Do You Make Any of These Mistakes with Your Packaging Supplies?
So you've developed a new product, organised your packaging supplies and are now looking at which countries to ship it to.
There are a number of packaging mistakes made by big companies which has cost them dearly in shipping, recalls and getting new packaging supplies. When it comes down to it, there are really only two things you have to be very careful with.
Wow, your product sure does look great written in Spanish, but you don't speak spanish. do you really know what its really saying to native Spanish speakers?
The Gerber Baby Food Company found themselves in a similar situation when they decided to launch their range of products into French supermarkets.
This was the same trap that the Gerber Baby Food Company fell into. When the company launched their line of baby food in French supermarkets, they initially recorded dismal sales. After some closer matrket research, it was pointed out that the word 'Gerber' translated into 'vomiting' in French.
Nothing. With almost no-sales, Gerber went into panic mode. It was at this stage where they were told by a native French speaker that the company name 'Gerber' actually translated into "Vomiting".
One Word, Two Meanings
Sometimes there are times where fate just deals you a bad hand. This was the case of a company that launched a diet product.
The brother to the translation problems category, this is an unfortunate situation that can potentially affect any packaging supplier or people ordering packaging. This the scenario where your product or packaging becomes an household name for all the wrong reasons.
This product gained a firm hold in the 60's, had continued success in the 70's however in early eighties, their sales dropped sharply and the brand was everntually discontinued.
The worst part about this is that if this happens to your product, its probably not your fault and to compound this, there's not really much you can do to stop people using the particualr terminology. Your best bet here is to cut your losses, change your product name and order new packaging supplies.
Idealy to avoid situations like this, you will want to take a good long hard look at your packaging suppies and make sure that your product still says what its meant to say in the country you're about to send it to!