How to make your products look more expensive

One of my favorite places to shop is Bendon Lingerie. When you buy there, everything comes gorgeously wrapped in pastel pink tissue paper, and inside a shiny carry bag. It makes the Bendon brand more appealing and it makes me OK with the fact that I'm spending $89 on a single bra (TMI? Sorry!). 

Anyway, when we buy online, sometimes the magic is removed: There's no carry bag and tissue paper and the glow of buying something new is dimmed a little. 

I've got a little formula, however, that give buyers back that joy and excitement of buying something new. Better yet, my little formula makes my products look more expensive which means I can up my prices make better profits on every sale. 

It's pretty simple and doesn't cost a lot. I just repackage my items a little. Here's what my little baby banana suit looks like when it arrives from my supplier in China. 

Bound with plastic packaging...

... and a cheap-looking swing tag.

Most buyers dislike seeing Chinese symbols on their purchases because it reminds them that the product was made in China. Maybe it's a subconscious reminder that they are buying something that I bought at a wholesale price? Regardless of the reasoning, the swing tag has got to go, as does that tacky plastic packaging. 

To replace it, I use my own swing tag that has my logo and company colors. Below you can see the back and front of one I had custom made:

Using my nifty little tagging gun, I add my swing tag. I got my tagging gun off eBay for less than $20. It does the job, but has a mean needle that I've pricked myself with many times!

Make sure you get one like mine that has a cap on it so that you can cover up the needle. I use the needle to punch a hole in the swing tag, then pull the trigger to attach the tag. Voila! Instant branding and instantly more valuable to buyers. 

The next thing I add is a flyer that thanks buyers for their purchase and gives them a coupon code to get a 20% discount on their next purchase. here's the back and front of the flyers. They're A5 size (8.3 x 5.8 in). Sorry the photo is a little blurry. 

There are two reasons why I use this flyer: 

1. Firstly, because it simply looks nice and adds a personal touch. Brand consistency is important to me because I know building a brand earns you more money now and especially in the future. As I sell baby clothing, part of my brand is being warm and personal: Most of my customers are moms who love getting a little thank you note. 

2. Repeat customers make a business and by giving them an incentive to purchase again by giving them a discount, it encourages them to do so.

Also, it's proven that 20% is an optimal discount to offer. 20% meets the "Just Noticeable Difference" threshold which means the discount is enough for customers to actually recognise it as a benefit. Generally, anything less than 20% doesn't appeal to customers. Oh, unless of course you are Apple and you can offer a 5% discount and get the world tweeting about it! 

I don't like to offer too much more than 20% off my products, but that's a whole other blog post! 

Finally, I wrap it all up in some blue tissue paper. Admittedly, I don't do this every time, mostly because some of my products are too big, but I know my buyers love it, so I try to remain consistent. 

Wondering what product I was playing with? A cute little baby banana suit. They're a popular seller and they're pretty accessible in the wholesale world if you want to check them out. 

Now, I know what you're thinking, the swing tags, the flyers and the tissue paper must have cost me a fortune, right? Well, it wasn't exactly free, but you can easily setup something like this on the cheap. 

All swing tags need is your logo and tagline if you have one, then get them printed through a cut price printer like Vista Print. I haven't used Vista Print myself but I know it's very cheap (just watch the shipping costs). 

Flyers might need to be designed unless you're handy with Adobe InDesign or other graphic design software. Working with a student from a local design school could be a great option. Just remember, you only need to get these designed once and then you can use it as much as you like. You can print 100 flyers through Vista Print for $24.99 in the US. Check out their deals here. 

Warning: If you go away and use Microsoft Word or Paint and create something yourself... something like the image below, you have completely missed my point I'm getting across in this blog post and you're probably better off not including any flyer at all. 

And you can purchase tissue paper in bulk like I did and it works out at a few cents a sheet. Of course, not all products are suited to using tissue paper... or swing tags for that matter, but I hope this has give you some inspiration for how to add some value to your products. If you have any questions, leave me a comment below. I always love hearing from you. 

Recommended Reading: How to Come Up with Creative Ideas for What to Sell on eBay

Note: If you go looking for my baby boutique, you won't find it (sorry!). The website is being redesigned at the moment and I'm being a bit fussy about what I want.  I decided a good time to do this blog post was now, while the site was down so that it didn't seem like I was piggy backing off SaleHoo traffic and trying to make some sales :P