Totally agree! :D We love generating design ideas, packaging inspiration, and sharing business tips for small companies, since in many ways we're a hub in the most splendid community of creative food businesses... We have a lot of knowledge stored up. :) We're definitely going to be launching a blog really soon, we're excited.
Honestly, the other side of our business that I think will be growing in importance and prominence is the ease we bring to manufacturers, by supplying them with extremely easy-to-process orders. Marketing, sales, and estimation can be a struggle for manufacturers, and our goal is to let them excel at manufacturing, while we help with the business side.
I think you're talking about the value of branding as a whole, more than necessarily our role within that world... of course not everybody excels equally in that. One of the reasons why some companies always stay tiny, or just shut down, and others grow and acquire others is that they're better or worse at branding. We're keen to help those who understand the power of branding, and want to build their business using it (especially since social media is sooo huge for food businesses right now), but lack the tools. Packaging is just an incredibly direct marketing spend for small businesses, say compared to ads.. you're helping your clients market for you, in a fun way too. :)
We work with a variety of factories in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, which is a big packaging manufacturing region. Packaging manufacturing is very fragmented - most factories are small-ish, like $10m in sales or less, often family-owned, several generations old, and in small towns. So depending on the exact size of order and special requirements, we'll work with one or several of our partner factories. For example.. the boxes might be printed in one location, then transported to another for metallic foil work, then transported back to the original factory to be die-cut and glued with a bunch of other identically-sized boxes we're making for other clients. We're always trying to make it more streamlined. Transportation isn't a huge cost -- raw materials are though, and labour, since a lot of what we do is set up major machinery to do quite small runs, such as lithographic printing presses. They take a lot of fine-tuning to get the colours and graphics perfect - and that's not a shorter process just because the total run is small.
Boxes take a lot of love (and heavy machinery) to make. :) But seriously we're actually really competitive with companies who do a similar quality of unbranded boxes. For custom options, we offer a lot more options and finishes, but with a way less cost + quantity commitment. :) For example, many printers do digital printing if you want a small volume -- we do all lithographic printing, which means the highest resolution, stunning Pantone colours, fluorescent/pastel/metallic inks, metallic hot-stamping...
Hmm I'm not sure what you're comparing Pakible (or us?) to... but a box that is manufactured in North America just for you, with your branding, still costs more than a plain box made in the bajillions in China. Georgette, and I think Pakible, are focused on making that customization as affordable and accessible as possible. We're getting there, it's early days! :)
Yes, a lot of small businesses use generic boxes and a sticker. When I owned my bakery, I did the same. That's not to say that this solution is ideal; most of the generic boxes are flimsy, tedious to assemble, and give your customers the idea that your product is ... humdrum, not something you'd pay much for. If you're working super hard to bake something amazing, your packaging should complement and introduce your product in a splendid way too -- you need to do something a little different from everybody else. Larger brands don't invest in beautiful, branded packaging for kicks -- it has a major influence on the perception people have of their wares, and contributes a lot to the customer's experience of their product. In terms of unit price being high at low volumes -- we're constantly working to get that down! :D Our minimum quantities for custom packaging are some of the lowest on the market, and our pricing very modest by comparison, because we invest in tooling on behalf of our clients. I think it's hard to see how great our pricing actually is, because it's near impossible to find other packaging companies that do what we do, or put all their pricing online.. :)
I think it depends on the goals you have for your business - there's a huge gap between little local spots that don't invest in being memorable, and major chains that everybody knows. Thoughtful branding is a major part of the bridge between the two. We work with a lot of ambitious, but small businesses that are keen to grow, be valued and loved by their communities, and be known for specific areas of expertise. Sharing that story is what branding has always been about. The price of a cup of coffee generally has a lot more to do with the experience and story (think Starbucks) than the cost of the beans, the hot water, the cup...
Agreed! This is why we exist.. we want the small businesses of the world to have the same fighting chance to be known, recognized, grow sales, and create jobs locally.