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For smaller businesses with tighter profit margins, it’s easy to buy into the belief that custom packaging solutions are out of reach. However, custom packaging is one of the most important investments you can make in order to stand out from the competition. And there is a lot of competition — 33.2 million small businesses in the U.S. alone, to be exact. But that brings up the question: how to get custom packaging for a small business?

It’s a valid concern. Larger consumer brands generally work with large packaging companies that have runs in the tens of millions. Small businesses, as a result, are not a good fit for their set-up. Smaller and mid-size businesses likely need a partner that is willing and able to support runs as low as in the thousands or tens of thousands.

To that end, we’ve put together a guide for how to get custom packaging for a small business. The first step? Understanding your needs.

Step 1: Understanding Your Packaging Needs

The first step is to assess your specific product and packaging requirements. In order to find a packaging partner that aligns with your needs, you need to know how long your runs will be and how much customization you’ll require. For instance, taking stock of how many different products (or sku’s) you have, and whether or not they can share the same box structure or dieline, will give you a good foundation to start from.

Additionally, you should have a clear understanding of the goals of your packaging. Do you need an attractive display, superior protection, or a unique unboxing experience? Taking into account your target audience and market positioning – and most importantly, the end use – will help you narrow things down, and give you direction when it comes to design options and materials.

Step 2: Finding the Right Packaging and Printing Partner

The next step is to research and shortlist reputable printing and packaging providers. Look into their capabilities to make sure they’re a good fit for the size of your run and make note of any minimum order quantities (MOQs). Finding a partner that offers boutique, hands-on service is ideal for small businesses in the earlier stages of growth. You can also request samples, ask to see their portfolio, or consider a tour of their facility in order to get a better feel for what they do.

Step 3: Collaborating on Design and Branding

While many packaging printers don’t offer in-house design services, it’s important to find one that will work with you to ensure a smooth file hand-off. When you’ve come up with a design that encapsulates your brand identity and speaks to your target audience, your packaging partner will take the designs and ensure that the packaging solution showcases your branding elements while also meeting any functional requirements you’ve specified.

Step 4: Finalizing Specifications and Approvals

Next, you want to find a packaging partner that works closely with you during the concepting and prototyping phase. This stage is very important and can be quite involved depending on how much back and forth you need to find the right fit, but after conceptualization and design, you and your packaging partner will settle on elements like material selection, structural design, physical prototypes, assembly and testing, visual design validation, functional testing, and feedback and iteration. Rinse and repeat as needed.

Step 5: Implementation and Measuring Success

Step 5 in how to get custom packaging for a small business involves assessing how successful your new partnership has been. At this stage, you can ask yourself questions like:

• Could your packaging partner meet your needs with few roadblocks? 
• How collaborative/communicative were they?
• Did they provide personalized services?
• Were they invested in the outcome of your project?
• Did the final product meet your high standards of quality?
• Do they offer value-add services like warehousing, and other types of printed products such as IFUs and Marketing Collateral?

The answers to these questions can provide invaluable insight into how well your chosen packaging partner was able to deliver what you needed and, more importantly, whether you’d like to continue working with them.

Hatteras Packaging Services: A Boutique Approach for Small and Medium-Size Businesses

If you’re wondering how to get custom packaging for a small business, Hatteras is here to help. Our customers have trusted us with their custom printing needs since 1983. We’re equipped to provide packaging solutions for businesses that need runs anywhere from the thousands into the millions, meaning, we can grow with your brand. 

Are you a smaller business looking for a printing and packaging partner who can offer you the same individualized attention as the bigger brands? Connect with us today to get started.

When it comes to being environmentally friendly, folding cartons are among the best types of packaging available. Their primary substrate is paper, which is a renewable resource, and the cartons themselves can be recycled and reused multiple times. Whether using paper with virgin fiber or recycled content, both options are environmentally-friendly. 

But there are ways to further reduce your packaging’s impact on the environment. Here are five steps you can take:

1. Choose a biodegradable adhesive.

Most folding cartons are sealed with some type of adhesive. Traditional adhesives often contain harmful chemicals, so improve the sustainability of your packaging by requesting an adhesive that’s biodegradable. When the package breaks down, it won’t release toxic chemicals into the environment. 

