Supplement packaging is an extremely important topic for supplement brands and supplement manufacturers. The right packaging can help you retain old customers, attract new customers, and help your brand stand out. The wrong packaging, on the other hand, could be a real turn-off for your customers, causing them to look elsewhere to fulfill their supplement needs.
Your supplement packaging should be a strategic decision, tailored to your target market and your unique objectives. If your market is older, you might consider special easy-open packaging options. If you’re selling gummy supplements, you might consider transparent packaging. If you’re interested in expanding your market, you might consider single-use pill pouches, stick packs, or liquid shots to offer smaller samples that require less investment.
In this article, you’ll learn all about your supplement packaging options for various supplement formats, including key considerations for different markets and the general pros and cons of each type of packaging.
Supplement packaging for pills (capsules, tablets, and softgels)
Packaging options for pills like tablets, capsules, and softgels generally include bottles or jars (made of plastic or glass), blister packs, and, a relatively new packaging option – pill pouches. When choosing packaging for pills, there are a couple of key points to consider.
First and foremost, you should consider the sensitivity of your pills. Could they withstand crashing around in a bottle or would the crashing cause them to break apart? Are they highly sensitive to oxygen or moisture? If your pills are sensitive, blister packaging may be your best option.
You should also consider how you intend for your target market to take your supplements. If your supplements are meant to be taken daily, blister packs can help your customers stay compliant. If you want to give out a small sample, pill pouches could be a good option.
Sustainability is also a major point to consider when choosing supplement packaging. Blister packs and pill pouches take up less space in a landfill, making both options more sustainable than plastic bottles.
Bottles for pills
Benefits
Bottles look great on a shelf.
Plastic bottles are durable.
Plastic bottle production is generally quite cheap.
Bottles offer many options in terms of opening which you can choose based on your market.
Disadvantages
Plastic bottles are less sustainable.
Glass bottles can break.
Bottles are not the best option for supplements that are highly sensitive to movement, oxygen or moisture.
Packaging options for powders usually include canisters, pouch packaging, and stick packs. Once again, each option has its own unique set of benefits and disadvantages.
As far as multiple-dose packaging is concerned (canisters vs. pouch packaging), canisters are the more durable option. They are less likely to puncture than pouches and also generally close easier, which is important for keeping many supplement powders fresh and long-lasting. That being said, pouches are more convenient to travel with and are also much more sustainable since they take up much less space in landfills.
For single-use powder packaging, stick packs are the way to go. Stick packs provide a way for you to offer samples of your powders to consumers and also serve as perfect impulse items.
Canisters for powders
Benefits
Canisters are the most durable option.
They look great on a shelf.
They are generally easier to close, meaning powders stay fresher for longer.
There are many supplement packaging options for liquid supplements, including options for both single-dose and multiple-dose liquids.
For multiple-dose options, supplements brands can choose either bottles or liquid droppers. With bottles, consumers are typically instructed to swallow one or two tablespoons of the contents of the bottle. With liquid droppers, consumers are usually instructed to drop one or two drops of the liquid vitamin under their tongues.
Single-dose options include small shot bottles and squeeze packs. Both have certain advantages and disadvantages for consumers.
They’re convenient to store when buying more than one.
They’re convenient for travel.
Disadvantages
Not everyone likes to drink through a squeeze bottle.
Supplement packaging for gummies
Gummy supplements are a rising trend in the supplement industry. They’re easy to take, taste good, and are highly customizable in terms of shapes, colors, and flavors. In terms of packaging gummies, the most important thing to keep in mind is the advantage of transparent packaging. If you spent time creating fun shapes and enticing colors, you’ll want to show them off.
There are two primary types of supplement packaging for gummies – bottles and pouches. Bottles are the preferred type of packaging for gummies mostly for their durability, but pouches are also a great option. Pouches are great for selling small samples of your gummies. They’re also more convenient for travelers and make great impulse items.
Bottles for gummies
Benefits
They’re the standard, preferred packaging for gummy vitamins.
They’re durable and will protect your gummies.
They look great on the shelf.
Disadvantages
They’re bulky and hard to travel with.
They’re less sustainable.
