How to Customize Product Packaging in China: A Complete Guide

Currently, it is convenient for small businesses or startups to create their own brand products. One simple method is to print your company logo on the packaging, and China has a vast selection of packaging suppliers that offer various solutions for product packaging. In this article, we will explore why China is an ideal location to find customized packaging manufacturers and the expenses you should consider. Additionally, we will briefly discuss how to create your own design packaging when importing products from China.

1. Why Need Customized Packaging?

Most small businesses that import non-branded products from China do not use their own custom packaging. However, creating customized packaging can be highly advantageous for startups and small businesses. By doing so, they can establish their own brand without having to go through a complex, time-consuming, and expensive product development process.

All that is required is to find a supplier who can provide good quality products that can be sold to the target customers. Once the products are obtained, they can be covered with custom packaging that features the company logo. This will help the brand gain quick popularity and success in the local market.

Many suppliers do not place much importance on the packaging of their products. They sell the products to customers with the original factory design and packaging, which may even feature another company’s information. This is because Chinese suppliers offer other customers packing designs and may not understand the information printed on the box. As a result, the product may end up being sold under a different brand name.

In other cases, the factory’s original packaging may make the product look dull and uninteresting. By investing a little extra in custom packaging, the product can be made more attractive, and the price can be increased by 5-10%. The minimum order quantity and reference prices for different packaging options will be discussed in detail in the next section of this blog.

2. Is Customized Packing Expensive?

Many sellers opt to purchase products and sell them to customers without their own packaging due to two main reasons. Firstly, they lack knowledge about customized packaging and believe it to be an expensive option. Secondly, they assume that customized packaging is only available for large orders. However, customized packaging is actually affordable and can be obtained even for small orders in China. In this article, we will discuss two common scenarios for this issue.

Situation 1: involves using the factory’s original packaging with your own design.

For instance, if you were to purchase a tablet case, the factory would provide the product in a standard design box (the box on the right in the photo). This box is commonly used by most cases for supplying their products to customers. However, you can use the same packing box and add your own design, which is a common practice in China for small factories. Our customer did just that and paid only $100 for the printing model. They ordered 1,000 pieces of the product, which means they only paid an extra $0.1 per product. By having their own design and brand on the box, they were able to sell the product for $1 more than competitors who are using the factory’s original box.

For box packing, the product factory usually helps make your own design packing and charges an $80-$100 printing model fee for the first time. There are no additional fees for future orders, but sometimes there may be a fee of around $40 for each order to assemble the model on the printing machine. It’s important to keep this in mind because some suppliers may offer low product prices but charge high fees for customized packing. However, it still depends on different packing types.

Situation 2: Customize packing in other printing companies in China

In some cases, suppliers may not provide packaging for certain products or the existing packaging may not be satisfactory. In such situations, it is necessary to seek out printing companies or factories to produce custom packaging and deliver it to the product factory. For example, one of our clients purchased 2,000 teddy bears at a cost of $1.3 each, but the supplier did not provide any packaging. We then searched for a printing factory to create packaging for the toys and were presented with three options:

• OPP bag with custom logo at a cost of $0.03 each for a minimum order quantity of 3,000 pieces.
• Paper card with custom design at a cost of $0.065 each for a minimum order quantity of 2,000 pieces.
• Colorful box with custom design at a cost of $0.19 each for 2,000 pieces. Ultimately, the customer chose the box packing with their own design as it allowed them to sell the teddy bears for $1 more than without any packaging.

3. How to Customize Your Packaging?

The process of personalizing your packaging is very straightforward and is explained in the following discussion:

Using custom packaging on Alibaba as an example, search for related products and examine the various types of packaging offered for similar products. This will provide inspiration and ideas for packaging.

Choose the appropriate packaging based on the product you will be selling to your customers.

If your supplier can assist with printing, you can design the necessary artwork for packaging. Save this as AI files in your system.

If you are unable to find a designer to create your packaging, you can locate an experienced designer on Upwork to assist you in designing your product packaging. Simply provide them with an idea of the image and design type you want for packaging.

If your supplier is unable to assist with custom packaging for your product, you can locate a printing supplier on Alibaba through direct search or the RFQ tool and have your design printed.

If you locate a printing supplier on Alibaba, consider their location before making a final decision to hire them. The location should be in close proximity to your product supplier. Confirm the domestic delivery fee to the product supplier’s location before committing to either of them. Otherwise, you may end up paying a significant amount of money for product delivery to and from the printer’s location.

Try to locate a supplier in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. This area is commonly referred to as the “Printing City of China.” There are numerous printing suppliers here, and many of them offer printing services for very small quantities.