2. Use water- or vegetable-based inks. 

Traditional inks are oil-based and release toxic chemicals (called VOCs) into the air during the printing process. By printing your folding cartons with water-based ink, you eliminate a source of toxic emissions. Vegetable-based inks break down even more quickly and easily than water-based inks, making your folding cartons even easier to recycle.

3. Avoid Lamination.

Recycling requires the different substrates used in the packaging to be separated into the appropriate recycling streams. Once plastic film is laminated to paper, that paper becomes much more difficult for mills to de-pulp and reuse.

4. Make the recycling logo visible.

Your packaging might be recyclable, but do your customers know? If you’ve gone to the effort to design in recyclability, make sure the recycling logo is visible on the outside. Don’t make your customers go looking for it.

5. Choose a paper with an environmental certification such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).

Each of these organizations ensures that every step – from harvesting to manufacturing – is done ethically and to rigorous environmental standards. When you choose environmentally certified paperboard, you can add this logo to your packaging and let your customers know that you’ve gone a step above and beyond. 

At Hatteras, we are committed to helping you create packaging solutions that not only meet your business needs but also align with your sustainability goals. However you boost the sustainability of your packaging, be sure to alert shoppers on the packaging itself. This way, your customers are fully aware of all the steps you’ve taken to reduce your carbon footprint and care for the planet we all live on. As a certified Sustainable Green Printing Partner (SGP) with expertise in printing and packaging, Hatteras can help ensure your packaging is both visually appealing and environmentally responsible.

It should come as no surprise that as of 2023, cannabis is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States. With 88% of adults in favor of legalization, the stigma around the usage of cannabis is beginning to disappear. This means that the opportunities for growth and entrepreneurship are only beginning. 

However, as more companies move into the cannabis space, standing out on dispensary shelves will present more of a challenge for suppliers. Having a high-quality product with a desirable THC potency will help, but investing in custom cannabis packaging that reflects the quality of your product will soon be essential, particularly for pre-rolls.

In an ever-growing sea of options, custom cannabis packaging for pre-rolls has the power to grab the attention of buyers, elevate the experience for your customers, and showcase your brand in a way that is uniquely you.

The Attention-Grabbing Power of Custom Cannabis Packaging for Pre-Rolls

Over the course of just four years, pre-rolls went from a 7.9% to a 12.7% market share between 2018 and 2022. Many cannabis customers are finding that they prefer the convenience and ready-to-enjoy experiences offered by pre-rolls. In the younger generations, there is even reason to believe that pre-rolls are replacing cigarettes for some. With this sharp rise in popularity comes the need for brands to find ways of differentiating themselves. That’s where your packaging comes in.

Custom cannabis packaging does more than catch the attention of your potential customers while they’re browsing dispensary shelves. When the packaging is designed specifically to showcase your product, it brings a sense of luxury and originality to your brand. 

By shifting away from traditional, standard packaging options and investing in something customized, you can create a truly unique experience for your customers. Considering the fact that the cannabis industry generally attracts those with “alternative” mindsets, few things will help your customers feel more emotionally connected with your brand than a little unconventionality.

Elevating Customer Experience with Convenience and Portability

Like cigarette packs, custom cannabis packaging for pre-rolls can offer a level of convenience and portability to your product that your customers will thank you for. But it can do more than that, too. When you invest in custom packaging, you can include elements that not only enhance your customers’ experience but also actively improve their lives. Think of built-in features such as child-resistant mechanisms, matches, and UV protection to keep the pre-rolls secure and fresh.

If you want to take it a step further, utilizing custom cannabis packaging for your pre-rolls also allows you to incorporate customer feedback. By staying responsive and flexible to customer demands, and keeping an open line of communication, you can learn what your customers would most like to see in your packaging design and work with your packaging partner to make appropriate changes.

Not only will this thrill your customers, but it’s a great way to show that you care about your product, your brand, and the people buying from you.

Showcase Your Brand Identity with Custom Cannabis Packaging

By combining attention-grabbing design and prioritizing customer experience, you can start to build a strong and memorable brand that will resonate with your customers. This brand identity can then be reinforced in every facet of your custom cannabis packaging. Through the inclusion of unique typography, engaging aesthetics, and branded artwork, custom cannabis packaging can help you create a brand that is truly iconic.