Pill pouches for gummies
Benefits
They’re great for offering samples.
They make great impulse items.
They’re a sustainable option.
They’re convenient to store when buying more than one.
They’re convenient for travel.
Disadvantages
They’re not very durable.
Conclusions: Choosing supplement packaging
There is a lot to keep in mind when choosing supplement packaging, but with a little help, choosing packaging can be a fun and exciting process!
One of the best ways to ensure that you’re choosing the right packaging for your supplements is by choosing a supplement manufacturer that also handles your packaging and supplement label design. That way, you can get tips and advice from experts who not only understand packaging options but also understand the industry, your exact product, and the needs of your customers.
The supplement industry is a booming but competitive industry. If you’re a supplement brand or supplement manufacturer, each and every decision regarding how you formulate, create, market, and sell your products is important and should be well-thought-out, including your supplement packaging. Have you ever considered packaging your supplements with pill pouches?
Pill pouches are an up-and-coming trend in the supplement packaging industry and with good reason since they provide supplement brands with an easy way to personalize their products and services. But, personalization isn’t the only benefit of pill pouches for supplement brands and consumers. They’re also convenient, lead to more customer compliance, and provide great opportunities for branding and design.
Are you considering using pill pouches for your supplements? In this article, you’ll learn all about pill pouches, including the many advantages of pill pouches for supplement brands and consumers.
What are pill pouches?
Pill pouches are a type of pouch packaging that’s meant specifically for supplements in pill form (tablets, capsules, and softgels). Unlike traditional bottles, however, pill pouches aren’t usually meant to contain 30+ doses of the same supplement. Instead, pill pouches typically contain a small variety of daily vitamins. In fact, most pill pouches are only big enough to contain about 10 pills.
At this point, you may be wondering, what’s the point of pill pouch packaging? What makes pill pouches more attractive to supplement brands and consumers than traditional bottle packaging or blister packaging? The main reason has to do with the power of customization, but there are many additional benefits of pill pouch packaging.
Benefits of pill pouches
Customization is the main benefit of pill pouches for both brands and consumers, but there are plenty of other reasons why pill pouches are advantageous. They’re also more convenient, more effective, easier to travel with, lead to more consumer compliance, and create a smaller carbon footprint than other supplement packaging alternatives. Let’s take a look at these benefits in greater detail.
1. Customization
These days, customization is key, and the reason why is simple: Our economy is driven by customer experience. Consumers (whether or not they believe it or admit it) no longer favor certain brands or products because they’re more effective. That wouldn’t make much sense since modern technology has made it possible for many brands to create highly effective products.
Instead, these days, consumers favor certain brands for the overall experience they offer their customers. Consumers want to feel care for, understood, special, and important. Is there a better way to make consumers feel special than by customizing their products and their experience?
Pill pouches and vitamin packs offer supplement brands an effective way to customize their customers’ experience. New supplement brands like Personanutrition have begun to assess their customers’ needs with simple online questionnaires in order to offer them personalized vitamin packs filled with the exact supplements they need. The boxes even come with small booklets explaining the pills in their vitamin packs were chosen just for them. As far as supplements are concerned, it doesn’t get much more personal than that.
Most consumers need vitamins and supplements to fulfill a multitude of dietary and medical needs. A typical consumer might need supplements for gut health, healthier skin, extra energy, and a better memory. Ideally, this would be one simple pill, hence the origin of multivitamins.
But, one simple pill can only comprise so many ingredients. At some point, in order to reach x percentage of x ingredient, the manufacturer needs to reduce the percentage of other ingredients in the pill, but this means also reducing the effects of the other ingredients. So, to stick to the example mentioned above, more ingredients to help a healthy gut means fewer ingredients to improve memory. Furthermore, certain vitamins, minerals, and amino acids are chemically difficult to combine into one simple pill.
Daily vitamin packs allow supplement brands to supply their customers with all of the vitamins they need without making any sacrifices to squeeze all necessary ingredients into one magical pill. The result? Consumers may have to swallow extra pills, but all of their needs are met.
3. Design
Supplement label design is extremely important in the supplement industry. With so many options on the shelves, it’s really important that supplement brands find a way to stand out and maintain the interest of their target market.
