How to Choose the Right Contract Packaging Company

As a business owner, investing in high-quality and professionally designed product packaging is a key part of ensuring your brand’s success. Many small businesses don’t have the time and resources to manage their own packaging, meaning that you have to find a trustworthy contract packaging company to collaborate with.

While the right vendor for your business will depend on your market and the type of goods that you produce, there are plenty of other elements that you should be thinking of as well. Making the right choice could save you thousands of dollars, increase your profit margins and help your company to grow and thrive. On the other hand, the wrong choice could result in a logistical nightmare, wasting your time and money and taking focus away from the more important things.

To help you make the most informed decision possible, we’ve put together this list of what you should consider when selecting a contract packing company for your business.

Resourcefulness

Working with a product packaging company that’s innovative and can solve problems can make a world of difference. A good vendor will be able to help you select the most appropriate packaging solutions for your items, have an in-depth understanding of the supply chain and will be able to help you get the best return on your investment by providing you with well-priced, quality services that are satisfactory to you and your customers.

The packaging industry is highly regulated and is only becoming stricter as time goes on. A company that’s able to follow packaging requirements, certifications and labelling guidelines who fully understands the process from beginning to end will be the safest bet.

Location

One of the most important things to look for in a contract packaging company is one whose location is convenient to your operations. Working with a business that’s close to your manufacturers and clients will save you from paying exuberant shipping and logistics fees that will eat into your profits.

While it may be tempting to go with a cheaper company that’s further away, chances are you’ll save money by going somewhere with higher fees but a closer location. This way, your money is going towards quality and professionalism rather than on delivery services.

Price

With that in mind, you should always be on the lookout for an option that is fairly priced and offers a full range of services. It’s generally agreed upon that 10% of the budget should be allocated towards packaging for retail items, however, this number varies across different industries.

When taking into consideration the price of potential vendors, don’t forget to look into what you’ll be getting for your money. Sure, a cheaper company may seem to save you some money initially, but somewhere that can provide you with quick turnaround times and high-quality services will help you to maximize profits and avoid having to deal with cleaning up their mistakes.

Potential for growth

While it’s all good and well to find a suitable product packaging company that can meet the current demands of your business, but what about the future demands? Save yourself the hassle of having to go through this hassle again sometime down the track and choose a company that can grow and expands alongside your business.

It’s only natural that over time the needs of your brand will change, so be on the lookout for a company that can increase its production and keeps up with your needs as the year’s progress.

Capability

It may go without saying, but you can’t take for granted the technical capabilities of a contract packaging company for granted. They need to have the appropriate machinery and equipment, staff and workspace required to get the job done right and to an appropriate standard.

It’s also important that your needs reflect the core operations of your chosen product packaging company, and that they have extensive experience performing these tasks with consistent results. You don’t want to choose a company that will struggle to meet your requirements and be pushed to the edge by your demands.