866-580-5261Custom packaging has evolved as a game changer for businesses across industries. There are innumerable benefits of custom packaging. Some of them are a boost in brand image, enhanced product protection, and contribution to the success of the business.
Custom flexible packaging is a popular and, possibly, the fastest-growing trend on the block. In this blog, we'll take you through its features, benefits, and types. It will help you decide how you can pursue custom flexible packaging for your brand.
What is custom flexible packaging?
Custom Flexible Packaging uses flexible materials like foils, plastic films, laminates, or paper combinations to package a product according to its shape. Flexible packaging changes shape according to the contents of the package. It can easily incorporate custom branding elements like designs, logos, and taglines specific to your brand. Custom flexible packaging is widely used in several industries like medical, personal care, food and beverage.
Some examples of custom flexible packaging are resealable food pouches for sauces, stand-up coffee bags, shrink wraps for meat or fresh produce, and single-use sachets of condiments, spices, or personal care products. A printing process called flexography is utilized to attain custom flexible packaging.
Let's understand what flexographic printing is.
How does flexographic printing work?
Flexography is a roll-feed web printing process that operates at a high speed. Flexographic printing is employed to print high volumes of flexible packaging and labels. In the flexographic printing process, the ink is applied to the plated images. The substrate is pressed onto the plate, and an impression cylinder applies enough pressure to transfer the image to the surface. After this, a series of UV lamps dry the ink before the next process.
There are innumerable benefits of flexographic printing, like its low maintenance costs, high speed, and versatility. The flexographic presses run at astonishing speeds and can print on a variety of substrate materials. The maintenance costs of the equipment are minimal since it is a high-quality industrial equipment.
Features of Custom Flexible Packaging
Custom flexible packaging is popular because of its unique features. Let's have a look at some features of custom flexible packaging:
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Variety of Materials
A variety of materials or different combinations of materials are used to create flexible packaging. Coated paper, aluminum foil, and plastic films are some of the most popular materials used for flexible packaging. These materials possess barrier properties against oxygen, moisture, and dirt.
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Adaptable Shape
The standout feature of flexible packaging is that it can conform to the shape of the product, unlike rigid packaging. This feature of flexible packaging makes it ideal for retail product wraps, beverage sachets, and food pouches.
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Custom Branding
Flexible packaging is ideal for enhancing brand recognition as it can be fully customized with unique colors, text, and graphics.
Types of Custom Flexible Packaging
There are three main types of custom flexible packaging. Let's have a look.
Stand-up pouches have a self-supporting design that enables them to stand tall on any surface. They can easily capture attention from store shelves and take up less surface space. Also, stand-up pouches have sufficient space for branding and product information. They are perfect for a variety of products like snacks, pet food, coffee, or tea.
The best feature of lay-flat pouches is that they lay flat when empty, hardly taking up any space. Plus, they have a compact design that makes them ideal for shipping and storage. Once filled, they have a professional and attractive appearance that can catch your customer's eye. These pouches are ideal for products like powders, spices, and single-serve items. They have ample space on them for branding and customization.
Roll stock is nothing but a continuous roll of printed film. It has barriers and structure films already laminated onto it. Roll stocks are perfect for packaging a variety of finished products. Roll stock can be used as a candy bar wrapper. You can choose the dimensions, size, and shape of the roll stock according to your product. Roll stock is one of the most adaptable and cost-effective options when it comes to custom flexible packaging.
Benefits of Custom Flexible Packaging
Custom flexible packaging offers a range of advantages, making it a popular choice for businesses. Here are some benefits of custom flexible packaging:
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Enhanced Visibility and Brand Identity
One of the best aspects of choosing custom flexible packaging is that it can incorporate your unique brand elements like its colors, logos, designs, and graphics. Flexible packaging has top to bottom, full package printing ability. These elements create a strong visual presence for your product, giving it an eye-catching appearance and impact. These features allow it to stand out from your competitors.
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Cost Effective
Flexible packaging is more cost-effective than standard packaging because it is precisely sized and lightweight. This lightweight design enables reduced transportation and shipping costs, which allows more products to be packed in each shipment. All these factors make flexible packaging easier to transport compared to rigid packaging.
Flexible packaging allows maximum shelf space utilization because it conforms to the shape of the products. It is easy to store and display. This aspect of flexible packaging increases its efficiency in storage and display applications and may lead to a growth in sales.
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Enhanced Customer Experience
Custom flexible packaging makes it easy to add personalized messages, augmented reality features, and interactive elements like QR codes that customers can engage with. These features allow customers to engage and interact with your brand.
More features like making the packaging easy to open and reseal can further improve the ease of use and convenience for your customers.
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Sustainability
A study by the Flexible Packaging Association compared cookies packaged in a flexible pouch with cookies packaged in a rigid clamshell. The study found that flexible packaging resulted in 87% less coal, 79% reduced carbon dioxide emissions during manufacturing, and 69% lesser solid waste in landfills as compared to rigid packaging.
Customers are increasingly opting for sustainable products and prefer eco-friendly packaging. Custom flexible packaging can be designed keeping sustainability in mind. Flexible packaging material can be used with recyclable films and inks.
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Improved Shelf Life and Protection
With the right flexible packaging, you can protect your product from environmental elements like moisture, oxygen, and light. Your custom flexible packaging can incorporate features like resealable closures, tamper-evident seals, and barrier films to protect the product from degradation. You can extend the shelf life of your products with the advanced features of custom flexible packaging.
Factors to Consider when choosing Custom Flexible Packaging
Before you choose a particular flexible packaging, it is essential to understand the specific characteristics and needs of your product. Some characteristics you can consider are:
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Shape
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Size
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Weight
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Shelf Life
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Fragility
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Storage requirements
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Handling requirements
Based on the above factors, you can determine the appropriate material, barrier properties, and packaging design for smooth functionality and optimal protection of your product. Some products, however, have very specific requirements. For example, food items and pharmaceuticals need tamper evidence, safety, regulatory labeling, and compliant materials.
Ending Note
Get the best flexible packaging solutions at the lowest rates only at Beast Branding. Whether you are a small-scale business or a multinational corporation, we can help you get the best custom flexible packaging for your products.
Not just flexible packaging, we also offer a vast variety of high-quality stickers, decals, banners, vinyl, labels, and all types of custom packaging at affordable rates. Our collection includes custom-printed packaging like mylar bags, stand-up pouches, lay-flat pouches, and much more.
Why should you choose us? Simple. We have varied experience, advanced machinery, printing expertise, and reliable customer support. Beast Branding has an in-house printing and graphics team. We assist you in making the best decision and provide the fastest delivery of your order. Choose Beast Branding as your printing partner and get high-quality packaging that not only protects your product but also boosts its sales.