Pill pouches, especially customized daily vitamin packs, provide brands with an amazing opportunity to create outstanding and unique label designs. Unlike with bottles, with daily vitamin packs, consumers open a brand new package each day. This means each day brings a new opportunity for brands to pleasantly surprise their consumers. Some ideas include daily inspirational quotes, days of the week printed on the vitamin packs, challenging questions for their consumers, and so on. Each time a consumer reaches for a new pill pouch, they also get a nice little design surprise.
The point is, competition in the supplement industry is fierce, and pill pouches provide brands with a way to impress their direct target consumers with design that speaks to them.
4. Convenience
For the modern consumer, convenience is absolutely essential. Companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google have spoiled consumers with convenience and enhanced usability so much so that, these days, consumers don’t just appreciate convenience; they demand it.
Convenience is another key benefit for consumers when it comes to pill pouches and daily vitamin packs. Traditional bottle packaging and blister packaging requires consumers who have multiple nutritional and dietary needs to open multiple bottles and/or blister packs each morning to access their supplements. Busy, hard-working parents, students, and professionals don’t have the time to open and close six pill bottles each morning, and if they do have the time, they certainly don’t want to spend it trying to access their daily vitamins.
Pill pouches provide consumers with an easy and convenient way to access all of their daily vitamins and supplements by opening just one small package. Not to mention, they’re also incredibly convenient for traveling long and short distances (across the country or from the house to the office). In short, they’re the new, convenient, grab-and-go option for busy consumers.
5. Compliance
Compliance (whether or not consumers continue to take their supplements as recommended) is another key element that all supplement brands should consider when choosing supplement packaging. Compliance not only means better results for consumers (and better reviews for brands), but it also means that consumers will finish their supplements faster and, hopefully, buy more.
Since vitamin packs are so convenient, they’re also a great way to help consumers stay compliant. As perfect grab-and-go options, consumers can’t say they didn’t have time to take their supplements. They also don’t have any excuses when it comes to travel. Consumers used to have to transport all of their supplement bottles with them while traveling. Five supplement bottles can take up a lot of space in a carry-on suitcase. With vitamin packs, consumers only have to take the exact amount of pills they plan to take.
The bottom line? Convenience leads to compliance, and compliance leads to more sales for supplement brands.
6. Smaller carbon footprint than other packaging alternatives
These days, consumers are more concerned than ever with the state of the planet. That means, whenever possible, they’re seeking sustainable product options to reduce their carbon footprint. If you’re not doing anything to reduce your brand’s carbon footprint, you’ll likely lose (or fail to attract) many valuable customers.
Since pill pouches take up such little space in landfills, they have a much smaller carbon footprint than other packaging alternatives like bulky jars and bottles. They also require much less material to produce than many other competing options, which reduces waste, manufacturing costs, and the product’s overall carbon footprint.
Last but not least, as sustainability becomes more and more important to both producers and consumers, many brands are turning to materials other than plastic to package their products. Other materials, however, can be much more expensive to manufacture and produce than traditional plastic. Pouch packaging is a good way to meet in the middle. It’s more sustainable than traditional, bulky, plastic canisters, and it’s cheaper than alternatives like glass, metal, and cardboard.
Disadvantages
As far as disadvantages go, there aren’t too many disadvantages to pill pouches. In fact, there are only three notable disadvantages:
Vitamin packs usually contain a lot of pills to swallow. If your consumers dislike swallowing pills (or are simply unable to do so), it’s safe to say that pill pouches are not the best option.
Vitamin packs are usually more costly for consumers. For consumers on a budget, buying multivitamins or buying a select few daily supplements (rather than five or six bottles) can be cheaper than buying vitamin packs. If your target market has a tight budget, pill pouches may not be the best option for your brand.
If you want to customize your vitamin packs like Persona Nutrition or Care/of, you’re going to have to put in some work. These companies don’t just develop and analyze tests to provide their consumers with the perfect mix of daily vitamins, they also offer chat support and personalized guidance to explain why they’ve chosen certain supplements and ingredients for their customers.
