There are a few different methods to effectively prepare your bags for retail. Here’s a list of them to help you get your products ready to sell. Once you've designed your printed bag, these are the steps to follow.
Adding accessories and decoration to your products will instantly boost the appeal of your product on the shelves. It will distinguishing it from all the other products and make the price much more attractive to potential buyers. It will also show that you care about the product you’re selling. Standards of presentation have risen sharply in the past few years and attention to detail is becoming more and more important when positioning your product, whether it’s online or in a retail store. To finish your bag you can add stickers, pin badges or include a little gift inside the bag. You can also write personalised notes to your customers thanking them for their business, or include marketing materials advertising your products.
In the age of social media, photography is the single most important way you can promote your products. Mobile phones are now more capable than ever of taking beautiful photos, and photographing your products has never been easier. Be sure to check our Pinterest and Instagram for ideas of how to take pictures of your bags, or simply take your products outside and position them somewhere nice. You can create a studio like look by simply using background paper, and grabbing any white lights you have around the house. Natural light will also work.
It’s a chance for you to get creative and communicate that your brand knows how to present itself beautifully. There’s no harm in trying to photograph your bags- doing a trial and error approach is the best way if you don’t know what your doing. Try to have a good mix of studio shots as well as outside or in a natural setting. You can also create a hashtag which your customers can use to share their own photos of them using your products, this interaction is a fantastic way of building brand loyalty and creating a sense of community!
How you package your bags before they are sent to customers, or sold in your retail store is as important as any other interaction. Branded envelopes and boxes, tape, tissue paper, stickers. They are all things to take into consideration when you are deciding how to package your products. How your brand is acknowledged is based on many different factors, packaging being one of them.
Depending on what you’re selling, your customers will appreciate the little things, this may including stickers with the order or having the item wrapped in tissue paper. Look at your competitors and see how they approach packaging their products- and then try and outdo them! It can be as simple as writing a handwritten message. Consumers like to feel special, and this way they will also build a relationship with your brand.
Polybags are a convenient way of keeping your products in good condition between manufacture and point of sale, but as an eco friendly company, we do not like to endorse this approach. If you need to put tote bags inside plastic bags for retail, we recommend sourcing a recyclable, or even better, biodegradable clear bag. There are bags available that are made only with natural ingredients, but can often carry a price premium. We think the premium you pay for a biodegradable polybag is worth it as it can be used as a selling point, and most customers who are environmentally conscious will appreciate you being mindful of the footprint of your product. We cannot emphasise enough the importance of packaging your cotton bags responsibly. Perceptions are changing rapidly about using product packaging that’s not environmentally friendly.
Swing tickets, otherwise known as hand tags are found on most clothing items and give the product authenticity as well as being useful for barcoding purposes. It’s also another chance to promote your brand. Your choice to use swing tickets will depend on whether you already use them for other products and if it is in your budget. The most basic swing tickets available are simply white rectangle cards with a punched hole that can be attached to the tote bags with a plastic kimble. More elaborate tickets are available with an endless amount of options available for card types, colour, printing options and attachment options. Our favourite cards are made from brown recycled card and can be attached with twine, and give a natural look that’s eco-friendly.
Offering a gift wrap service is a great way to stay ahead of the competition. If your products can be given as gifts, many individuals would rather pay for gift wrap rather than faffing about and having to wrap the present themselves. You can keep the style simple or offer different styles and colours of paper and ribbon.