Before investing thousands if not tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars into industrial packaging, do your packaging research and find pertinent packaging reference materials and resources to help you in your decision making process. Does your packaging showcase your product branding? Does it meet all health requirements? Will it keep your product fresh? All of these things should be taken into consideration when making an industrial packaging decision.

Industrial packaging information can easily be found through web portals, industry organizations, industry publications and more. Deciphering what is the right information for your business, is the tricky part.

To make the most of industrial packaging information resources:

1. Start by looking into general packaging reference materials. Get a feel for the industry and who the major suppliers are.

2. Follow-up with packaging research both on your product potential packaging and the existing packaging of your competitors.

3. Follow-up with more industrial packaging information by subscribing to or reading the online versions of industry publications.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Start with general industrial packaging information resources

Begin your information search with general packaging research, packaging reports and packaging reference materials. Get a feel for the industry before jumping in further.

I recommend: Find out what's new on the Packaging Gateway site. Look at the information about packaging from IDS Packaging. Find even more reference materials for packaging from the Packaging Organizations, Publications and Special Web Sites portal.

Locate packaging reference materials through suppliers

Look for additional industrial packaging information from the people who supply you the products and services for packaging.

I recommend: Consider the contract packaging services of Industrial Packaging Supply. They also offer packaging supplies and packaging equipment. Look at the online catalog from Industrial Packaging Corporation. Industrial Packaging Supplies is another packaging resource. Check out the industrial packaging solutions from Greif Industrial Packaging.

Find packaging reference materials in industry publications

Take advantage of the packaging research reports and information on packaging through trade magazines and other publications.

I recommend: Qualified buyers can sign up for a subscription to Packaging World Magazine. Begin your free subscription to Packaging Digest. Find out how branding helps you market your product packaging from Brand Packaging Magazine. Package Design is another industry publication that focuses on branding and marketing of your product packaging.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Your packaging research should include in depth studies of brand awareness and its correlation to packaging. You want to build a quality reputation and follow that up with recognizably and attractiveness in your product packaging. When a consumer walks into a store, you want them to instantly reach for your product because of its quality and attractiveness of packaging.