Different Ideas for Clear Plastic Containers

You’ve undoubtedly seen a variety of businesses using clear plastic containers. Businesses often use these containers to store and display everything from candy and other dry foods to small children’s toys and travel-sized convenience items.

Because they’re available in such a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and styles, these kinds of plastic bins are some of the most versatile tools available for any kind of organization; however, retails businesses aren’t the only kinds of businesses that can use these containers. Below are just a few ideas of other organizations that use plastic bins for organizing, storing, and display items – as well as an assortment of other uses!

Businesses Use Clear Plastic Containers at Tradeshows

Clear plastic containers are lightweight and generally rather small when compared to other display tools, which makes them perfect for tradeshows. Any kind of professional who attends a tradeshow can use clear plastic containers to display his products, hold his business cards and collect the business cards of other organizations, and even offer freebies and prize drawings to spectators.

Nonprofits and Charities Use Clear Plastic Containers In and Out of the Office

Nonprofit organizations and charities can uses clear plastic containers both inside and outside their offices.

These containers are great for organizing office tools as well as collecting donations, and many nonprofit organizations and charities use these containers to passively collect donations at other retail locations throughout their area. For example, you can choose a few popular businesses throughout your city, ask the store manager if you can place a container on the store’s countertop, and start collecting donations.

Fundraisers Use Clear Plastic Containers for Organization and Collection

Whether you’re organizing a car wash or managing a bake sale, clear plastic containers are great tools for collecting proceeds as well as organizing and display your tools or the items you’re selling.

And, just like nonprofits and charities, fundraiser organizations can use these bins to collect donations at retail locations. Just ask the store manager if you can place a container on the countertop near the register and wait for donations to roll in.

You Can Use Clear Plastic Containers in Your Home

You don’t have to offer a professional service to have a need for clear plastic containers! Homes have many uses for these containers:

• Kitchen: Use plastic bins in your kitchen or pantry to organize food items or odds and ends like extra plastic utensils, hand wipes, and toothpicks.
• Bathroom: Plastic bins are great for organizing, display, and keeping clean hygiene items like cotton balls and cotton swabs. You can even use these containers to store trial- and travel-sized products you’ve collected and hung onto for emergencies like small bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and mouthwash as well as tubes of toothpaste and toothbrushes.
• Children’s Room: Use these containers to store small children’s toys like bouncy balls and jacks, building blocks, crayons, play jewelry, and miniature cars.
• Garage and Basement: These two home areas are common locations for storage and work, and you can use plastic containers to organize and store nuts, bolts, nails, screws, and other small extras.
  

Use the Most Popular Plastic Containers in Your Store

If you’re considering using plastic containers in your store for displaying edible items like candy or trail mix or non-edible merchandise like key chains or matchbooks, get familiar with some of the most popular kinds of containers – not because you want to use what everyone else is using, but because everyone else is using them for a reason! Knowing about these containers will help you choose which ones will work best for the merchandise you want to display as well as the space you have to work with.

Round and Fish Bowl

The words “round” and “fish bowl” are often used to describe the same kind of sphere-shaped plastic container, and these containers are perhaps the most common – and popular – of them all.

Keep in mind that the uses for fish bowl and round plastic containers go beyond the traditional retail business. For example, if you manage a pet store, you can use these containers to hold actual fish, as well as merchandise like collars designed for small dogs, sample packets of wipes designed to clean your pet when you’re on the go, and even special treats. These round or fish bowl containers are also great for amusement parks, where they can hold fish offered as prizes, ticket stubs, tokens, and other small trinkets for sale or to win.

Plastic containers shaped like spheres aren’t the best choices for saving space, so make sure you choose containers in sizes suitable for the space you have to work with. For example, if you have limited countertop space, it might work best if you only use one large round container or two or three small fish bowl containers.

Square and Rectangle

People sometimes use the words “square” and “rectangle” interchangeably to describe a plastic container with four flat sides, but generally a container with four flat sides of even widths and heights are better described as a square plastic container, while a container with four flat sides with uneven widths and heights are better described as rectangle plastic containers.

