The way to approach this is from the customer backwards. Someone earlier touched on price point, and he’s pretty much correct.
Ask yourself these questions:
- How much will this product sell for (price point)?
- What kind of packaging is expected? i.e. wine’s packaging is expected to be an elegant bottle, whereas an elegant bottle of milk will look ridiculous and cost too much.
- After essential costs are factored in (raw materials, manufacturing costs, etc. that can’t be trimmed without losing the essence of the actual product) how much cost does that allow for the packaging without raising the price?
- How do we maximize the quality of the packaging without cutting into our profit margin goal?
It’s a simple process that involves a lot of tough decisions. But if you get a good marketing campaign going, you might be able to sell the end product for more than competitors if it’s “highly valued,” as you say. You would also be surprised what a logistics consultant can come up with to save money for your company on things like palleting, transportation sharing, and storage. And if it’s a large manufacturing operation, get an operations management consultant to take a deep look at your processes and cut out lots of manufacturing and labor waste.
I should say, I know absolutely shit about design, I just enjoy ID a whole lot. I do have a business degree, and I also thinks it’s really exciting that a lot of business schools and ID schools are teaming up for this reason. Hope that helps and that I don’t sound like a pompous douche.