What is Primary Packaging? A Basic Guide

Primary packaging, secondary packaging, and tertiary packaging are all their own things, believe it or not. Although you may think packaging for products is simple and straight forward, it is actually a quite complex structure that has a lot of moving parts.

Primary packaging is meant to be functional, keep a product safe, and will stay on or around the product until the user is just about to use the product. In this post, we will take a deeper look at what exactly primary packaging is and why it is one of the most critical aspects of the packaging industry.

What is Primary Packaging?

Primary packaging is something like a soda can, box to hold thumbtacks, a wrapper around a candy bar, or a plastic sleeve inside a cracker box to actually hold the crackers. Primary packaging is meant to remain intact and around the product right up until the customer is about to use or eat the product inside.

Primary packaging should be both functional and attractive in appearance. While appearance is an important piece of the puzzle, utility and functionality in this case is more important. If the primary packaging of a product is defective or is not working the way it should, it will likely hurt the customer’s ability to use the product inside. This is particularly the case when it comes to food packaging. If the packaging is broken or does not work the way it should, it is likely the customer will not be able to eat the food inside.

Importance of Primary Packaging

Primary packaging is so important because, as stated above, it will keep the product inside safe and usable. A usable product that delivers the proper experience to a customer is crucial for enhancing customer experience which creates brand loyalty.

Furthermore, if you have a functional primary packaging that is easy to use and works well and your competitor struggles with their primary packaging, you have a significant edge in the market. Customers do not want to struggle with a packaging or feel annoyed when they are using a product, making primary packaging important and necessary.

Secondly, primary packaging is so important because it is also the main vessel for displaying your logo, brand colors, slogan, product highlights, and anything else that is important to your brand and your product. It also allows you to put product information right on the packaging, so customer have easy access to learn more about the product inside and what makes it so special and different from similar products in the market.

There is nothing more recognizable than a Coke can, which is a form of primary packaging that that is both functional and one of the best advertisements and marketing strategies in the world. The aluminum can is the vessel for the soda inside that people all over the world love to drink. It is portable and recyclable. The red can with the Coca-Cola script writing, nutritional information, and colors all work together to provide customers with necessary information, while at the same time ensuring their colors and trademark logo go noticed.