Monday, October 31, 2016

Present Your Soaps in Style

If somebody says that I am worried about your health, it means that an important person is referring to your physical health or mental health. The two broad aspects of human health are also the physical and psychological health. In a case of physical health, the things which emerge in our minds are physical activities, healthy and proper nutrition, good health care, high standards of living, and unmatched quality of life. But, there are many dangers in these days for good physical health, and those dangers are infectious diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that there is one thing people can do to lesser the increase of contagious diseases only by maintaining excellent hands hygiene. CDC also suggested that proper hand washing with water and particularly with the soap to kill the germs. So, for the prevention of hands from germs there are soaps and other liquid hand wash also, but for the prevention of soaps from environmental pollution, there is only soap packaging. Packaging is no doubt one of the most influential inventions which totally changed the human life.

Packaging Genesis

The packaging is not a finding of few years work, but it is available since many centuries in different shapes & forms, and that’s the reason we’ll also discuss it according to Era in which packaging started and transformed. We can classify the packaging transformation into three periods the ancient era, the modern era, and the 20th century. In 20th-century packaging era, we’ll discuss packaging for soaps because soaps are the mean of protection from infectious diseases. Let’s examine different periods in chronological order to know how it all started.

Primeval Era

The natural materials used as a source of packaging during ancient era are leaves from trees, woven baskets, wooden boxes, animal skins, pottery vises, wooden barrels, woven bags, terracotta vessels, and molten glasses. The study of primordial packaging is also an important facet of archaeology because lots of pottery vises, terracotta vessels, and molten glasses from ancient time looks like an artwork rather than a daily use thing. In an old era, almost all humans were traveling hunters and remain in travel like a gypsy. So, they were in dying need of such material in which they can store their food, tools, and other valuables. Their need urged them to construct or found that material which can help them in transportation and can easily be made at different places also. So, the first solution for them was nuts or gourds, animal skins, and wood. These materials helped them in food hunting and migrations, but what was the story of packaging after nuts and woods?

As humankind decided about staying at one place to develop their villages and nourish their family and animals, they started to find other material for the purpose of packaging. That time, the packaging material was decided with the help of geographical location also, which included woven sacks and baskets, wooden boxes and even crates also, and even clay art also assisted in constructing numerous items like containers, vessels, and storage jars mainly for liquids and dry foods. Those things actually improved the quality of human life because they learned about food storage for next seasons, protection of various goods from unsafe animals, and items carrying from place to another for trade or consumption. As time passes, the establishment of villages along with fulfillment of packaging needs pushed humans towards cities for advancement in lifestyle, technology, and packaging.

Modern Days of Packaging

A lot of new skills, expertise, machinery and innovations came from and merged with diverse cultures on earth. But, it is believed that Chinese are those innovators who started the manufacturing of primary type or form of paper and board during the time of Han Dynasty or after the fall of Roman Empire. The invention, development, and creation of paper demonstrated in real terms to become the most significant and widespread stuff used in the packaging manufacturing for hundreds of years. But, the modern use of paper-based packaging was started during the 16th century in Germany and England. The German gentleman’s Andreas Bernhart and Johann Meiser used paper for writing or arts. While in the case of English gentleman’s Robert Turner and Theophilus Buckworth used the paper first time for the purpose of selling and advertisement. After these gentleman’s, the use of paper is not found until the 19th century because of no paper production for masses with the help of machines.



Soap Packaging in 20th Century

Packaging, as we all know is the real product protector not only for food, and liquids but soaps also. After the 19th century when production of packaging started in bulk, everyone single person or a business desired to have to package for the products they manufacture and the product customer buy. The first soap making refers to an era of Babylonians around 2800 B.C., but along with packaging, the modern soap making and distribution started in the 20th century only because of up-to-the-minute packaging. The soap which is considered as life saver also needs particular attention after its manufacturing because at the time of sale soaps also requires soap boxes just like other products to grab the customers interest. There are few important things to keep in mind by for soap packaging because the competition is ferocious in soap as well as packaging industry and only the fittest will survive. The soap packaging considerations are:

  • Design: The design of boxes must be creative and self-explanatory that it can be able to convert first sight of a customer into proper consideration.
  • Resilience: The packaging boxes must be capable enough to handle the transportation toughness.
  • Labeling: The soap boxes must contain the information about the product, and its nutritional value.