Your supplement manufacturer can help you with packaging
There is a lot to keep in mind when choosing packaging for your supplements, but with a little help, choosing packaging can be a fun and exciting process!
One of the best ways to ensure that you’re choosing the right packaging for your supplements is by choosing a supplement manufacturer that also handles your packaging and design. That way, you can get tips and advice from experts who not only understand packaging options but also understand the industry, your exact product, and the needs of your customers.
Generation Nutra offers many kinds of packaging options, including pill pouch packaging. Here are some additional benefits of building your supplement brand with Generation Nutra:
Thousands of raw materials to choose from so you can create unique and personalized formulas.
The supplement industry is a booming but competitive industry. If you’re a supplement brand or supplement manufacturer, each and every decision regarding how you formulate, create, market, and sell your products is important and should be well-thought-out, including your supplement packaging. These days, pouch packaging is one of the most effective and popular options for supplement packaging.
Pouch packaging comes with many advantages for supplement brands and very few disadvantages. For starters, there is a wide variety of pouch options available for different kinds of products and different kinds of consumers. This makes it easy to tailor your packaging directly to your target market. Pouch packaging is also more environmentally friendly and cheaper than many other packaging options, which makes it a very attractive option for many supplement brands.
Are you interested in learning more about pouch packaging for your supplements? In this article, you’ll learn all about pouches. You’ll learn what they are and about the many different types of pouches available for supplements. You’ll also learn about some of the greatest advantages and disadvantages of using this type of supplement packaging so that you can decide whether or not it’s a good option for your target market.
What is pouch packaging?
Pouch packaging is a type of packaging for food or supplements that resembles a bag. The difference between pouch packaging and a traditional bag is that pouches are made from materials that are designed to keep the products inside safe from any external factors that could damage them, including light, heat, moisture, and odors. Pouches are also made to be more durable and resistant to punctures than traditional bags.
Most pouch packaging manufacturers achieve this high level of protection and durability by laminating together multiple layers of film that offer different kinds of protection. Metalized film in a laminated structure, for example, can significantly enhance protection from vapor and humidity. Nylon, on the other hand, is a good material to protect contents from oxygen and also helps make a pouch stronger and more durable. The best pouch manufacturers laminate multiple layers of film together to create a strong and effective material.
Pouch packaging is a rising trend. The pouch packaging market was valued at USD 18.03 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach a value of USD 22.65 billion by 2025. That’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.66% from 2020-2025. According to numbers generated by a Harris Poll, 83 % of all brand owners currently use flexible packaging of some type. [1]
But, why is pouch packaging such a booming industry? What makes pouch packaging the new preferred packaging type for manufacturers and consumers? Here are some of the greatest advantages of pouch packaging:
1. Smaller carbon footprint than other plastic containers
First and foremost, pouches take up much less space in a landfill than a bulky plastic container, which makes it a much more sustainable option. Secondly, pouches require much less material to produce than many other competing options. This reduces waste, manufacturing costs, and the product’s overall carbon footprint.
One of the greatest advantages of pouch packaging for consumers is that it’s easy to travel with. Unlike bulky canisters and containers that are heavy and take up a lot of room in a suitcase, pouches are flexible, lightweight, and take up very little space. If your supplements require a strict regimen (one serving a day, for example), you should consider supplement packaging options that are easy to transport, so your consumers can take their supplements with them wherever they go.
4. Cheaper than alternatives like glass, metal, and cardboard containers
Last but not least, as sustainability becomes more and more important to both producers and consumers, many brands are turning to materials other than plastic to package their products. Other materials, however, can be much more expensive to manufacture and produce than traditional plastic. Pouch packaging is a good way to meet in the middle. It’s more sustainable than traditional, bulky, plastic canisters, and it’s cheaper than alternatives like glass, metal, and cardboard.
Biggest disadvantages
There’s only really one major disadvantage to pouch packaging: It’s not as durable as other packaging options. That being said, many packaging manufacturers create their own pouch materials by laminating together multiple layers of film that offer different kinds of protection.
There are many types of pouches you can choose for your supplements. There are single serving pouches and multi-serving pouches. There are pouches that stand up and pouches that don’t. There are transparent pouches and opaque pouches. There are resealable pouches and non-resealable pouches. The list goes on and on.
