Premier Packaging Review — Retail Packaging Comparison (2012)

Attractive packaging plays an important role in promoting and selling any product. It is impossible to imagine buying a gift and not having it wrapped by the salesman/saleswoman into colorful, beautifully looking paper.

If you are a retailer looking for excellent quality of wrapping and other related materials, such as bags, ribbons, gift boxes, enclosed cards for any occasion, shreds and fillers, as well as: equipment aimed specifically for packaging – price labelers and tags for example – and magnificently decorated cellophane and tissue wraps, then Premier Packaging can supply you with a great variety of packaging solutions that will enhance the saleability of your products and make customers carry them proudly on the street after leaving your store. What a nice way for your business to get extra publicity, too!

Customers need to feel pampered and unique when making their purchases, especially when it comes to buying expensive products or personalised gifts (or both). No salesperson would deem it as appropriate to wrap a precious diamond ring over a cheap, ordinary looking gift box.

That is where Premier Packaging products make the difference by offering a whole range of benefits to both the customer and the retailer:

• Bright, tastefully decorated exclusive boxing and wrapping solutions.
• Assorted bags, boxes and tissues, decorated for specialty packaging, e.g. wine, bakery and patisserie goods, fresh fruit, etc.
• Jewelry displays, gift boxes, wraps, supplies and accessories.
• Custom printing service on many products offered on site. According to site's logo: "Custom Printing is Our Specialty!".
• A great variety of assorted enclosed cards to make the customer experience even better by sending special messages to beloved ones.
• An amazing collection of gift boxes of various sizes, colors and materials, for example clear paint cans.
• A full range of packaging related equipment to save you time from getting in touch with many individual suppliers.
• Fully stocked warehouse.
• 100 years experience of distributing products on a national level.
• An extensive range of environmentally friendly products, such as biodegradeable and products made from recycled materials.
• Sponsorship of community projects and causes, i.e. the "Premier Green Program" and the "Pink Ribbon Program".
• Running an online blog where visitors can find plenty of information about the latest industry trends, as well as general packaging tips and tricks.
• Free shipping on orders over $150 (as of the time of writing this article).
• Quantity discounts available.
• Flexible product return policy.

Retail Store Packaging vs Premier Packaging

This is a major supplier of quality, specialized packaging solutions for retailers, offering national distribution. Retail Store Packaging, in comparison to Premier Packaging, offers its customers the following advantages:

• A Frequently Asked Questions Help section.
• A range of products such as promotional backpacks, duffle bags, thermo bags, tote bags and traveler bags.

However, Premier Packaging beats Retail Store Packaging in free shipping on orders over $150 and has a better policy in corporate responsibility issues, such as funding community causes. They both offer a number of environmentally friendly products and charge similar order processing fees.

Carolina Retail Packaging vs Premier Packaging

Another long-established wholesaler of retail packaging products, also covering the USA territory, Carolina Retail Packaging has been "Specializing in Designing & Printing Creative Graphics for Store Use Packaging" for over 30 years (as of the time of writing this article). Compared to Premier Packaging:

• On top of its range of packaging solutions Carolina Retail Packaging also offers store fixtures products, such as counter display cases and racks, mannequins, showcases and shopping baskets. This can prove to be a very convenient buying point for retailers looking for one-stop packaging suppliers.
• It doesn't offer any free shipping options.
• It applies a handling fee to all orders under $50 (as of the time of writing this article).

Because of the extensive line of products they offer it is hard to compare all prices with another site. After doing a lot of research on other sites and their pricing, I have to say that it is somewhere in the middle. It is not the cheapest when it comes to the custom imprinting and other custom items such as tissue paper and bags.

The one complaint about the pricing is the service fee. You are charged $5 for orders under $500 and $10 for orders over $500. Even so, Premier Packaging offers an unbeatable free shipping on orders over $150 service, which gives them a strong competitive advantage, especially in today's tight financial conditions. Another advantage in terms of pricing is that Premier Packaging offers quantity discounts, and when this is combined with its free shipping policy, it can be translated into huge cost savings for its customers.

As I mentioned above, the one thing that I have come across while looking into premierpackaging.com is the service fee. They charge a $5.00 fee for all orders under $500 and a $10 fee for all orders over $500. Other than that, all the reviews and comments I have found say that premierpackaging.com's prices are low compared to other sites, especially the pricing on their custom supplies.

Those visiting Premier Package online will have the opportunity to read reviews written by long-standing customers, a feature that will add greatly to the company's external image and credibility.

Finally, the company's stand on enironmental issues and community causes shows a genuine interest to provide a broader benefit to the society, further than serving individual customer needs.