In square and rectangle containers, you can display anything that’s small enough to fit inside; however, as is the case with round containers, it’s best to choose items that aren’t extremely differently shaped than the containers themselves. For example, gumballs wouldn’t be the best merchandise choice for square plastic containers.

One of the best features of square and rectangle containers is their space-saving ability. You can place these containers side-by-side and back-to-back with virtually no room in between. Storeowners who have little display rack or countertop space to work with greatly benefit from containers shaped like squares and rectangles.

Hexagon

If you could blend round and square containers, hexagon plastic containers would be the result. Hexagon containers both save and take up space; they’re similar to sphere containers in that they can’t sit exactly side-by side, but they’re also similar to square plastic containers because you can position them back-to-back.

And, just like you’d expect from the offspring of round and square containers, these containers are ideal for nearly every kind of merchandise small enough to fit in them.

Versatile Plastic Containers Work for Nearly Every Business

If your business sells any kind of small merchandise – whether it’s edible items like candy or non-edible items like key chains – you should be aware of how using plastic containers can help you store, organize, and display your merchandise.

These versatile containers come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors to help you best use the space you have to work with and add visual appeal to your display, and they can be paired with accessories to increase your customers’ convenience.

Shape

Some of the most popular shapes of plastic containers include round, "fish bowl," square, rectangular, and hexagon. You can also find holiday-inspired shapes like a Santa Claus boot and Christmas tree.

The container shape you choose will depend on the kind of merchandise you plan to display as well as the kind of space you have to work with. For example, if you plan to display round gumballs, a fish bowl or round plastic container will work best. If you have a small countertop or very little space on your display rack, a tall, square plastic container will make the most of the space.

Size

Plastic containers are available in sizes small enough to act as tip jars and large enough to hold merchandise like an assortment of jumbo gumballs or small plush children’s toys.

Choose the size of your containers based on what you plan to hold in them and how much space your countertop or display rack offers. For example, if you plan to display unwrapped candies on a small countertop, you might want to choose one large plastic container or two or three small containers. If you have plenty of countertop space, or an entire display rack, then you might want to use a few large containers or many small containers.

Color

Clear plastic containers are probably the most popular kind. Not only do they "match" every business décor, but because they’re see-through, they also offer extra convenience to both you and your customers.

However, colored acrylic bins have much to recommend them, too. You can find these containers in colors like pink, blue, green, yellow, and orange and the colors are transparent enough so that you and your customers can easily see the merchandise inside. Many businesses can have fun with colored plastic containers, choosing colors that match their stores’ themes or coordinate with the kind of merchandise displayed in the containers. For example, candy store owners might choose to display Atomic Fireballs in red plastic containers.

Accessories

Accessories for plastic containers are designed to increase the convenience of the containers and the cleanliness of the merchandise inside.

If you plan to display loose merchandise in your containers, such as cereal, or you know you or your customers will need to lift the containers for any reason, then you should choose handgrip containers. At the same time, if you know you’re going to display unprotected edible items, such as unwrapped candies like gumballs or other unwrapped foods like peanuts, you should choose plastic containers with lids and make sure your customers have access to plastic or aluminum scoops.

How to Order Wholesale Plastic Containers

If you run any kind of retail business or restaurant, chances are you know you can use wholesale plastic containers. Maybe you’re not quite sure how you can use them, but you know they’d be handy if only you’d order some and start using them.

The problem with wholesale plastic containers is the phrase itself. It obviously encompasses a vast assortment of containers, and you might not know how to begin ordering these containers.

Below are three easy steps to help you order wholesale plastic containers for your business.

Step 1: Look at Your Merchandise

What kinds of merchandise do you want to store and display in your plastic containers?

If you plan to display edible merchandise – like candy, gumballs, cereal, or pastries – you’ll want to choose food grade plastic containers and containers with lids. For items like cereal, trail mix, and coffee, you can find plastic food dispensers designed to mount on your store’s walls or aisles.

