The steady rise of consumer interest in premium coffee has been a mixed blessing for individual roasters. On one hand, as the saying goes, “a rising tide lifts all boats”: A boom in artisanal coffee roasting increases the potential market for everyone. On the other hand, that same increase of interest means you’ll be faced with a large and growing number of competitors.
The Challenge of Standing Out
In truth, you need to make two vital sales. The first one is to the end user, the avid coffee drinker looking for a better experience. The other sale, arguably just as crucial, is to the retailer. Unless you’re content to sell coffee from your own storefront, sooner or later you’ll need to persuade a retailer to grant shelf space–retail’s most prized and limited commodity–to your product.
So how do you differentiate yourself from every other artisan coffee roaster who’s competing in the same markets? Many may be just as passionate and creative and have just as much pride in their product. Some may even be more skilled or have a better palate.
The simple fact is you can’t speak personally to every potential purchaser to make the case for your brand and your product. Your packaging and your brand identity need to do that for you, at both the retail and end-user level. Potential customers should see your branding as appealing and distinctive, and the coffee’s packaging as convenient and practical. Potential retailers should see the same visual appeal and flexibility as well as its fitness for displays and shelving anywhere in the store.
Coffee Packaging Options
One immediate way to differentiate yourself is through unconventional packaging. Stand-up pouch packaging
is a retailer-friendly format that lets your coffee fit onto small shelves, impulse-sales spots near cash registers or space-efficient freestanding displays. Flair produces these cost-effective pouches from high-barrier films, with reclosable zippers and tear notches for convenience, and they’re available with and without a one-way degassing valve. You can opt for stock pouches in solid colors, with a window front or a clear front, whichever option works best for your product.
Pouches are available in a number of sizes, but the most interesting from a merchandising perspective might be the smallest ones. Offering single-pot portions of whole or ground beans, or even single-cup portions of ground coffee, substantially lowers the commitment threshold for first-time customers to try your product. It’s an impulse purchase, a way to evaluate the quality of your beans–or even try three or four, in search of a favorite–before putting down their money for a full-sized bag of coffee.
Stand-up pouches and flat-bottomed pouches offer tremendous potential in gift packs or seasonal bundles, and as a way to test new roasts or blends before you commit to full production. Beans in these freestanding packages don’t require a formal display and can sit anywhere that’s convenient for the retailer.
For more traditional packaging, the go-to choice for coffee is the classic M-seal bag. This is what your customer thinks of as a coffee bag, and Flair offers stock bags in sizes from 10 ounces to 5 pounds in a range of colors. They’re available with degassing valves for your beans, and with tin-tie or zipper options so your customers can reclose the packaging to keep their coffee fresh.
Building Out Your Brand Identity
Packaging is only part of the picture. As important as that is, it’s the visual role your packaging plays–the colors, the branding, the overall impression it creates–that will make your coffee stand out from the rest on a shelf. And this is what Flair Packaging is known for.
Flair’s rotogravure printing process is notable not just for the vibrant colors and exceptional print quality it creates but for its accuracy and consistency. That’s crucial, because your branding goes beyond a logo or a distinctive typeface. It also relies on the colors you choose (think about the distinctive hue of the Golden Arches) and any variation in color from one production run to the next undermines your brand’s distinctive look.
Before the first bag is manufactured, you can call on Flair’s design team to help create your branding. Our artwork management team can guide you through the process of bringing your design ideas to eye-catching life.
Contact us
today to learn how Flair Packaging can help you set yourself apart and become a front-runner in your local markets.
References:
https://dailycoffeenews.com/2018/03/21/current-coffee-consumer-trends-inside-the-ncas-2018-report/
https://www.flairpackaging.com/category/stock_pouches/Stand-Up%20Pouch%20Packaging%20Solutions%20Stock%20Packaging
https://www.flairpackaging.com/Files/Admin/Flyers_English/New%20Flyers/M-SealBags.pdf
https://www.flairpackaging.com/pages/home/resources/design_print_management/Reverse%20Rotogravure%20Printing/1
https://www.flairpackaging.com/category/services/Artwork%20Management%20at%20Flair%20Flexible%20Packaging
https://www.flairpackaging.com/contactUs