How Solar's packaging revamp led to 30% jump in sales

For DesignerPeople, the aim was to take Solar Sales out of its existing corner in the B2B segment and promote them in a modern trade with a little more aggression and a lot more panache.

 

Solar Sales India has been working on a B2B business model in the Hotel/Restaurant/Café sector for aeons and was looking to expand business and a facelift.  That’s where DesignerPeople came into the picture.

 

Megha Malik, creative art director, said, “The challenge was to upgrade a product design that they had been carrying for close to two decades and make it look contemporary and stylish.”

 

The challenge according to Malik was that “Solar’s Zone brand was known in the country and we needed to start exploring where the products actually stood in the HORECA market and how we needed to redesign the look to capture additional horizons.”

 

For the design agency, the key objectives were to make their products stand out amongst the competition and to increase their visibility on the shelves. This started with looking at what information needed to show up on the products, what could be done away with and how it could be rearranged to look cutting edge and modish.

 

She explains, “We went back and forth with a number of ideas, but we were clear about one thing – the design needed a standardised look to exude quality, assist easy recognition and reflect a voguish flavour that caught the eye.”

 

The process started with making the colours brighter, modernising the fonts and the arrangement of the information on the products.  “The next step was to decide what would look good to the emerging next-generation market, how attention could be better drawn and quick information relayed by attractive imaging and the associations linked to them,” informs Malik.

 

For this, the DesignerPeople created a whole new set of images and colours were incorporated, fonts were redesigned and the packing sizes, shapes and feel changed to come up with an array of packaging designs that represented modern, flamboyant and good looking.

 

The design overhaul proved to rearrange and reposition Solar’s shelf placement and visual exposure leading to easy recognition increased product acceptance and resulted in the boost in sales.

 

The market response has been exceptionally positive and Solar’s unbending support and freedom to our designers and creative team have been a high point. DesignerPeople continue to serve them as a branding partner.

 

There was a change in packaging shape from corrugated paper box to tube boxes, to increase the attractiveness and made the product more user-friendly. Since Solar's products are used multiple times, it demanded a packaging which provided moisture free storage, so that product can last for long. "Hence packaging shape and structure should be practical for multi-time usage which shall protect the ingredients inside with wear and tear in packaging and this was achieved," informs Malik.

 

She says, "Once the updated design was launched in the market; Solar witnessed an increase of 30% in the sales volume. The product wise analysis for the refined designs and packaging has shown an overall acceptability increased by 25% in nontraditional markets too."

 

To explain the sales, Malik shares, " The category wise increase of gourmet sugars which was the  first project with us stood at 28% in sales from the financial year 2015-16 to 2016-17."

 

Vineet Jain, the director, Solar Sales, says, "Working with DesignerPeople has been a breeze. What had Started out with a single product redesign has now moved onto a complete product portfolio overhaul. We have seen increased product acceptance with the newer designs and packaging. We look forward to working with Shivam and team on our future projects."

 

According to him, the association with DesignerPeople has helped Solar Sales to grow at a very organic, yet fast pace of 15% year-on-year growth in overall sales.