Types of Soap Packaging

Diverse kinds of packaging products are used by soap manufacturers to maximize the benefits of their product. However, some of the available options for soap packaging are: 

  • Paper Wrapping: The simplest form of covering in which a single or multiple soap bars are covered for the customer convenience. It is also the most economical way of soap packaging but not suitable for transportation purposes to long distances.3
  • Tubes: It is the latest form of packaging because soaps are now widely accepted as a personal care and cosmetic item.
  • Plastic Bottles: Liquid soap or detergents are very common these days so that customers can use them conveniently.
  • Tiny sachets: In order to facilitate the washing gels or powder detergents, sachets are very useful to help the customers who want the soap for one-time use.
  • PolyPacks: The simplest way to cover the soap with plain or colorful poly packs and these are available in all sizes.
  • Cardboard & Cartons: The cardboard packaging looks more attractive and safer than other materials. It is the conventional way of packaging and cardboard cartons are also use for bulk shipping to long distances. The cardboard provides the space for customization which can be utilized by manufacturers as well as customers also. That method is well recognized as custom soap packaging and very much appreciated by the clients who can use the designs of their choices for the purpose of marketing and branding.

Importance of Soap Packaging

The creation of everything in this universe is not futile, so is the case with soap and its packaging. It is better for a manufacturer to spend some marketing efforts towards the packaging so that customer can get the innovative and progressive image of your business and product. Here are few things which to elaborate the importance of beautiful packaging:


  • Safeguard: Just like clothes are to cover the human body, the packaging is to cover the soaps from dangerous effects. In today’s competitive market, quality matters a lot for customers and packaging drop off the ability to stick your nose in with the product, as a result sustaining the quality of soap.
  • Communication: Product package is the first thing that our consumer notice and observe. That is why the first impression of our brand entirely depends on what our package communicates to the customer. Whether the soap packaging is only a label or a box, it can create a connection to emotions, and maneuver through what is communicated on the package.
  • Personalization: A lot of people shop different soaps from specific sites because they provide an option of personalization on packaging which creates the personal interaction with the maker as well as the customer. It makes a huge positive impression on recipients. Packaging personalization also generates differentiation, promotion, and benefits of attraction which can effortlessly appeal consumers towards your product.
  • Minimize the Expenses: Many hand-made soap manufacturers are now available in the market, but most of them are not doing aggressive marketing to let consumers know about their unique product. Packaging is the cheapest mean to sell your product without extra expenses of advertisement.

Things to Keep in Mind when Designing Soap Packaging

As we know the process of soap packaging design seems intimidating, but considering few points can make the course of action easier, and turn your packaging into a useful marketing tool.


  • Convenience: Soaps are such products for which consumers’ wants convenience when they take it to home or in a travel or adventure trip that they can quickly put the bar back into the package.
  • Precision and Significance: If your packaging is a combination of many words and images, then potential customers will promptly lose interest from a product. So, packaging must be eye-catching, clear colors and fonts to make the essential information about product, ingredients, and brand easily visible.
  • Purpose and Appearance: The design of your custom soap packaging must be a purposeful to make your efforts successful. It means that it protects your product, keep it fresh, and look perfect on a shelf. All of this can only achieve by selecting quality packaging from well-reputed packaging brand.
  • Screening the Product: Most of the time customers don’t get a chance to observe the product at stores because they covered in packages. You have a couple of choices when it comes to showing off your soap bar. One is in some measure a transparent packaging, and second is to add a picture of the soap bar.
  • Branding: The brand is the most significant need to consider while designing your soap packaging. It is very helpful to create or enhance your brand identity because packaging can serve both as a mean of advertisement and product protection.

Conclusion

Almost 50% of the products sell because of their innovative and alluring packaging and in a case of soaps rate of effectiveness is higher than other consumables. So, the beautiful packaging means customers will not bother about ingredients to give your product an absolute competitive edge. Soap packaging can also help you to craft a brand for your goods creating them right away identifiable as yours. It means that your soap boxes are not just a box, package, or a container but in a straight line, it speaks about to your dominant soap brand marketing.