There are many bottles that come in multiple sizes, shapes, materials, and costs. Depending on your product, the bottle you use can potentially make or break its success.
With that in mind, why not consider housing your product in custom bottles? Doing so can get you noticed, especially among products that are packaged in other types of bottles that can be similar to one another. Besides their obvious shelf appeal, custom bottles have a wide range of uses.
For example, custom bottles are great hand outs for trade shows, product launches, or any other corporate events. As you might already know, car dealerships give them out to new car buyers and service department customers. You’ll see them in hotels as part of their rooms (think of the mint chocolate on the pillow!), mini-bars, dining rooms, and banquets. Even sales people and other business people hand them out as gifts for their customers to remember them by.
In one instance, a California-based software company that develops Windows utilities attended a New York trade show. The Director of Public Relations not only dressed up as a mechanic, but also passed out custom bottles to the numerous editors and journalists who were present, including well-known ones from the New York Times and the Boston Globe and New York radio stations. The result? Sales for the time period of the broadcasts went through the roof!
Say your products are men’s skincare solutions. Again, you could offer them in specialized packaging with a specific motivational message. After all, many of today’s men want to look good!
And if you happen to be the manufacturer of products like spring water, mineral water, isotonic drinks, and infused water, don’t forget customers like cyclists, runners, spa users, gyms, and even supermarkets and the corner shops. Not only are these products popular, but with custom bottles, your sales too can go through the roof!
Where do you start?
So you’ve decided on custom bottles for your product. You’ll need to decide on what shape and material. Will it be glass or one of the forms of plastic like PET or HDPE? What shape do you have in mind? With of all these possibilities, it’s time to consult with your packaging distributor.
Some of the things you need to consider can be:
- Various bottle sizes and shapes
- Customized label designs
- Fast shipping
- Vivid color printing
- Photo-like images
- High-gloss, water resistant labels as standard
Down and dirty: The costs
You’ve selected everything for your custom bottles. As part of this strategy, of course, you will need to know what the costs will be. This will be dependent on everything that you’ve ordered in terms of the various components and how many bottles you will need. Will you be buying in bulk or as part of your wholesale account?
Plastic bottles are generally the least expensive and they offer a variety of options for displaying your logo or images. There is also polycarbonate water bottles as well as aluminum and stainless steel bottles. All these are similar in price.
If you’ve ever had anything printed before, you may have noticed that the printing cost for 10 of the items versus 20 of the same thing would probably not differ that much. Likewise, the more bottles you order at once, the least expensive each bottle will be. Keep in mind that if you’re using color, any image printing will cost more per color because of the processes that are used.
The various processes that are used to print on your custom bottles also adds costs. For example, if you are printing on metal, you will have three options to select: decals, pad printing or silk screening, and laser etching. Each one of these offers its own pros and cons depending on what you are looking for. Laser etching is the best of the three as it is more professional and looks good. However, it is more expensive. If you have a smaller budget, silk screening or pad printing is fine, but it’s not very durable. Decals, on the other hand, can be removed by the product’s users.
If you were looking at the setup costs for a custom plastic bottle, each color used usually costs about $50 per color. If your product is in an aluminum bottle, it would cost around $2.50. Polycarbonate bottles will cost about the same price.
When you opt for custom bottles made of glass, cost can play an important role. Often small runs may be impractical because of the high costs, but large runs reduce the price.
Glass
If you decide to use glass, cost is an important consideration. Small runs can be impractical because of the high costs associated with it. As with your other products, you will find that large runs can be much less expensive since the cost for each item reduces. The cost will also vary based on how many colors you require as well as what other charges are applied to your order.
Choosing the right custom bottles for your products can be difficult and vital to your branding. MJS Packaging offers the best customer service and lowest prices for your pharmaceutical product packaging. We have exclusive access to manufacturers from all around the world, so we can advise you on the best bottles, tubes, closures, caps, and other packaging needs you require.