The important thing to keep in mind is that pouch options are not mutually exclusive. That is to say, you can combine the many types below to create the perfect pouch for your products and the special needs of your target market. Let’s take a look at some of the many pouch options you can choose for your supplements.
Single-dose pouch packaging
Offering single-dose options to your customers is a great way to allow them to try your product without having to buy an entire bottle, box, or container. It’s also a great way to give out free samples, showcasing any new products you’ve recently formulated to your existing customers.
Pouch packaging is one of the best options for single doses. Stick packs are ideal for single servings of powders, and small, flat, pill pouches are perfect for single-serving vitamin samples. Single-dose pouches offer a great way to provide customized daily vitamins in the form of capsules, tablets, and pills to your customers. These customized daily vitamin packs are a fresh, new trend in the supplement industry.
Multiple-dose pouch packaging
Multiple-dose pouch packaging is perfect for consumers who regularly take supplements in the form of powders. It’s more sustainable than bulky containers, as it takes up less room in landfills, and it’s also great for consumers who travel frequently since it takes up less room in a suitcase.
Stand-up pouch packaging
If you’d rather use pouches than containers for your multiple-dose powder supplements, stand-up pouches are your best option. Stand-up pouch packaging makes it easier for retailers to showcase and sell your products and for consumers to safely store your products on their shelves at home. It’s also more convenient to work with as it’s easier for consumers to scoop from a stand-up package than a flat package.
Most stand-up pouch packaging is gusseted packaging. Gusset packaging includes extra material on the sides or bottom of the pouch so that the pouch can expand and stand upright.
Easy-open pouch packaging
How consumers will open your pouch is another key detail to keep in mind. There are a couple of different easy-open options. You can use a pouch with two divots on each side indicating that the package can be opened by tearing from one side to the other. Another option is to perforate the top of the bag, making it extra easy for consumers to open. A third option, and a slightly more difficult option for consumers, is to seal the pouch in the middle and have consumers open by pulling at each side.
Resealable plastic pouch packaging
If you’re serving multiple doses in pouches, you’ll have to make sure the package is resealable. The most common option is to include a zipper, which can be a press-to-close zipper or a slide-to-close zipper. Slide-to-close zippers are slightly easier for consumers to work with, and they’re also more secure. With press zippers, it’s easy to miss some spots and leave the bag slightly open. With slide zippers, this scenario is almost impossible.
Transparent vs opaque pouch packaging
Another decision you’ll have to make is whether you prefer transparent or opaque packaging; each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Transparent packaging is great for pill pouches as many consumers like to see the shape and size of the pills they’ll be swallowing. Transparent packaging, however, allows much less room for design and marketing messages.
Conclusions: Choosing pouch packaging
There is a lot to keep in mind when choosing packaging for your supplements, but with a little help, choosing supplement packaging can be a fun and exciting process!
One of the best ways to ensure that you’re choosing the right packaging for your supplements is by choosing a supplement manufacturer that also handles your packaging and design. That way, you can get tips and advice from experts who not only understand packaging options but also understand the industry, your exact product, and the needs of your customers.
Generation Nutra offers many kinds of packaging options, including pouch packaging. Here are some additional benefits of building your supplement brand with Generation Nutra:
Thousands of raw materials to choose from so you can create unique and personalized formulas.
The supplement industry is a booming but competitive industry. If you’re a supplement brand or supplement manufacturer, each and every decision regarding how you formulate, create, market, and sell your products is important and should be well-thought-out, including your supplement packaging. Blister packaging is one popular option for supplement packaging.
There are quite a few advantages of blister packaging for consumers and manufacturers and really not so many disadvantages. Advantages include increased security, freshness, extra convenience, easy dosing, and improved compliance among consumers, just to name a few. The only real disadvantage of blister packaging is that blister packs take a bit longer to produce. Considering the long list of advantages, however, we’d say blister packaging is often worth the wait.
In this article, you’ll learn all about blister packaging. You’ll learn what blister packs are and about the different types of blister packs available for supplements. Then, you’ll learn about all of the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of supplement packaging so that you can decide whether or not blister packaging is a viable option for your target market.
