How can the new brand of coffee attract consumers? Is the design of coffee bean packaging important?

According to the latest joint report of the National Coffee Association (NCA) and the Fine Coffee Association (SCA), the consumption of fine coffee around the world is showing a trend of rapid growth in recent years, especially in countries with rapid economic growth, such as India and China, the boutique coffee market is also growing rapidly.

Although more and more boutique coffee shops are opened, local governments' epidemic prevention measures have also affected the consumer intention of the public. Coffee consumption has gradually changed from offline to online, and more and more coffee consumers begin to buy coffee beans online to learn how to make a cup of coffee at home to make them satisfied.

The major boutique coffee brands began to pour into online sales, selling each other their own brand freshly roasted coffee beans, the market for boutique coffee is becoming more and more saturated, and the competition between brands is becoming more and more fierce. At the same time, many boutique coffee brands have similar values and packaging design, which makes it difficult for many new brands to attract the attention of consumers.

Some friends may think that as long as the coffee beans are of good quality and freshly roasted, the packaging design is not so important. If for an old brand that already has a certain popularity and good reputation, design is not the most important, but for a new brand, want customers to choose a new brand, packaging design can be one of the important factors to attract the attention of consumers.

In the face of a dazzling variety of freshly roasted coffee beans, 95% of people cannot recognize the quality of coffee beans from the picture, so many consumers will start with packaging design.

Before the design of coffee bean packaging, we should first consider the material and functionality of the packaging. For today's coffee consumers, they pay more attention to the freshness and aroma of coffee when buying coffee. If you use inappropriate bags, it will shorten the fresh period and the best flavor period of the coffee.

At present, the most common coffee bean packaging on the market is polypropylene film BOPP+ polyester resin PET+ polyethylene PE, one is uniformly stretched polypropylene film MOPP/ Kraft paper + polyester aluminized film VMPET+ polyethylene PE.

There doesn't seem to be much difference between the two, but in fact, the former has better barrier and sealing, and is more suitable for packaging pre-ground coffee powder. The latter has better protection from light and ductility, and is more suitable for packaging coffee beans.

No matter what the packaging is, freshly roasted coffee beans must be sold in a bag with an one-way exhaust valve. No matter what the baking degree of freshly roasted coffee beans is, the beans themselves will continue to release carbon dioxide after baking. If there is no exhaust valve to release the gas in the bag, the pressure in the package will be too high and the tightness of the package will be reduced.

On the other hand, to sell pre-ground coffee powder, you need to use a bag without a single exhaust valve / seal the outlet hole of the exhaust valve ~ because the coffee bean will increase its section after grinding, speeding up the escape speed of carbon dioxide or coffee flavor.

As mentioned above, the reason why consumers can be persuaded to buy a type of coffee beans is word-of-mouth and packaging. In the past few years, we can notice that coffee packaging attaches great importance to personalized customization, and each brand of packaging has its own unique and distinctive characteristics (such as special-shaped packaging, bright colors + bold typesetting). Coffee packaging has gradually returned to the minimalist style, paying more attention to the cost, practicality and sustainability of the packaging.

Why does coffee packaging return to minimalist style again? A study by the Department of Management at the University of Azad in Islam concluded that consumers find that packaging information is more important than graphics when buying products. Before the boutique coffee culture has been widely popularized, consumers will not pay too much attention to the information and flavor of coffee itself, so as long as the packaging design itself is unique / colorful enough, it will get consumers' attention and choice.

But now, consumers have more understanding of boutique coffee and driven by environmental protection, pay more attention to packaging materials, fresh roasting of coffee beans, handmade (in this case, non-machine production) and flavor of coffee beans and other information. as a result, more brands return to Kraft paper packaging to create a more homemade feel.

At the same time, speed and convenience are the key for consumers to choose products, so the packaging design will not use too complex color matching and complex patterns. Usually use bright but not too saturated colors to distinguish each type of coffee beans and highlight the important information of coffee beans through the arrangement of words.

According to an opinion poll in 2021, most consumers now see packaged coffee beans that are too bright in color and too complex in design to know the information of coffee beans in the first place, which is usually not the preferred target. For many reasons, most of the products that pay too much attention to color and pattern design are of average quality. The unclear information also makes consumers need to spend more time and energy when learning about coffee beans.

The American Fine Coffee Association (SCA) has said: packaging is a useful tool to show this information to customers, and packaging information is one of the three most effective ways to guide consumers to understand boutique coffee. At present, more and more people know what unique flavor coffee beans will be brought by the origin of coffee, the way it is processed, and the more people begin to understand the environment and characteristics of each coffee producing area. therefore, the subsequent packaging trend may have more about the integration of ethnic groups, lines and colors in different regions.

Nowadays, the design of many coffee brands is becoming more and more simple and similar, not only that more consumers pay more attention to the clarity and understandability of product information, but also that too complex packaging design costs more and will be fed back on the price of coffee.

Nowadays, the quality of coffee beans from various coffee producing areas is getting better and better, and the sources of coffee beans of many brands are similar. The gap lies in the different interpretations of coffee beans given by roasters of each brand story. Consumers are willing to pay more for a bag of coffee beans out of trust in the brand / love of a pair of coffee beans. If it is only popular coffee beans, but because of the packaging design, it needs to spend a higher price, I believe that most consumers are unwilling.

In today's highly competitive boutique coffee industry with similar packaging styles, is there still a chance to join and get consumer approval? There are certainly some, but there are not many shortcuts, for which we need to pay attention to the sustainable development of a brand and the authenticity of the brand.

As an agricultural product, coffee is closely related to nature, so consumers prefer to buy more ethical and environmentally friendly products. An anonymous boutique coffee brand marketing expert highlighted how sustainability has become one of the biggest necessities in boutique coffee marketing. instead of spending a lot of thought and expense on packaging, tell more farmer stories when selling coffee. connect coffee consumers with coffee growers and make them feel involved.

This feeling is like drinking coffee in the past, people only need caffeine to refresh themselves, or like the taste of coffee. Now, when we drink coffee, we all hope that the money we spend can help coffee producing areas to continuously improve the environment and technology of their planting and processing fields, produce better quality coffee beans and drink better flavor coffee.

According to an opinion poll in Japan, consumers between the ages of 18 and 30 are more willing to spend more on sustainable products and environmental protection, which means that a brand cannot provide more information about the sustainable development of coffee beans. no matter how good-looking packaging can not attract more repurchase rates.

In addition to packaging and stories, the authenticity of the brand is also particularly critical! Brand authenticity is generally divided into four categories: continuity, credibility, integrity and symbolism. It means that consumers want to see brands consistently and honestly demonstrate their commitment to social, environmental and ethical practices. Volkswagen cannot clearly feel the quality of coffee beans only from the appearance and information of the packaging, but it can feel how the business is different from its brands in the same field.

So packaging design is just a way to attract eyes quickly and have a chance to get new customers, but this is just the beginning. The continuous repurchase rate is the key factor for the sustainable development of the brand. Only the true, moving story and long-term stable quality of coffee beans can really retain the hearts of consumers.

Photo Source: Internet

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