Make Your Packaging Gift Ready

Many Etsy shoppers look for gifts on Etsy for their friends and family, especially during holiday seasons. Sometimes customers purchase a product and send directly to the recipient.

It would be a missed opportunity if your shop doesn’t offer gift ready packaging.

Gift ready packaging doesn’t have to be expensive. It could be ribbons that matches your brand colour tied into a simple bow, or a patterned wrapping paper that fits your shop’s aesthetics.

You can choose to offer gift wrapping by default, or have it as an add-on for an extra cost (Etsy allows you to charge $1-5 extra for optional gift wrapping).

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Eco-Friendly, Sustainable Packaging

Environmental friendly packaging has become a consideration for more and more customers. People don’t want more plastic to be thrown in the landfill.

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If you make an effort towards being more eco-friendly and sustainable, make sure to communicate that to your customers. Let them know in the product photos, messaging and order inserts.

Although they may not seem to benefit your business, sustainable packaging will leave a positive impression on customers and potentially increase the return rate of customers.

Here are some interesting ideas for eco-friendly, sustainable packaging:

• Mushroom-based packaging (https://ecovative.com/)
• Corn starch foam peanuts
• Recyclable or biodegradable plastic
• Recycled paper
• Plantable packaging (https://thepackaginginsider.com/bloom-everlasting-chocolate-biodegradable-plant-growing-packaging/)
• Asking customers to reuse or recycle packaging
• Padded cardboard mailers instead of bubblewrap plastic mailers

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I have included some companies that sell eco-friendly packaging supplies in the last section.

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Digital Product Packaging

To ‘package’ your digital products, you can make sure the delivery process is smooth. It's a good idea to preview the purchase and download process. Make sure the steps are easy to follow. Here's an example from my shop:

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If your digital file is not delivered instantly, let customers know when and how the file will be delivered in multiple places in your listing and shop. I'd suggest putting that information in the listing description, photos and order confirmation message.

It’s also a good idea to create any files that comes with the product with your brand fonts, brand colour, etc. 

Some extra things you can include for a better customer experience:

• How-to, use instructions
• Freebies
• Discount code for future purchase

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