How to Choose the Right Plastic Bottle for Your Product

How to Choose the Right Plastic Bottle for Your Product

If you are launching a new product, you will probably focus most of your time and effort on making sure that it is the very best product possible and that it meets as many people’s needs as possible. While the product itself is undoubtedly the most important part of the equation when preparing for a new launch, it’s fair to say the packaging comes a very close second. To help you make the right choice when selecting a plastic bottle for your new product, we have put together this guide. In it, we will discuss the most important factors for choosing the best bottle for any project.

 

How to Choose the Right Plastic Bottle for Your Product: Stage 1

The first stage of choosing the right plastic bottle for your new product is to focus on safety and practicality issues. In other words, you need to establish which materials you can safely consider and what shapes and sizes will be practical from a filling and packing perspective. For example, while it may be perfectly safe to store some products in PET bottles until they are consumed, such bottles are most often designed for single-use only. So, if you need a plastic bottle that the customer can safely refill at a later date, you will probably want to avoid PET and focus on bottles that are made from other types of plastics instead.

The aim at this stage is to produce a shortlist of materials, shapes and sizes that are both safe and practical for you to use.

 

How to Choose the Right Plastic Bottle for Your Product: Stage 2

Having established which materials, shapes and sizes you can safely consider, we recommend focusing now on convenience. Does the way in which your product will be dispensed/used from the bottle make one particular shape a better option than any other? For example, a cylindrical body with sharp shoulders is a good choice when grip may be a problem, such as when in the shower. If you are looking for a plastic bottle in which to sell your new shampoo, this type could therefore be an excellent choice.

On the other hand, if you’re currently researching packaging options for a new pre-workout protein powder, experience has shown that canisters are by far the most popular choice for this type of product. The simple, clean lines and wide mouths, which allow for easy pouring, have endeared them to weightlifters, bodybuilders and fitness fanatics across the globe.

If you want to depart from generally accepted principles and try something completely different, there is certainly nothing wrong with this. We would, however, caution you to do plenty of research first, to make absolutely sure that your alternative packaging is going to be easy and convenient for your target audience to use.

 

How to Choose the Right Plastic Bottle for Your Product: Stage 3

Having satisfied yourself that the plastic bottles on your shortlist are the safest, most practical and most convenient options available, you can now move on to consider style/aesthetics.

At this stage, we do recommend placing great importance on historical choices: if you are planning to deviate from accepted practices, you will need a very good reason for doing so. If, for example, you decide that you are not keen on the practice of using round bottles for medicines that are dispensed straight out of the bottle, you need to consider the reason they are so popular and ask yourself whether the alternative you are considering will offer the same benefits. A square bottle, for instance, would be a poor choice for such a product as it would put more strain on people’s hands, possibly causing fatigue in certain busy dispensing environments. In this case, we would not recommend placing aesthetics above convenience.

However, if you are sure that your alternative packaging idea will provide the same benefits and perhaps more besides, it could be a great option as it will definitely help to differentiate your product from any others that are already on the shelves.

 

How to Choose the Right Plastic Bottle for Your Product: Stage 4

The final stage in choosing the right plastic bottle for a new product is to consider the type of labelling you require and whether this will place any constraints on the shape or size of the bottles that you choose, or on the materials from which they are manufactured. If you have your heart set on a beautiful colourful graphic that will take up a lot of space, a small container will obviously be out of the question. However, if you are keen to use a tiny, delicately-designed logo, a smaller bottle may be the perfect choice.

How you plan to stick the labels to the bottles should also be taken into consideration at this stage. While rougher-textured surfaces can provide more grip, they also require more adhesive so they are not always the best choice for larger labels. A smooth, glossy bottle could well be a better option in this case.

 

How to Choose the Right Plastic Bottle for Your Product: The Final Decision

Before making a final decision, we recommend going back over each stage to ensure that you have not missed out any important considerations. It may also be a good idea to consult a packaging expert and talk to the manufacturer from which you will be ordering your new bottles, to see if they have any recommendations, suggestions or advice. Sometimes, a fresh perspective, especially from an industry specialist, can be invaluable when choosing packaging for a new product.

If you would like to make sure that the plastic bottles you choose are not only the perfect shape, size and style for your product but are guaranteed to be manufactured to exceptionally high standards as well, please do not hesitate to call the number one plastic bottle manufacturer in Australia and speak to us about your requirements. We would be delighted to provide you with our objective advice and to prepare a full quotation for your consideration.