Top Luxury Packaging Trends for 2024: What Designers and Buyers need to know

Recent results from Next and M&S show there are early signs in retail that a return to traditional shopping and in-store browsing is back. While the growth in online shopping is unlikely to dwindle, conscious and careful shoppers are likely to return to brands they trust who have made good use of mixed channel retail.

The economic outlook is likely to be cautious and slow but early shoots give way to optimism and as Paul Martin (UK head of retail for KPMG) stated in the Retail Next think tank meeting, “Even if the economic outlook remains muted, one thing history teaches us is that following a downturn we often experience an upturn, and the question should be, are you doing everything now to prepare for this?” read the white paper here: Retail outlook for 2024: What are the opportunities for retailers in a year of stagnation? - Retail Think Tank

With this in mind, what are the likely trends relating to luxury Packaging in 2024?

First off, is the pantone colour of the year “– Pantone’s colour of the year, is a popular trend setter, although perhaps more of a bell-weather for popular recent trends and reflective of brand design rather than a predictor of future trends, though if everyone will be continuing along themes of bold retro colours, these slightly muted versions somewhere between pastel and pop might be a good place to start. My tip is contrast the colour with highlights of complementary colours such as jade and turquoise to help the colour pop.

image credit Pantone - learn more https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year/2024

When Lego and Nintendo teamed up to create the Super Mario Lego sets, the excitement of my inner child was hard to contain. To continue this trend of retro style, reimagined with a modern uplift I think is likely to be a key feature of the coming year. 

As 80s – 90s children become the main spenders, a combination of retro computer art, combined with pixel styles are likely to be a continuing hit in 2024.

Inspiration from artists such as Eboy and Paul Robertson combined with a brighter version of pastel colours, I’m sure we’ll see lots of these influences throughout home furnishings, clothing and product design. This will be sure to flow through into packaging as you’ll see from the next topic…

Customization can be expensive, which is why it’s often a key component in luxury packaging. If you can find your top tier of clients and excite them with a personal service, you’ll be sure to hold onto the big spenders to maintain brand loyalty. 

With advances in technologies such as 3D printing, digital tooling and lazer cutting, there are lots of ways to customize packaging to suit the individual with ever decreasing costs.

Market declines often don’t impact this tier of client, so it’s important to hold onto them as the market starts to recover, these premium services, therefore should be in the locker of all premium brands.

To further maintain this individuality – the use of clever technology alongside laser sharp marketing data is a great way to leverage your brand and find and target key consumers.

While data integrity is incredibly important, brands who have adopted and onboarded ‘member’ services alongside their product offering will be able to connect to their customers with integrated packaging technologies, NFC communication and embedded ink technology which can identify key consumer segments. This has three important benefits – 

1. Pre-purchase marketing, 

Technology can help ensure that the customer is buying the product which is suitable for them using ‘try before you buy’ techniques, this will help reduce ‘buyer remorse’ and ensure that products which have been carefully curated get in the hands of the right people. This can be done simply with QR codes linking to ‘similar products’ or by leveraging on pack NFC communication and point of sale technology which can flag your customer’s device and communicate with them using your integrated app as they browse in-store.

2. Product Engagement

Engaging with the user as soon as they get home is critical. As a first step, the magic of the opening experience combined with a clear hierarchy of information is critical to ensure the first point of contacts meet your customer expectations. Thereafter, technology combined with videos, tutorials and instruction manuals will help to ensure the customer has a great product experience rather than it not quite meeting expectations, and the customer never returning. Clever use of packaging to engage with your customer can be the key to winning a returning client, or better still a referral source from a consumer fan who tells everyone they meet about your amazing product.

3. Lifecycle and usage

Finally, usage and follow up data can help to understand the lifecycle of the product and its packaging which can help with control of your company’s carbon footprint, while better understanding your consumer journey. Where multiple iterations or product development is a key part of your road map, it’s critical that you’re working with real life experience and data rather than how you imagine the lifecycle might be.

Sustainability is in the sights of every company – if for no other reason than consumers are increasingly demanding it. While it may not be top of your agenda now, for many businesses in 2024 it will be. As government legislation comes into force, along with changes in tax law, may force the hand of even the most reluctant of businesses. 

For this reason, companies will be switching materials and making better design choices which can only be a good thing for the industry (and for designers like me!) 

With advances in technologies and materials such as mycelium and 3D printed pulp fibers, there’s many new ways to create interesting and complex shapes and patterns. Architects and product designers have been developing a wide range of techniques for large installations and often the trends seen in lighting and furniture tend to spill over into packaging too, 

So expect to see shapes and patterns inspired by nature in your packaging portfolio in 2024 – with the link to retro design, organic shapes combined with some of the geometric patterns used in the art deco period, are likely to return to the shelves.

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