CASE STUDY: I Love Wallpaper - Putting Personality Into Packaging
For almost three decades, I Love Wallpaper have been dedicated to helping the British public find their own unique style and create homes they adore, as they have the belief that walls simply have more to say than ‘magnolia.’
With that ambition in mind, and with over 500 designs in their range, I Love Wallpaper introduced a sample service, so customers could see physical samples and try out wallpaper designs before they buy.
And when it comes to samples packaging, it couldn’t be more critical to spend the time getting it right, as it’s often where your customer will first meet your brand in a physical sense - and first impressions go an awfully long way.
I Love Wallpaper were using one of our old stock packaging solutions, silver metallic foil mailers, for sending out their samples. These mailers are certainly striking and eye-catching, but they don’t represent the I Love Wallpaper brand, what they’re about, nor in keeping with the brand’s values, and most significantly, they don’t speak for the high quality and premium customer experience you get with I Love Wallpaper.
So, step aside unbranded, unprotective, non-eco-friendly mailing bags, and say hello to stand-out design, beautifully printed, sustainably made envelopes, whilst being a physical representation and delivering on their wider brand goal of making achieving eye-catching design effortless.
Story
These printed envelopes deliver in so many ways for I Love Wallpaper - and most notably in the way they make an instant, eye-catching, high quality feeling impression before the mailer is even opened. When these envelopes are put through potential customers’ letterboxes, there’s no question who the mail is from, it stands out from the rest, and ultimately goes to show how powerful some wallpaper can be!
Product
Instead of pursuing a branded version of the metallic foil mailers, we worked with I Love Wallpaper to find a more suitable packaging solution which not only offered better protection to the samples, but to the planet too. The cardboard mailers at the base of this solution are manufactured from sustainable sources in the UK (unlike the metallic foil mailers which were made in China), and are also fully recyclable and completely plastic free. And the good news doesn’t stop there as the cardboard lends extra rigidity to keep the samples flat, but it’s still lightweight enough to not add to postal charges. A real winner all round!
These envelopes are fully digitally printed; giving a fully encompassing design which can be easily changed and updated as and when I Love Wallpaper want to. A flexible design, in more ways than one, which suits a brand who wants to effortlessly ensure their packaging reflects how they keep on top of changing trends and designs.
Sustainability
Like thousands of businesses, I Love Wallpaper are on their own sustainability journey, as they’ve made their commitment to the planet, and their customers, that they will be making their wallpaper from sustainably sourced materials. As a business, that’s a big decision to make, and so it’s very important that the messaging from the brand is consistent throughout - afterall, spending time, money, and effort on ensuring the product is as eco friendly as possible, but then choosing packaging which is on the other end of the spectrum can really let down the brand, and how customers perceive it.
By changing from the unrecyclable silver metallic foil mailers, I Love Wallpaper have removed unnecessary plastic from their packaging, and instead have a fully recyclable solution with eco symbols to explain it to customers. They’re also finding, because of the stand-out design, that customers are choosing to re-use the envelopes for storing samples, papers, and other documents too.
Summary
We just love these stylish mailers. If you needed inspiration for putting personality into your packaging, you couldn't get much better than this!
As an online retailer, offering a samples service can really help, particularly where customers are used to buying the types of products you sell in physical stores. Whilst it may seem like an unnecessary business expense at the start, you really shouldn’t underestimate the power and importance which samples can have; offering an opportunity to not just send out what was requested, but get an early brand impression with your potential new customer, meaning they can really get a complete picture of who your company is.
I Love Wallpaper have proved that you don't have to choose between sustainable and beautiful - you really can have both, and we'd love to help you achieve this too. We have a team of experts on hand to help and advise you on packaging which ticks all your boxes. Take a look at what we can do, or get in touch with our team to discuss your hopes, dreams, and goals (for your packaging, not on a personal level - don't get us wrong, the team are great listeners, they just may not be able to give you a breakdown for how you can become a millionaire overnight), and they'll be there to help create the perfect solution you need, guiding you through it every step of the way.
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If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Priory Direct Affiliate Team
Chloe Winsper | cjw@priorydirect.co.uk | Samantha Holmes | sgh@priorydirect.co.uk | Lauren Churcher | lrc@priorydirect.co.uk