If you’ve ever asked three packaging suppliers to quote the same project and received three very different answers, the problem may have started with the RFQ.
A good packaging RFQ isn’t necessarily long.
It gives suppliers enough information to understand what you’re trying to accomplish, quote the same opportunity on the same assumptions, and suggest a better solution when one exists.
Want the best packaging at the best price? Here’s what to include in your RFQ
1. What Problem Are You Trying to Solve?
This may be the most important part of your RFQ.
Don’t just tell us what you want to buy. Tell us why you are making a change.
Are you trying to reduce cost? Improve shelf presence? Solve a production problem? Reduce product damage? Eliminate an insert? Consolidate vendors? Reduce lead times? Find a domestic source? Launch a new format? Is this a new product?
Sometimes the problem is extremely specific: your pre-rolls move inside the package and lose material in transit. Your current container has too much headspace. Your filling team struggles with the closure.
A good packaging supplier shouldn’t just quote exactly what you asked for if there’s a better way to accomplish what you’re trying to do.
2. What Is Going Inside It?
This deserves its own section.
Give us the actual product dimensions, weight and/or fill volume of your product(s)—not just the dimensions of the package you’re using today.
If you’re packaging pre-rolls, for example, tell us their length, diameter, and how many need to fit. If there are multiple formats, give us the specifications for each.
Your current package tells us what you’re doing today.
Your product tells us what the next package actually needs to do.
3. What Are the Must-Haves—and Where Can We Get Creative?
Separate requirements from preferences.
Child resistance, food-contact requirements, dimensions dictated by a filling line, tamper evidence or a particular label panel may be non-negotiable.
Color, material, closure style, decoration or even the package format itself may not be. Tell suppliers where the guardrails are—and where you’d like them to bring ideas.
4. Annual Volume and Order Volume
“We use 500,000 per year” doesn’t necessarily mean you’re ordering 500,000 at once.
And “quote your best price” without providing volume isn’t enough information to generate a meaningful price.
Give us:
Annual volume: 500,000 units
Expected PO: 100,000 units
Reorder frequency: Approximately every 10–12 weeks
Number of SKUs: 5
Those numbers can materially change manufacturing methods, MOQs, inventory strategies, freight and pricing.
If your forecast isn’t firm, that’s okay. A reasonable range is much more useful than no volume at all.
5. How Many SKUs and Formats?
100,000 identical packages is very different from 100,000 packages divided among 10 strains, flavors or formulations.
And tell us whether you’re looking for one solution or potentially several.
Could one package accommodate multiple product formats? Are you willing to select different packages for different SKUs? Could the award be split between domestic and imported products?
That changes how we approach the project.
6. Decoration
What does the finished package need to look like?
Pressure-sensitive labels? Direct print? Shrink sleeves? Embossing? Custom color? Multiple labels?
How many artworks are involved? And who is applying them?
Artwork count and decoration method can materially affect MOQ, setup costs, lead time and unit economics.
7. Where Does It Need to Go?
A $0.10 package isn’t a $0.10 package if it costs another $0.04 to get it to your facility. Give suppliers the final delivery destination and ask for a landed price whenever possible.
For imported packaging, make sure everyone is quoting on the same basis. Freight, duties, tariffs, customs clearance and brokerage can make seemingly similar quotes very different.
8. What’s the Timeline?
Don’t just tell us when you need the packaging. Tell us when:
Proposals are due. Samples are required.
The decision will be made. Production needs to begin. Finished packaging needs to arrive. The product launches.
Those are different dates.
There may also be several ways to hit the same launch date—existing inventory, domestic production, overseas production, air freight, ocean freight or a combination of them.
9. How Will You Make the Decision?
If cost is 80% of the decision, tell us.
If you’re willing to pay more for a substantially better consumer experience, tell us that too.
What matters most: landed cost, sustainability, shelf presence, lead time, domestic production, innovation, supply reliability, operational efficiency?
You don’t necessarily need a formal scoring matrix. But suppliers should understand what
“better” means to you.
Otherwise, one supplier may optimize for price while another optimizes for design—and you’ll receive two proposals that aren’t really competing against each other.
10. What Happens After the First PO?
A packaging program isn’t just the initial quote.
Tell us about expected reorder cadence, growth expectations, seasonal demand, new-market launches, safety-stock requirements and whether additional brands or SKUs could eventually move onto the same packaging platform.
That information may create options that don’t make sense when we’re looking at the first PO in isolation. We don’t need everything, but the more information you have, the better suppliers such as CRATIV will be able to meet your needs. This may also help with your internal stakeholders.
Better RFQs Create Better Solutions
The goal isn’t to write a 12-page procurement document.
It’s to give your packaging partners enough information to understand the business problem—not just the package you’re currently buying.
The best RFQs tell us:
- What we’re trying to
- What’s going inside the
- The “must ”
- Where we’d like your
- How much we expect to
- When we need
- How we’ll make the
That’s enough for a good supplier to do more than send you a price. It’s enough to help solve the problem.
Thinking about a brand overhaul, a product refresh or large RFQ?
Let’s talk.
Whether you’re looking for an existing package, a custom solution, North American manufacturing or global sourcing, CRATIV can help you evaluate the options and build the right packaging program.
CRATIV Engineered Packaging: North American manufacturing. Global sourcing. Custom solutions.
