If you are in need of packaging for your commercial products then you might be interested in finding out which kinds of packaging are best for your business and will be preferred by your customers. First things first, the right packaging option for your products will be one that is protective and robust enough to make sure your products reach your customers in perfect condition.
Your customers place a lot of trust in your brand when they decide to spend their money with you. This is especially true if they have never bought something from you before, because this is where they will gain their first impressions of your company and products so you will want to make sure their introduction to you is a positive one. There are many ways this can be achieved, but packaging is just one approach that is often overlooked.
Choosing your product packaging might seem like it should be a simple and straightforward task, but there are many more things to consider than simply picking something you like the look of. These days, packaging plays a more important role in your customers’ purchase consideration than ever before. 
The main reason that packaging needs more attention and thought than in previous years is that people are increasingly looking for ways to make their purchases more sustainable and ethical. Packaging is just one key marker that consumers use to benchmark how sustainable and ethical a product is, so an eco-conscious consumer will be looking for low impact packaging on the product they buy, and often will show a strong preference for packaging that is low impact, choosing these products over less sustainable alternatives. 
Choosing the right kind of packaging
Non-sustainable product packaging is usually made from virgin materials that are known to have a high environmental cost. Virgin plastics are a good example of this. Made from petrochemicals, new virgin plastics are resource intensive, and persist in the environment for thousands of years. While they can be recycled, the process uses a lot of energy and it’s only possible to recycle plastics a handful of times before the fibres become too short to be viable as a resource. 
Surprisingly, many paper based packaging options are also not sustainable, especially when the trees felled to make them are not part of a sustainable plantation. If you are using unsustainable wood and paper products to make gift boxes printed with designs or postal packaging that is usually left plain then you will be having a negative impact on the environment, and that’s before you’ve even looked at your products themselves as well as your logistics in having them transported. 
To make sure your packaging is having as little environmental impact as possible you should look for materials that are certified as sustainable such as FSC paper products and materials that have previously been recycled. It is important to keep in mind that recycling is not the magic bullet that certain corporations would have you believe - it is much more sustainable to reduce the use of materials than it is to use and recycle them. As such, you should look into making your packaging from sustainable materials as well as looking for ways to minimise the overall amount of packaging that is used for your products.
In terms of sustainable materials, cardboard and paper are very popular materials and play an important role in the ways products are packaged today. This is because they are relatively cheap to manufacture, and can be disposed of cheaply and easily by your customers. Plan to make your packaging compostable where possible, or you can run a scheme within your business that allows your customers to send their used packaging back to you for further processing and reuse. 
This concept touches on circular economy principles that make the best use of resources and ethically plans for their reuse and redistribution, as well as disposing of them ethically at the end of their lifespan. This can be through composting and recycling among others. The most eco-friendly companies will consider these factors in their entire business model, making things as sustainable and ethical as possible at every stage, from choosing materials and ingredients for products, selecting product packaging, and handling the end of life products sustainably.
Resources:
Printed Packaging - Ameba Ownd
Custom Printed Boxes - Boosty
Personalised Gift Box - CoffeeCup
Personalised Gift Bags - Monero
Customised Packaging - Teachable

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