Dewalt has made significant changes to their utility knife blade retail packaging.
I first noticed the new packaging today while browsing the tool aisles at my local Home Depot store.
It looks like Dewalt applied their new packaging to higher-count replacement blade dispenser packs, and it is not clear whether they will do their same for their 5-count SKUs.
Advertisement
Dewalt’s new utility knife blade retail cards have large images of their respective blade shapes, along with a highlighted description of their intended applications.
Major features and selling points are featured on the front of the card, and the number of included blades is clearly depicted.
There are also graphics showing the general purpose blades’ tip strength, wear resistance, and life. This information will presumably be useful for comparing different qualities across other styles of Dewalt everyday-use utility knife blades.
The rear of the packaging has additional product details, such as typical corporate information, country of origin, and the UPC code.
A worker or customer had reversed the orientation of two blade packs on their pegs, and I noticed that there are still sufficient details to identify the blade types.
Dewalt’s prior blade dispenser packaging had a much different look.
Advertisement
Assuming that Dewalt does the same with all of their utility knife blade packs, or at least the higher count SKUs that come with dispenser boxes, the new packaging might allow for quicker and more informative comparisons.
At the least, the larger-than-life images on the retail card fronts should allow for quicker selection.
I wonder – will Dewalt’s redesigned retail packaging give them a competitive edge? The new look definitely grabs my eye and helps the Dewalt blade packs stand out on the shelf. I’ll be sure to check back to see how everything looks when the display rack is fully restocked.
It remains to be seen whether utility knife blade packs from Dewalt’s sibling brands, namely Stanley, Craftsman, Irwin, and Lenox, will be given similar treatment.
Charles_A
Further evidence that we, as a group, are very easily impressed by anything tool-related.
RI Guy
I would like to have seen some dude looking rad on the packaging cutting something in full action stance. Dewalt really messed this one up for sure.
Stuart
Ha!
But seriously, I have seen other subtle retail packaging updates that provide clear improvements to shoppers. Small changes can make big differences.
I like to recognize efforts like this when I come across them.
If you don’t know which blades you want to buy, this change looks to make selection and comparison easier.
Charles_A
Agreed – and, to be fair, these packages are clearer and more descriptive. These are great blades – I picked up a couple of the 50 packs over Christmas.
Steve
I noticed this, I was confused for a second.
Marcel
Did I just read an article about a packaging change?
Stuart
I make no apologies – the title is as clear as can be, and so you knew what you were getting into!
It’s not like I titled the post “Dewalt made a shocking change – will competitors follow their lead?” and buried the lede 4 paragraphs in.
Coming up next, a story on Dewalt, Milwaukee, and Makita screwdriver bit retail packaging changes!
Dave the tool
Two observations. 1) They may initially lose some sales as customers are used to seeing the blades with holder and may just grab the others because they don’t want or don’t have the time to investigate the packaging change. 2) I can understand Dewalt’s marketing strategy with the packaging but like many things in marketing it will be a hit or a miss.
MT
New look! But still the same great taste?
DC
I’d still buy DeWalt blades , new or old packaging.
Rog
Way better on shelf presence now.
R H
This reminds me of an advertising story about Ivory Soap. Research had proven that women’s eyes dilate the most when they see babies, and dilation was an indicator of interest. So many soap companies would have a picture of a baby on the packaging to draw the attention of the (mostly) female shoppers.
Ivory Soap did much the in the 1970s, hiring a little known actress named Marilyn Chambers to hold a baby and pose for their soap advertisement. Unfortunately for Ivory Soap, Marilyn later went on to become quite successful at making pornographic films. In a weird scientifically ironic way, the same scientific study that had studied women’s eye dilation had also studied men’s dilation, which found that a picture of a naked female caused the most dilation. Thus, Ivory Soap happened to appeal to both male and female shoppers…although probably not in the way they would have wanted.
Source: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/slap-n-tickling-the-ivory/
I can’t find the scientific study…I had read it a long time ago as a junior in college.
Changing things, even little things, can mean a huge difference in sales, simply as a way of drawing attention. Millions of dollars goes into marketing design of colors, shapes, adjectives and even textures, all with the goal of influencing the human mind that often makes snap decisions on these subtle cues. The Dewalt folks probably looked at their blade packaging and said “What can we change that will draw the eyeballs of passing shoppers to make that snap decision to buy our blades over others,” and thus this new packaging was born.