However, if you plan to store non-edible items – or even edible items in wrappers – you can select traditional round or square plastic containers with openings large enough for your customers to easily access the merchandise.

Step 2: Look at Your Store’s Space

How much space do you have to work with inside your store? Do you plan to place your containers on your store’s counter tops and near the registers? If so, look at how much counter top space you have to work with, and then compare that to the kind of merchandise you plan to display on your counter top. You might find that several small plastic containers will do the job, or you might need one or two larger containers.

If you’d rather showcase your merchandise elsewhere in the store, you can look at accessories like plastic and wire display racks, detailed below.

Step 3: Look at Available Accessories

Candy display racks are great tools for showcasing merchandise throughout your store. (Of course, you don’t have to fill your containers with candy; you can fill them with anything you want.)

These kinds of convenience store racks are available in a variety of sizes, which means you can situate them on your counter tops or throughout your store near the entryway, aisles, or your store’s deli area. Wire display racks are useful if you need to make the most use of very little counter top space because they allow you to stack containers on top of one another. You can also find taller and wider display racks that work well to hold even more merchandise throughout your store.

In addition to traditional round and square plastic containers, you can also find containers in holiday-inspired shapes and other popular molds like stockings, Christmas trees, pumpkins, hearts, and stars.

Also keep in mind that acrylic containers come in a variety of colors. You can use colored acrylic containers to organize your candy (for example, you might want to store lemon-flavored candy in a yellow container and cherry-flavored candy in a red container), or you can choose colors that coordinate with the seasons, your area’s local sports team, or even your store’s “theme.”

Creating Stylish Displays with Inexpensive Plastic Containers

Convenience store plastic containers are inexpensive, easy-to-use solutions to organizing a variety of merchandise types; however, rather than purchasing the most common kind of container, tossing your merchandise in, and slinging it all up on your countertop, why not have some fun?

Below are three tips to help you get started creating stylish displays with inexpensive plastic containers.

1. Make Your Store’s Space Work for You

Plastic containers come in a variety of sizes and shapes, which makes it easier for you to choose the containers that will fit best in the space you plan to use. For example, if you want to create a display on your convenience store’s countertop, you might want to choose a few small, square plastic containers. On the other hand, if you have a large space to work with, you might want to choose several large plastic containers.

Also keep in mind that your plastic containers don’t have to stand alone. You can display them on convenience store racks designed specifically to hold plastic containers. Just like the containers themselves, these plastic or wire display racks come in numerous shapes and sizes. You can find convenience store display racks for countertops as well as taller and wider wire displays perfect for placing in the floor near your register, the door, or throughout your store’s aisles.

So, you can make your store’s space work for you in three easy steps:

1. Look at the kind of merchandise you want to display.
2. Choose plastic containers that are both big enough to hold the merchandise and small enough to work with the space you have.
3. Determine whether a wire display rack would better hold and display your plastic containers.

2. Keep Your Displays Organized

This might seem like common sense, but customers appreciate when similar items are grouped together. Grouping similar items together in your displays makes it easier for customers to locate merchandise, so make sure each of the plastic containers within your display holds the same kind of product.

If you haven’t yet decided where you want to create your display, take a walk through your store. Pay attention to the sections that feature numerous similar items and include several smaller items within that group.

For example, if your convenience store sells hygiene products for travelers who forgot to pack them or locals who live close to your store, consider leaving the full-sized items on the shelves and creating a plastic container display for the travel-sized items. Or, leave all the liquid items like shampoo, condition, soap, and shaving cream on the shelves and put the non-liquid items like tissues, razors, combs, and toothbrushes in the containers.