What is blister packaging?
A blister pack is made up of two separate parts. One part is a cavity or pocket molded to the shape of the supplement. The other part is the backing that keeps the supplement from falling out of the cavity.
Because of the many advantages of blister packaging for both manufacturers and consumers, blister packaging is often the preferred type of supplement packaging for capsules and tablets.
Types of blister packaging
There are many types of blister packs. The most common types include:
Plastic-paper: Plastic mold with paper backing.
Plastic-plastic: Plastic mold on both sides (usually opening like a clamshell)
Plastic-foil: Plastic mold with an aluminum foil backing.
Foil-foil: Aluminum foil mold with an aluminum foil backing.
You may have noticed that not all types of blister packs mentioned above are commonly used for supplements.
The most common types of blister packs used for supplements are plastic-foil and foil-foil. With plastic-foil blister packs, the cavity is made using a process called thermoforming – applying heat to mold the plastic. With foil-foil blister packs, the cavity is created by a process called cold pressing – pressing a stamp into the aluminum material to create the cavity.
Plastic-foil is typically more common for supplements for a couple of reasons. The plastic allows consumers to see the exact size and shape of the pill inside, and plastic-foil blister packs are faster and easier to produce. That being said, foil-foil blister packs do have one important advantage: The use of aluminum offers a near-complete barrier for water and oxygen, which increases the shelf-life of the product.
Foil-foil blister packaging made with cold pressing.
Plastic-foil blister packaging made with thermoforming.
Benefits of blister packaging for supplements
Regardless of the type of blister packaging you chose, blister packaging has many benefits for supplement brands and consumers. Below, is a list of advantages of using blister packaging for your tablets and capsules.
1. Added protection
While some capsules and tablets can withstand crashing and tumbling around in a plastic bottle (while in transit for example), others are more sensitive to movement and can break if not handled with care. Blister packs offer added protection for capsules, tablets, and softgels. The individual compartments keep the pills from crashing into each other and breaking apart.
2. Freshness
Some supplement ingredients are highly sensitive to humidity and oxygen. With plastic bottle packaging, each time a consumer opens the bottle, the pills inside are exposed to both humidity and oxygen, decreasing their shelf-life. Blister packs offer a way for consumers to access their pills without exposing the rest of the pills in the bottle to potentially harmful factors.
3. Convenience for travel
Another great advantage of blister packs is that they’re very easy to travel with. Not only are they typically lighter than plastic bottles, but they are also typically easier to store in small spaces. Travelers can choose to travel with just one sheet of pills, for example, and leave the rest at home. Not to mention, the added protection of blister packs makes them ideal for traveling.
4. Compliance
One of the greatest advantages of blister packaging is that it’s very helpful for consumers to keep track of how many pills they have taken. It’s also easy to print days of the week on the aluminum backing of blister packs to help consumers make sure they’re taking their daily supplements.
5. Transparency
Transparency is really important to some consumers. They want to see the exact size and shape of the tablet or capsule they’ll be taking every day. Blister packaging is one great way to show your consumers what your product looks like. You can also use the opportunity to get creative with colors and help your brand stand out.
Disadvantages of blister packaging for supplements
As previously mentioned, there aren’t many disadvantages to using blister packaging for your supplements. In fact, there are only really two:
It takes some additional time to produce cold-pressed, foil-foil blister packs.
Most blister packs come in cardboard boxes which aren’t always the most durable.
Are you looking for a supplement manufacturer?
If you’re looking for a supplement manufacturer, it’s a good idea to research their packaging capabilities. The way you choose to package your product could be the difference between success and failure, so you’ll want to choose a supplement manufacturer with many packaging options available.
The best supplement manufacturers will also offer you advice in terms of packaging your supplement so you can make the right decision for your supplement, your brand, and your consumers.
Generation Nutra offers many kinds of packaging options, including blister packs. Here are some additional benefits of building your supplement brand with Generation Nutra:
Thousands of raw materials to choose from so you can create unique and personalized formulas.
Thousands of raw materials to choose from so you can create unique and personalized formulas.
