Holiday Packaging—when is the right time to start planning/prepping and ordering—is a topic we’ve tried to cover every year, and with good reason. Nearly every November we receive phone calls from nice folks with a little panic and desperation in their voices as they scramble to get packaging in time for the holiday season. We are a week away from August, which typically summons the beginning of the holiday planning season for many businesses. (I wouldn’t be terribly surprised to see a Christmas tree or two popping up in retail stores soon).
While you may not know the exact specifics of your packaging needs just yet in July, it’s never too early to begin the thought process and discussion about custom holiday packaging, especially if it is a new graphic or structural design. After all, it’s better to be early to the game than late.
Eliminate the Lead Time Guesswork and Close-Calls
Starting/owning/running a business is difficult work, and we understand that there are a lot of balls in the air in the beginning of any new project or product launch. Custom packaging is likely one section of a very long to-do list. Situations often arise on the customer’s end that may end up causing unexpected delays, and we know that you can’t always plan for the unexpected. Our advice is always to start the custom packaging discussion sooner rather than later. If you have questions about possible designs, graphics, sizing etc., we can usually answer them quickly, no matter where you are in the process.
Our lead time on a first run order is typically 2 weeks from when we have print proof approval, (excluding shipping) although this may vary depending on the time of year. But we fully realize that every potential customer’s situation is different, and it’s often hard to project what possible speed bumps you may encounter from the time you first reach out to us, to the time you are ready to proceed on an order. It’s always better to play it safe when trying to project completion dates. Building in some padding into your timeframe is the only way to ensure that you don’t end up cutting it close to your launch date or deadline for having packaging in hand and ready to ship to your customers.
More Time Minimizes Mistakes
Mistakes happen most often in our industry when there is a rush on an order, leading to a missed detail or miscommunication. We have decades of packaging experience, and our branded packaging advisors are always more than willing to take the time to answer any questions you may have about a potential order. We know you have a lot on your plate, and our goal is to simplify the process as much as possible, and to make sure the heavy-lifting is being done on our end. The more time we have to work with, the better.
The smallest details are often those that go unnoticed. Maybe your artwork has your company’s old URL address, or a tagline that isn’t worded quite right. Maybe there is a social media tag or a logo missing from the design. We have several built-in approval phases of our process to try to eliminate these potential mishaps. We will never proceed on an order until a customer approves a digital proof and physical ink sample. If there is interior design work being done, we will always send a physical sample of the insert/divider/partition for approval as well. We will make our best efforts to ensure the product you’re receiving is exactly what you envisioned.
Please Contact Us Today
Ready to order holiday packaging? We’re happy to walk you through an initial consultation and find a custom packaging solution that works for you. As always, if you have any questions, one of our branded packaging advisors is standing by to assist, with decades of experience behind them. Want to know more about custom packaging? Please call us today at 630-551-1700 or contact us via email at www.SalazarPackaging.com.
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