Beyond this, including messaging and images that align with your brand values and history is an excellent opportunity to deepen your connection with your customers. By letting people know who you are and showcasing your company’s commitment to transparency and sustainability, you can achieve the pinnacle of all branding efforts: authenticity.

Stand Out with Custom Cannabis Packaging from Hatteras

At Hatteras, we’re committed to providing boutique-style services for all of our customers’ packaging and printing needs. With four decades of printing industry experience and capabilities that range from digital and offset print and fulfillment to packaging production, we’ve learned a few things about delivering high-quality, tailored service.

When it comes to finding the right custom cannabis packaging solutions for your brand, our team of designers will work closely with you to find the style and elements that feel right. Our goal is not just to help you stand out; it’s to help you create a beautiful, engaging look that will elevate your brand to mainstay status in the cannabis industry.

Ready to create something incredible? Connect with our team today.

As one of the first meaningful interactions your customers have with your products, your packaging is an essential element in your branding strategy. With the increasing prevalence of e-commerce and the prevalence of new brands, it’s never been more important to make sure that your packaging is eye-catching, memorable, and reflective of your brand values. That’s where packaging sleeves come in.

Packaging sleeves are a cost-effective and creative way to add a touch of sophistication to your products. Designed to fit over the primary packaging or to act as stand-alone packaging (think hand-crafted artisan soap bars), packaging sleeves can be customized to engage your customers through visual appeal. There are nearly endless customization options that can enhance the unboxing experience, support targeted campaigns, and provide you with the space to communicate your brand story and values.

How Packaging Sleeves Can Enhance Product Branding

Packaging Sleeves Provide an Eye-Catching, Upscale Look

A common statistic in the marketing world is that 93% of consumers are heavily influenced by what a product looks like when making a purchasing decision. These days, that goes for both in-store and e-commerce brands, so designing your packaging to stand out both on and off the screen is essential.

Packaging sleeves are an excellent way to make that good first impression. Including your logo helps your customers recognize your products right away, and incorporating unique elements such as brand-specific fonts, graphics, or handcrafted artwork with custom printing services can help you create a feel that is consistent and identifiable at a glance.

Packaging sleeves are also the perfect opportunity to take advantage of finishing and coating options. By adding details such as foil accents or soft-touch coatings, you can create a look and feel that is completely unique to your brand and, as a result, memorable for the customer. 

Packaging Sleeves Can Be Designed to Enhance the Consumer Experience

In our fast-paced world, it’s always a good idea to make the lives of your customers a little easier.

At Hatteras, this was a top priority when designing packaging sleeves for one of our partners, Eat Clean Bro, a provider of fresh-packaged meals crafted to meet a variety of dietary needs in the New Jersey area. For them, brand identity and ease of use were top priorities.

In this case, packaging sleeves provided a level of elegance and simplicity that their customers were looking for. For single-serve packaging on food items especially, sleeves remain an excellent way to maintain your brand’s visibility while allowing for easy access to the product. 

You can also utilize the space provided by packaging sleeves to either include product instructions or information or to add some relevant brand messaging that can result in deeper relationships with your customers.

For instance, research has shown that 82% of consumers prefer to buy from brands that are aligned with their personal values. By printing your values and brand story directly onto the packaging sleeves, you’re not only creating an experience that allows your customers to feel good about purchasing your products, but you’re also starting a conversation with them about topics that they care about. 

In this way, you can make that difficult transition from a “faceless company” to a brand that is a trusted friend and ally.

Customize Your Packaging Sleeves with Seasonal Promotions

Switching up your packaging throughout the year while maintaining your core identity can help your brand feel more relevant and human. 

With print-on-demand services, packaging sleeves can be easily customized regularly to reflect seasonal changes, holidays, days of importance, or other special events throughout the year. With timely design and marketing portrayed directly on your product packaging, you can more easily connect with niched segments of your customer base or bring in new customers with targeted campaigns.

Making responsive design changes to your packaging sleeves, while still maintaining a core look and brand identity, can do a lot to make your customers feel like your attention is on more than just making sales.

Packaging Sleeves are Eco-friendly When You Choose the Right Packaging Partner

In a world where environmentally sound business practices are becoming more vital every day, sustainable packaging is a must. 

Packaging sleeves are inherently more cost-effective and eco-friendly because they use less material and are made from recyclable paper. With less complexity in shape and function, the production of sleeves also requires less energy usage.

