When it comes to Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), knowing the wants and needs of your target market is imperative to have a successful product and brand. Consumer shopping trends are constantly changing, and these changes can impact your shelf presence, online presence and ultimately your sales. It's never a bad time to brush up on the latest developments in your market and what motivates your consumer to purchase your products or your competition. 2018 is geared up to be a pivotal year for packaging and the consumer goods market, and here's why:

Product packaging is important! You've heard this before, and it's still true. If your product packaging isn't the best it can be, it's probably costing you more money than it could be. In honor of helping your brand shine on and off the shelf, here are 6 packaging mistakes that are costing you money and how to remedy them!

Gaining market share in any one of the consumer goods and fast-moving consumer goods markets takes serious effort for marketing departments and packaging engineers. Catching the attention of your target market over competition on the shelves or on the web is challenging, and its also very important! Brands with heavy competition may need to try something out of the ordinary, or outside of the box to get noticed.

It's true, new packaging machinery does involve some investment. It's not true, however, that you must face a major capital investment decision in order to acquire said machinery. The option to lease packaging machinery may get overlooked, and it's worth giving additional attention when you are planning for growth with your manufacturing or distribution business. Take some care to vet if leasing is an option that will provide you the best return on investment and room to grow beyond your production floor. Here are some considerations to review when you are making your plans for machinery upgrades for your packaging line.

When is the last time you took time to review your packaging processes to identify areas of strength and weakness? Have you ever worked with your supplier to perform a packaging line audit? Your packaging line is one of the key components to any manufacturing production. Being aware of the causes of downtime or product damage will place you a step ahead of the game when it comes to selecting what capital investments for your operation will bring you the most bang for your buck.

As a manufacturer or distributor of consumer packaged goods, your business faces many challenges. Seasonal swings in consumer demand and holiday promotional pushes require a flexible labor force and a flexible production floor. These swings cause fluctuating costs at different times of the year. Managing these ebbs and flows is only a small piece to the greater puzzle that makes up your production. Working with a contract packager to manage the packaging and distribution of your products can help you focus on what you do best while providing many other benefits that will improve how you do business. The following expands upon some of the ways that outsourcing your packaging processes can help you build your brand with more control while utilizing less capital to do so.