Value range Products- Why so Terrible packaging for them?

PasturesNew

Branding and styling can cost a company stupid amounts because once you start you can't stop - and then you're continually tweaking it.

They want to lure you in by having a value range, so they've the opportunity of upselling you an identical product in a prettier package and/or more stuff you didn't go in for.

I've no qualms about filling my basket with value goods and looking like a poor/homeless person. Whoever is doing any judging isn't about to dip into their pocket and offer to upgrade me, so stuff 'em

System

My Dad worked in the plastic packaging industry - plastic pots used for cream, coleslaw, buttery spreads, trifles etc.

He remembers one supermarket (M&S) wanting to move the Union Jack on the pot. The cost of doing that was about half a million pounds! Plus the supermarket withdraw the product in old packaging immediately! Not letting the old packaging to run out first. most customers would not noticed the difference enyway! That would have never be done with a value line at another supermarket as most customers who buy value lines aren't that bothered about where it comes from.

His employers (worked for several) did a few supermarket value lines posts and the production cost was cheaper as the design for the machine to print them on was less complex.

mwarby

dlusman wrote: »

It not just the cost of ink ( though that is part of it ). As Sharon87 agrees - packaging in standard 2 colour design is cheaper to produce because ( after you have decided on your standard ) you dont have to think about what to put on the label or pay for photography

The number of colours dictates the number of printing plates required (until you get to 4 then you can use CMYK and make any colour). If the colours are consistent between products you would just need to swap plates and not ink. A press without 4 colour CMYK would also at one point have been cheaper. So a 2 colour (say blue and black) design would have lower setup (2 plates not 4) and could be run on older machinery

mwarby

a mark like https://brokensecrets.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/registration.jpg?w=455 shows its a 3 color process (black blue and red) the top row being full, the lower 3 being halftoned (so black grey etc). Got a quiche packet here which is CMYK (3 boxes for each colour each different halftoning) and 6 other colours, that probably wasnt cheapest job

The cost per box would be very low in quantities made, but for a value range I can see buyers opting not to pay hgiher setup charges per run

CMYK - Cyan(blue), Magenta(red/purple), Yellow, blacK the 4 colours yu have in most full colour printers

Pollycat

Doesn't the old idiom 'don't judge a book by its cover' apply here?

As long as the contents are acceptable to you and you are happy with the price paid for the quality you are getting - does it really matter what it looks like?