At Hatteras, we place sustainability at the forefront of everything we do. From dedicating ourselves to using only wind energy to investing in eco-friendly print technology, you can rest assured that the sustainability promises you make to your consumers will be reflected in the packaging sleeves themselves.

Choose a Packaging Partner that Cares About Your Brand as Much as You Do

At Hatteras, we can provide a fully tailored-for-you experience when designing and crafting your packaging. From ideation and prototyping to production and shipping, our team of print professionals will ensure that your packaging reflects your brand with style and acute attention to detail. 

Get in touch today to see what we can do for your brand.

Selecting the Perfect Packaging Substrate

Selecting the right substrate is highly important for skin care brands. There exists a touch element to your product, and the packaging should complement that. Your packaging is an opportunity to highlight the essence of the brand and accent the attributes of your product. It’s worth considering how the substrate will look and feel. Maybe you use a soft touch coating, or maybe for earthy brands you utilize a natural paper texture.

How Can We Make Skin Care Packaging More Sustainable?

More and more, customers are turning to beauty products they can feel good about. From cleansers to moisturizers, eye cream, serum, oils, sunscreen, and other skin care products, consumers are increasingly looking for products that are clean, made of natural ingredients, are cruelty free, non-toxic, chemical free, and hold key safety certifications. Skin care packaging plays a massive role in connecting with customers. Beyond communicating essential product features, 100% recyclable paperboard packaging proves your commitment to more sustainable packaging solutions.

The reality is, the beauty industry is responsible for producing more than 120 billion units of packaging, much of which is plastic and not truly recyclable. The more complex the packaging, the harder it is to collect, separate and recycle. Traditionally, extravagant and glossy packaging represented luxury, but excess packaging now represents waste — and can actually be a customer deterrent. This has led to a major shift as more cosmetic companies are making a larger commitment to sustainability at the production level and implementing reusable, recyclable and compostable materials.

There is no better time to search for more sustainable skin care packaging solutions. When developing your next sustainability program, stay on top of a few key packaging trends.

Already know your next eco-friendly skin care packaging initiative? Let us know how we can help.

Less Plastic Skin Care Packaging is More

For beauty companies promoting organic skin care products, excessive plastic usage may come across as disingenuous to consumers. Paperboard, on the other hand, has widely been accepted as a clean alternative. It can be sourced from sustainable, renewable forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), recycled, and made without chemicals.
Lightweight, easily recyclable, and biodegradable, there remains a number of reasons why eco-conscious brands prefer sustainable folding cartons to conventional plastic packaging for products sold in physical and online stores. Vibrant colors, high impact designs, and a premium look and feel are all achievable using paper-based secondary packaging which remains a great way for brands to display skin care products and create a memorable experience.

If you must continue using plastic packaging, avoid wasteful packaging and consider promoting beauty and skin care products in larger containers. Single-serve pouches, alternatively, result in a lot more plastic waste. Consider keeping an eye out for innovative packaging solutions that are underway, like solutions derived from seaweed or mushrooms.

Switch to On Demand Print

By printing on demand, you are ensuring that you only print what you need, as you need it, and that old products don’t sit unused and lost in inventory. When old packaging inventory is thrown away, not only are you wasting your own time and resources, but you are wasting the materials and energy put into their production. At Hatteras, our on demand and digital print offerings put you at a great advantage when it comes to shrinking your environmental footprint.

Improved Circularity with Closed Loop Manufacturing

Rather than a straight line from materials to production, purchase, and then to a landfill, the circular economy ensures beauty products aren’t used only once. With processes like recycling, these materials can be remade into something new, ensuring the circle goes around. When a product or item has served its purpose, it can be transformed and used again. Today, however, only a small percentage of skin care packaging gets recycled. To capture and manage waste, beauty brands are working to find innovative solutions. Smart QR code solutions, for example, can be applied to packaging for enhanced usage and recycling instructions.

Consider Refillable Primary Skin Care Containers

Due to rising demand, beauty brands are testing paper-based tubes and implementing refillable primary containers made of glass and aluminum. Whether you prefer a subscription model for refillable products or in-store refillable devices, the refill revolution is underway. As consumers begin to pick up this eco-friendly habit, your brand might find it needs to quickly adapt.

