Thinking ahead about packaging can save you time, make you money 
and relieve frustration in getting your product to market.    

You have this great idea or invention you have spent time 
developing.  You are confident it will be successful because you 
have determined that there is a real need for the product in the 
market place.  You may even have had success in securing a patent 
or trademark to protect your idea as it truly is unique and 
different.   It’s time to start moving ahead.  That much a waited 
meeting with the retailer is scheduled.  The buyer is very 
interested about moving ahead in putting your products on the 
shelf however, he/she will not be redoing the plan-o-grams for 
another 6-9 months.   Do you just wait?   Will you have missed a 
key selling season?   Will the buyer still be interested, or even 
still around.  The key is to be able to strike while the iron is 
hot.  What if you had already given consideration to various 
packaging and merchandising options prior?   How could you have 
foreseen this situation? 

If you can imagine where your product could be sold, you can 
imagine and learn how those retailers sell products.  In 
addition to a regular shelf set what other opportunities are 
there?  Do they do truck load sales?  What would a pallet 
display look like for your product?    Do they do weekly or 
quarterly ad features...those products are often be found on 
end aisle merchandisers and floor displays around the store 
and may be in-and-out items.  Does the retailer feature group 
or theme promotions like Back to School or Dollar Days? What 
will you need to do to have your product fit in?  

What I’m also talking about is being able to provide alternative 
configurations of units or price points for your products. 
Take the time to walk the various types of stores and imagine 
where your product should be in the store and how it should be 
packaged to optimally present itself.   What other products 
are around it and how are these items priced?   If you don’t 
initially imagine a configuration that seems to fit try walking 
a round a store in a different industry to help you brainstorm 
and borrow ideas...   

Remember the buyer previously told us he was interested, but 
the shelf set would not change for 6 – 9 more months.  Large 
retailers work towards schedules and it’s not practical for them 
to change their shelf-sets for every new opportunity they see, 
even yours.   Are you prepared to recommend a small display unit 
that could be placed at the register or a counter until there is 
an opening?   This is great and actually provides greater 
visibility for your product.   Are you prepared to recommend a 
display shipper that could be placed on the floor or in another 
promotional area, until there is room in the shelf set?   You 
already have an idea of quantity and costs because you did your 
homework.   What you don’t want to do is brainstorm the idea or 
the spot to again be disappointed because you are starting from 
scratch and it would take to longer then the 6 – 9 month wait to 
produce the new option.  

I’m not suggesting that you fully invest in the development and 
production of these ideas and materials upfront without a strong 
commitment.  I am suggesting you invest in the learning and in 
the thinking.    For that register display for what would it take 
to have a rough idea if that would take 2 weeks, 6 weeks or 12 
weeks to produce?  How great you will feel when you already know 
who you will call when you leave the meeting to tighten up the 
estimate and you know you can confirm an answer with the buyer 
by the end of the week.

No doubt the buyer will be impressed to know you have even 
thought about it.  Retailers want to work with vendors who are 
thoughtful, reliable and thinking ahead about how to sell more 
products.   Help make their job easy.   Oh yeah, there is the 
added the benefit of the extra sales and profit you’ve earned 
because you were thinking ahead. 

Jeffri L. Epps is the chief visionary behind FourEyes, LLC, 
a firm specializing in consulting and coaching for business 
performance and leadership. She brings to each client a wealth of 
experience and insight drawn from nearly two decades in business.
Jeffri has formerly held leadership positions with several major 
companies. Her thought leadership and passion for developing 
high performance teams has led to the enhancement, creation 
and launch of winning products and business initiatives. 
http://www.foureyesinsights.com/