By Erin Shea, Senior Director of North America Marketing at VistaPrint
For many small businesses today, the box is the storefront.
As more entrepreneurs sell online or through social platforms, customers often experience a brand for the first time not in a physical space, but at their doorstep. A package arrives. The customer opens it. In those few seconds — the box, the materials, the presentation — the brand comes to life.
At a time when Canadians are becoming more selective about where they spend their money, nearly eight in ten say supporting local businesses feels more important than it did a year ago. This makes those first impressions matter more than ever. Where storefronts once relied solely on window displays or signage to draw people in, packaging now carries that same responsibility. It’s the first physical touchpoint a customer has with your business, and it sets the tone for everything that follows.
And consumers notice. Research shows that 72% of people say packaging design influences their purchasing decisions, highlighting just how powerful that first visual and tactile impression can be. For small businesses competing in crowded digital marketplaces, packaging isn’t just about functionality — it’s emotional marketing.
Turning the Unboxing into an Experience
The most memorable unboxing experiences usually have something in common: they feel intentional.
That doesn’t mean they need to be elaborate or expensive. Often, it’s the small details that make the moment memorable, like a custom mailer, branded tissue paper, or a thank-you note that reminds the customer there’s a real person behind the business.
These touches create something increasingly rare in digital commerce: a tangible brand experience.
When customers make fewer purchases, but expect more from each one, those moments of surprise and delight can have an outsized impact on how a brand is remembered.
When a package feels thoughtfully designed, it signals care and professionalism. In fact, 61% of consumers say branded packaging makes them more excited to open a parcel, showing how much anticipation and emotion can be built into a single delivery.
Entrepreneurs have an opportunity not just to deliver a product, but to create a moment customers remember.
Extending Your Brand Beyond the Product
Great packaging works best when it feels like a natural extension of your brand.
Just like your logo, website and marketing materials communicate something about your business, your packaging should carry that same identity forward. Colour, typography, materials and messaging all help reinforce the personality of your brand.
For some businesses, that might mean clean, minimalist packaging that reflects a modern aesthetic. For others, it could be bold colours or playful design elements that capture the energy of the brand.
Increasingly, sustainability is also part of that story. Many entrepreneurs are also thinking more carefully about how their packaging reflects their environmental values. Across Canada, sustainability has become a major factor in purchasing decisions. Research shows that 73% of Canadian consumers actively seek products with eco-friendly packaging, reflecting growing expectations around responsible design and materials.
When packaging reflects what a brand stands for, it becomes another way to communicate those values.
Creating Shareable Moments
One of the biggest shifts in recent years is how packaging has become a marketing tool in its own right — largely because of social media. Unboxing content has exploded across platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, turning packaging into a form of organic advertising.Â
Customers routinely share the experience of opening a product, from subscription boxes to small-batch goods — introducing brands to entirely new audiences.
In many ways, the unboxing moment has become part of the product itself.
For small businesses with limited marketing budgets, this is a powerful opportunity. When customers share these experiences, they’re not just showing the product — they’re showcasing the brand behind it.
When entrepreneurs think about packaging through that lens, not just as a shipping solution but as a brand moment, packaging becomes the stage for that story.
Small Details, Big Impact
Running a small business means constantly balancing creativity, operations and cost. Packaging might seem like a small piece of the puzzle. However, in today’s experience-driven economy, it’s one of the few moments where a brand can create genuine surprise and delight.
The product might be what customers buy, but the experience is what they remember. And when customers remember how your brand made them feel — not just what they bought — they’re far more likely to come back.
In a market where customers are more intentional about the brands they support, those small details can make all the difference. For entrepreneurs building their brands one customer at a time, the unboxing experience is just as important as what’s inside.
(Erin Shea is the Senior Director of North America Marketing at VistaPrint. VistaPrint helps small business owners and entrepreneurs create custom designs and professional marketing.)
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I run a small skincare brand from my apartment, so the idea that “the box is the storefront” really clicks for me. You spend so much energy getting people to click “buy,” but what happens next? That first physical moment at their doorstep is where lasting impressions are actually made.