What Is Luxury Packaging?

Can you imagine buying the latest fragrance from Chanel in a plastic bottle or buying a Louis Vuitton handbag and having it handed to you in a supermarket style plastic bag? What would your reaction be to receiving the latest iPhone in a brown paper envelope?

99% of consumers would be disappointed simply because buying luxury products is an experience, and luxury packaging supplies and luxury packaging design plays a massive role.

This experience goes back to when we were children. When we received gifts from our parents we would take great pleasure in the anticipation of ripping open the wrapping paper and seeing a brand-new toy; never used, never touched and appearing exclusive for us.

Luxury packaging is about creating this experience but for adults.

The most prominent use of luxury packaging can be found in the beauty halls in department stores worldwide. Containers and bottles full of lotions, fragrances, oils and powders are sumptuously displayed in luxury boxes, luxury bags and pouches aimed at enticing and exciting the consumer.

Once purchased; untying the bows, ripping open the luxury wrapping paper, peeling off the luxury label and opening the luxury box to reveal your purchase is a satisfying experience and one which not only helps add value to the purchase but also helps to reinforce the brand and build consumer loyalty.

Luxury packaging doesn't have to be excessive or over-indulgent. An excellent example of this could be the Tiffany box or, for the sake of this article, the little black box that almost every one of our clients mentions.. it's an amazing box and contains the iPhone.

This compact, smooth and neat little box mirrors the quality of the iPhone itself. Take a closer look at the box and there is an impressive amount of detail; the box is silver foil printed, embossed and the edges of the paper are turned over before they are mounted onto the board to hide the white edges of the paper. The lamination is resistant to scratching and the fitments are strong and practical. The packaging for this phone is an extension of the Apple brand, helping reinforce the idea that good design, quality and attention to detail is intrinsic to the Apple brand.

It doesn't make sense to associate the values of "Luxury" with "luxury packaging" as luxury packaging is rarely excessive and it certainly cannot be expensive.

Luxury packaging is the name given to packaging that is considered, exciting and reflective of the product or brand itself. Perhaps the use of "luxury" is all that is needed to make this area of packaging sound more sexy, important and valued.