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about the benefits of ordering customizable shopping bags for your store or business, but believe it or not, there are those instances where it’s simply not yet time for you to customize your retail shopping bags. Especially in the earlier stages of your business, there’s nothing wrong with not customizing your shopping bags. Here, we’ll outline some of the reasons why you shouldn’t panic if you can’t afford or simply don’t want to customize your bags for the time being.

#1: You Might Be Able to Save Money

This one should be a no-brainer. Of course, if you are looking for ways to save on your packaging budget, you might consider not purchasing custom shopping bags during the early stages of your business. This way, you may also be able to afford higher-quality bags – and with studies showing that more than HALF of consumers will likely make additional purchases from brands that use premium packaging, it’s proof…quality counts. Not customizing your bags may also allow you to take advantage of large-order discounting. Placing a bigger order can give you more time to grow your profits before you have to order again. Keep in mind that it’s still a great idea to order bags in your store’s colors, or even print off your own logo stickers and place them on bags individually for the time being.

#2: You Don’t Have to Stress About Finalizing Your Logo Art

It’s never a good idea to rush into making decisions in your professional life, and accepting the first sub-par logo design that crosses your desk, just so you can place an order for custom printed shopping bags, could be a permanent and costly mistake. Think about it: if you don’t take the time you need to create the perfect logo and instead go with the “first available” option, it will make any potential re-branding very challenging in the future. Your customer will get used to the first logo, and seeing it printed on your retail shopping bags will only further their association of it with your store. When you re-order shopping bags with a new logo, font, or image, customers may have a tough time realizing that the bag is in fact from your store. They may even assume you closed down if they stop seeing bags with your logo on the sidewalks and on social media accounts. Re-branding is also incredibly time-consuming, and often incredibly expensive as well. Don’t rush into a poor design choice when you could simply order non-customized bags until you’re happy with your logo.

#3: It May Allow Your Customers to Reuse Your Bags More Easily

Let’s be honest: if a shopping bag is decked out with logos and other clearly branded images, your customers may not want to use them as gift bags, lunch boxes, or anything else as much as they may if they were plain shopping bags. Especially if you’re a very high-end boutique or a store that sells items that are best kept discreet, your customers may want to keep their shopping patterns quiet. A plain kraft paper shopping bag also can allow them to save time on gift-wrapping, which is a huge help during a holiday rush or when they’re picking up a birthday gift on their way to the party itself. Even if you have customized bags in your store already, for this reason, keeping a few non-customized bags on hand may benefit your customers.

#4: It Can Create an In-Store Activity for Children

If you have children of your own, or if you’ve ever shopped with someone else’s, you know that keeping the little ones entertained and calm while you check off the items on your list can be a bit of a challenge. Help your customers with children by setting up a small table or even an easel toward the back of the store (and not near any breakables or dangerous items, of course!) – then you can let the little ones draw on your non-customized white shopping bags while the parents shop. Place a few markers, colored pencils, and stickers out in your makeshift “kid zone,” and encourage kiddos to get creative! Not only will your mom and dad shoppers thank you, their kids will most likely ask to be taken back to your store so they can decorate more bags!

Customizing your retail shopping bags is a lot of fun – but it’s also a lot of work, and sometimes, a bit more of an expense. Remember, there’s nothing wrong with temporarily using a classic, discreet, unlabeled shopping bag in your store.