection, and cost less than traditional packaging methods – that’s the polyethylene packaging mailer.

Ecommerce packaging mailers are fully customizable to your brand at any time of year with incredible printing abilities.

Custom Printed Tape: Custom printed plastic or water-activated packaging tape is an alternative to custom printed boxes. Ecommerce packaging has changed over the years and it can be expensive to customize your primary or secondary packaging for your consumers. Custom packaging tape is a cost effective ecommerce packaging solution for any sized company.

Custom printed tape can enhance your brand and improve the appearance of the package delivered to the consumer.

Custom Printed Boxes: Custom printed cardboard packaging is extremely popular in ecommerce packaging. Branded boxes are a good way to create a positive brand interaction with your consumer. It is important to remember that recognizable brands can suffer pilferage because of branded boxes unless they are packaged in StealthWrap™.

Check out this guide on how to prevent e-commerce package theft.

3. Sustainable Packaging

Sustainable packaging is less of a trend and more of a necessity. The saying “reduce, reuse and recycle,” is gaining more traction in the ecommerce packaging market than in the past now including young, educated, and modern consumers. According to a survey done by Accenture, the majority of consumers prefer buying from companies that share their values. 62% of people surveyed said that they would like to purchase their products from companies that are focused on reducing plastics and improving the environment.

Today’s eco-friendly ecommerce consumers are actively searching for recyclable product packaging. A variety of Crawford’s packaging films and containers are designed to be 100% recyclable.

How to Design Sustainable Product Packaging

Corrugated Boxes: Corrugated packaging boxes are extremely popular in ecommerce packaging. Sustainable ecommerce packaging, specifically eco-friendly cardboard boxes, is a good way to create a positive interaction with your consumer as they know corrugated is sustainable – they are 100% recyclable. It is also important to remember that custom cardboard packaging for ecommerce is a perfect way to generate a recognizable brand.

Paper Void Fill: Paper void fill is recognized as the industry standard for sustainable e-commerce packaging. Void fill packaging, in any format, provides superior packaging protection, cost effectiveness, reduces space, and more. Kraft paper is made of recycled content, 100 percent recyclable and biodegradable.

Paper and Recycled Mailers: Ecommerce packaging design matters – consumers want their ecommerce packaging materials to be eco-friendly. Mailers are one of the most common ways to package and fulfil orders. Typically made of traditional polyethylene material but, with innovations over the years they are made of materials that are 100% recyclable. These ecommerce packaging mailers come in many different sizes and gauges.

Check out this guide on our ENVIO™ 100% recycled poly mailers.