3. Have Fun with Your Plastic Containers!

Square or round clear plastic containers are the most common kind you’ll see in convenience store displays. This is because they’re the most reliable and effect when it comes to clearly showcasing your merchandise and providing customers with convenient access to the items.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t shake things up here and there! Consider these ideas for having fun with your plastic container displays:

• Choose colored acrylic containers: Not all plastic containers are clear. You can choose colored acrylic containers that are translucent enough to clearly display your merchandise but different enough to add some visual appeal.

• Look for plastic containers in fun shapes: Round and square are the most common plastic container shapes, but you can find containers in other shapes like stars, hearts, and hexagons, as well as holiday-themed shapes like Christmas trees, Santa Claus boots, and Halloween pumpkins.

• Consider wire display racks: As mentioned above, wire display racks help you make the most of your store’s space; however, they also allow you to organize your containers in visually appealing, and convenient, ways. Look for wire racks that fit the space you have to work with as well as the plastic containers you plan to use.

Learn How to Recycle Your Old Plastic Containers

The "green" movement is in full swing, and many people are thinking twice before they toss anything in the trash. People are constantly finding ways to reuse and recycle old items in order to keep them out of landfills – and possibly help out someone in need – and you can do the same with your old plastic containers.

Before you start shopping for new plastic containers, check out the five ways you can reuse and recycle your old containers below.

Donate Your Plastic Containers

There are several ways you can donate your old plastic containers:

• If you’re a business owner who’s looking to purchase new wholesale plastic containers, chances are you might know another business owner who could use your old containers.

• Charities like your local Salvation Army or Goodwill can use plastic containers to better organize their merchandise.

• If you or someone in your family belongs to a sports team, special interest club, or religious organization, your old clear plastic container might come in handy the next time a fundraiser rolls around.

Plastic Containers Make Great Gifts

If your plastic container is still in pretty good shape, consider using it as a gift box the next time you have a birthday, anniversary, or holiday gift to give. Traditional cardboard gift boxes have their uses, but many people damage them when they’re opening the gift or toss them in the trash because they don’t have room to store them until they can reuse them.

Plastic containers, on the other hand, are durable and present a world of storage possibilities to the recipient. Square plastic containers are especially good for holding gifts because they’re as easy as regular gift boxes to wrap, and small plastic containers are lightweight and easy to handle.

Move Your Plastic Containers to the Garage

You might be in the market for new plastic containers, but that doesn’t always mean you have to get rid of your old ones. Actually, several spaces throughout your house – such as your basement, your garage, and your attic – might be screaming for a little help with organization and your old plastic containers can provide just that.

Give Your Plastic Container a Face Lift

If you don’t have any family or friends who could use the plastic containers and you can’t think of anything you could organize with the containers, you still don’t have to toss them in the trash. Clear plastic containers offer many possibilities when it comes to crafts! For example, you could decorate your plastic container using nontoxic art supplies and begin reusing it as a food scoop for your pet’s dry food. This kind of project works especially well when you use plastic containers with hand grips.

Bring Your Old Plastic Containers to a Recycling Center

Reusing your plastic containers, or donating them to someone who can use them, is great; however, if those aren’t options for you, you can always bring your plastic containers to your local recycling center. Be sure to check the bottom of your container for a recycling code; if there is no code or you’re unsure about whether you can even recycle your particular kind of container, make sure you call your recycling center for details.

Find a Variety of Wholesale Plastic Containers

Shopping for wholesale plastic containers often means finding exactly the quantity and quality you want at a price your business can afford. Yet, because many companies sell a wide variety of plastic containers, diving into the market might feel overwhelming if you’re not sure of exactly what you want and need.

Before you start shopping for wholesale plastic containers, familiarize yourself with the different shapes, sizes, and colors available to you, as well as all the little extras that might make your containers even more useful and convenient.

Shapes

Probably the two most common shapes of plastic containers are round and square. Plastic containers that are round or square are generally the most convenient for a variety of business needs, but sometimes you might want to shake things up with a different style.

Fortunately, many companies that sell wholesale plastic containers offer an assortment of shapes to choose from including universal shapes like stars, hearts, and hexagons as well as holiday-inspired shapes like Christmas trees, stockings, Santa Claus boots, Easter baskets, pumpkins, and even cornucopias.

