The holiday season is undeniably the busiest time of the year for virtually every e-commerce business and retailer. From budgeting to product development and sale planning, the holidays warrant their own business strategy because of their significance for retailers and wholesalers alike.

This holiday strategy also extends to your product packaging and shipping boxes. If you want to boost sales, increase customer satisfaction and spark word-of-mouth advertising, wholesale custom boxes for the holiday season are a must.

Why use seasonal packaging

Whether you’re a wholesaler or retailer, B2B or B2C, e-commerce or retail, any business can benefit from utilizing seasonal packaging. The exact style of packaging that’s best, however, can be dictated by your business model.

For example, if you have a B2B business model, more subtle and elegant seasonal packaging can help impress clients and advertise specials in a way that isn’t too overwhelming. If you sell directly to consumers, however, bright and bold graphics can help grab attention and make your products more social media unboxing-worthy.

In addition to increasing customer satisfaction, seasonal custom wholesale boxes can help spread the word about any sales, specials, or new products that you have for the holidays. One of the biggest advantages of custom packaging boxes is their ability to double as an effective marketing tool.

When to use seasonal packaging

Although the Christmas season is the most common time to utilize seasonal packaging, it can be advantageous all year long. You can design custom shipper boxes around holidays such as Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Hanukkah or Christmas, or you can target major events such as birthdays, wedding season or company milestones.

Find the season or occasion that best fits your business, product, and target market. This will help you maximize your ROI and increase the effectiveness and authenticity of your packaging. If you prefer to cycle between several different seasonal designs all year long, short-run custom box manufacturers such as Build A Box allow you to do so by not requiring a minimum order quantity.

How to design seasonal packaging

Seasonal packaging can be some of the most fun to design since it allows you to get creative, venture away from your typical branding, and add whimsy where you might not always think to add some. However, there are some best practices for seasonal packaging design that will maximize their effectiveness (and cost-effectiveness).

Firstly, try to keep your language and design fairly broad and neutral to reduce time sensitivity. For example, use branding around the autumn season rather than Halloween specifically to extend the timeframe in which the boxes can be used.

It’s also important to retain your company’s core branding within the design to ensure that customers can still spot it on shelves or recognize it as yours. Although your creativity can often run more freely in seasonal designs, if you venture too far from your typical branding, you risk losing brand awareness and stifling your potential ROI.

Lastly, make sure that you aren’t sacrificing quality for aesthetic appeal. Cheap packaging, even if it’s only for a season, can negatively affect your brand perception and customer satisfaction, hurting your sales long-term. When designing seasonal custom wholesale boxes, utilize high-quality materials and work with box design experts to ensure that your packaging is both functional and beautiful.

If your small business needs custom wholesale boxes perfect for the holidays, visit the Build A Box website to use our free online box configuration tool. We can give you a free estimate for a range of quantities, and there’s never any minimum order quantity required. If you’d like design assistance to perfect your custom holiday magic, call (888) 406-1610 or fill out our contact form, and one of Build A Box’s design experts will be happy to help you through the process.