Custom Packaging for Small Businesses

Custom packaging is the point where a lot of small brands overcommit. The economics are genuinely good at volume and genuinely poor below it, so the useful question is where that line sits for you.

The realistic minimums

Setup costs mean custom printing has a floor. Approximate starting points:

• Printed tape — from around 36 rolls. The cheapest entry to branded packaging by a wide margin.
• Printed tissue — a few reams. Low commitment, high visual impact.
• Printed mailer boxes — typically from 500 units, higher for litho lamination.
• Printed poly mailers — typically from 1,000–2,000 units.
• Custom-size boxes, unprinted — typically from 500 units.

Lead times run three to four weeks for a first printed run, including artwork approval, and shorter on repeats.

The cheap steps first

Before committing to printed boxes, work through this ladder. Each step costs a fraction of the next and delivers a surprising amount of the effect:

1. Printed stickers on plain packaging — tiny minimums, days of lead time.
2. Printed tape — you were buying tape anyway, so the marginal cost is only the print.
3. Printed tissue — the thing customers photograph.
4. A printed insert card — cheap, and it can carry a reorder code.
5. Printed mailer boxes — only once you are confident in the size.

Most brands that reach step five wish they had spent longer on steps one to four, because that is where the per-pound return is highest.

What we need from you to quote

• Product type and internal dimensions, or the stock size you are basing it on
• Quantity, and a second quantity if you want to compare tiers
• Material and board grade if you have a preference
• Number of print colours and rough coverage
• Artwork — vector where possible, or whatever you have
• Delivery location and any date you are working to

You do not need finished artwork to get a price. A sketch and dimensions are enough for a realistic quote, and it is much better to find out the cost before you pay a designer.

The mistake to avoid

Do not order a year of printed packaging in a size you have not shipped in yet. Run plain for a quarter, find out which size you actually reorder, then print that one. The cost of being wrong at 5,000 units is far higher than the saving from ordering 5,000 instead of 1,000.

Send us your custom packaging brief and we will come back with options at two or three quantities so you can see where the breaks fall.