Sizes

Wholesale plastic containers can range from extremely small to rather large and the sizes you choose depend on what you plan to keep in them and where you plan to display them.

Mini plastic containers and small plastic containers tend to work best if you want to collect tips or display small food items on the countertop or near the register of a convenience store or restaurant. Large plastic containers are best for bigger merchandise that you’ve set aside plenty of room for display.

Colors

Clear plastic containers are popular because they are so functional. When the container is clear, customers can easily see what’s inside. Keep in mind, though, that you can also purchase wholesale plastic containers in a variety of colors. Because these containers remain translucent, your customers will still have clear views of the merchandise.

When you opt for colored plastic containers, you can use them to increase the visual appeal of your display. For example, you might want to use red and green plastic containers for Christmas or orange and black plastic containers for Halloween. If your business is located near a high school or a university, you might want to show support with plastic containers in the school’s official colors. You can even use colored plastic containers to better organize your merchandise, keeping lemon-flavored candy in a yellow container and spearmint-flavored chewing gum in a green container.

Extras

You can determine the shapes, sizes, and colors you want when you think about how you plan to use your plastic containers. However, before you make your purchase, dig a little deeper and think about the extras your wholesale plastic containers might need.

For example, if you’re selling a food item without a protective wrapper of some sort, or you want to discourage thievery, look at plastic containers with lids. If you need to frequently lift or rearrange your plastic containers, find versions with handles. You can even find plastic containers with grooves that make it easy for you to stack and create attractive displays or optimize the space you have to work with.

Choosing the Best Plastic Container for Your Needs

Plastic containers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, and can benefit everyone from convenience store owners to people interested in better organizing their home kitchens.

However, before you begin shopping around for the best value for plastic containers, you should first determine:

• How the container size you need compares to the space you have to work with.

• How you want to present your containers, and the items, to your customers (or, how the container will work with your home or office décor).

• How it will all work together to provide you and your customers with convenience.

Space and Size

You obviously need a plastic container that’s large enough to hold your items, but you shouldn’t forget about how the size of the container will affect the rest of your space. If you plan to place the container on a convenience store counter, for example, you want to make sure it’s small enough to not only fit comfortably on the counter but also allow room for the transactions that take place over the counter.

Small plastic containers generally work well in convenience stores and specialty shops, but larger businesses and even private residences usually have room to work with bigger containers. Assess the space you have to work with before you choose the size of your containers.

Display and Appearance

Keeping your items in a clear plastic container makes it easy for both you and your customers to view them; however, you don’t have to sacrifice style for functionality. Companies that sell wholesale plastic containers generally offer a wide variety of colored acrylic containers as well, which provide visual appeal and are still translucent enough to effectively showcase the items inside.

Depending on the product you plan to put in your colored plastic container, you might even be able to have some fun with it. For example, if you plan to use your containers for a candy display, you could match each piece of candy’s flavor with a corresponding color. This could even help your customers quickly find the kind of candy they’re looking for.

Containers also come in a variety of shapes. Many people choose either a square plastic container or a round plastic container with an opening at an angle for easy access, though it’s possible to find containers in other forms such as holiday-inspired shapes. Whatever shape you choose, make sure it works with the space available for the most attractive and convenient display possible.

Convenience

Choosing a container that is convenient for both you and your customers is essential. After all, it might be the prettiest, most well organized container display you’ve ever seen, but it’s useless if you or your customers have trouble accessing it.

Whether you’re storing something for future use or displaying merchandise for sale, consider your items and ask yourself the following questions:

• Does this container lend itself to an attractive display and easy access?

• Is this container the appropriate size and shape for where I plan to put it?

• Do the kinds of items I have require a container with a lid?

• Would it make sense for my container to have a handle?

In the end, you want to make sure you choose a visually appealing container that fits your environment and meets your and your customer’s needs.