Trust a Packaging Supplier with Verified Eco-Friendly Certifications and Innovative Initiatives

Cosmetic and skin care packaging waste remains a huge issue. Most of the waste in the beauty and personal care industry comes from packaging, which almost always ends up in landfills or otherwise back in our environment. Fortunately, there are ways to create cosmetics and personal care products while reducing our plastic footprint.

Ultimately, sustainable skin care packaging benefits from being made with 100% recyclable or natural materials, smaller packaging, zero-waste solutions, and a well managed supply chain. At Hatteras, our print and packaging solutions are environmentally responsible, Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) Certified, sourced from FSC Certified forests, and manufactured using 100% renewable energy.

Level up your skin care packaging with environmentally friendly solutions today.

Brands in all categories face tough competition on retail shelves. A recent retailer trend toward reducing the number of SKUs on the shelves to focus on high-demand products means getting consumers’ attention is more critical than ever. With packaging as the first introduction to your product, the graphics and print quality play a significant role in getting your brand noticed. However, budgets and ROI must be considered. This is where digital print shines for custom folding cartons.

What is Digital Printing?

Digital printing creates rich, vivid colors with impressive print quality and consistency. With digital printing, electrostatic rollers, called drums, apply toner and full color directly onto the substrate. One drum is required per color. The drum’s electrostatic charge attracts the toner, which is applied to the substrate and passed through a heating unit to fuse it onto the substrate.

A raster file (or pdf if software allows) of the artwork is sent from a computer to the digital press. The artwork must be sharp with a high enough resolution for the print’s size requirements. Your printer can help you determine the size needed.

Advantage 1 – Reduced Print Costs

For smaller quantity print jobs, digital printing can dramatically reduce print costs over other methods such as lithographic (offset) and flexographic, which require expensive printing plates for each color applied. Digital does not require plates, making it more affordable. Also, if changes are needed to the artwork, they can be made quickly. With other print methods, new plates would need to be made. Technology advances are continually improving print quality, and the volumes continue to increase regarding affordability.

With digital print, you can get only what you need. There is no need to store packaging that might become obsolete before it can be used. Avoiding overstock and obsolescence, reducing scrap and waste, and eliminating the need for additional warehouse space saves you money.

Advantage 2 – Faster Turnaround Time

Digital printing needs minimal setup, significantly improving turn-around time compared to other methods. Lithographic printing, for example, requires significantly longer to set up. For each color, a metal plate must be etched and applied to the rollers in the printer. Then the press needs to run, printing scrap, until the plates are adequately inked before beginning the print job. In contrast, a digital printer is ready to print when the file is sent.

Advantage 3 – Powerful Customization with Digital Print

When it comes to print customization, digital printing wins hands down. The level of customization is limited by your imagination. Digital printing can print a single sheet or 1500+, giving you the flexibility to showcase your brand the way you want to.

Digital printing uses variable data technology, which supports tremendous customization not available with the other mass-production printing methods. With variable print technology, static content is combined with the variable data (customization) to provide a highly customizable solution. Although not folding cartons, one of the most memorable uses of variable print was Coca-Cola’s ‘Share an ICE COLD Coke” campaign, which had consumers digging through shelves to find their names. But variable print can also be used for something as simple as adding a unique code to each folding carton.

Advantage 4 – Better For Our Environment

Along with the previous benefits, digital printing is a process you can feel good about regarding our environment. Digital printers utilize less energy than traditional litho/offset printing. Also, the versatility of digital printers allows for the elimination of waste. There are often scraps and un-used/unnecessary leftovers on large print jobs that simply get thrown away. Digital printing allows for complete control over the print job and an exact number of pieces.

Together We Can Create Beautiful Packaging

With a commitment to excellence, a flair for design, and four HP Indigo Digital Presses, we are equipped to bring your packaging to life. As a G7 Colorspace Master Facility, our strict processes for quality and color consistency ensure the packaging you receive is the packaging you envisioned.

At Hatteras, we not only care about the quality of your packaging, we care about its impact on the environment, too. Our focus on sustainability includes using soy-based inks, maintaining Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Green Printing (SGP) Certifications, and using 100% renewable energy to fuel our operation! Learn more about our Hatteras’ sustainability initiatives and how we’re making a positive impact for our community, our clients, and our planet.

Ready to start printing? Contact us to create beautiful packaging you can feel good about.