Four major trends in the global packaging industry in 2019 and beyond
Four major trends affecting the global packaging industry in 2019 and beyond, identifying future challenges and opportunities that affect global packaging industry manufacturers, companies, brands and retailers.
● Interconnected packaging
The number of people with connected devices around the world is increasing, the technology connecting the packaging and the online world is advancing, and interest in connected packaging has been rekindled. Brands can be virtually connected to packaging in a variety of ways, including QR codes and other graphic markers, Near Field Communication (NFC), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Bluetooth, and Augmented Reality (AR).
For consumers, connected packaging provides added value to consumers, creating a unique shopping experience that meets consumer demand for interactive and personalized shopping. This connection provides a unique experience that makes omni-channel shopping possible.
For brands, connected packaging can distinguish products from other competing items on store shelves. This not only further spreads the product characteristics, but also connects consumers to the cyberspace to establish direct contact with the purchaser of the product.
Connected packaging brings marketing opportunities, integrating online engagement and interaction into shopping, potentially influencing and driving purchases. At home, this connection can increase consumer interaction with the brand, enhance the use of branded products and provide an experience element for product interaction.
All in all, connected packaging can be the link between the connected entity and the digital shopping world, allowing brands to control how to display their brands and products online, and provide compelling content and product-specific information that directly influences purchasing decisions.
● recycling
Last year, industry news headlines were filled with the promise of brands and converters to use 100% recyclable materials or 100% recycled packaging. However, the reality is that few people fully consider how, where and by whom and how these materials are supplied and recycled. Although recyclable packaging claims to have become commonplace, claims of recycled materials are still rare. The scarcity of quality recycled plastics and concerns about food safety make recycled materials difficult to use in food and beverages.
For consumers, some people may have developed the habit of recycling, but for others, the lack of a convenient way to clean and sort waste is an obstacle to recycling.
For brands, it is more important to clearly indicate which part of the food packaging can be recycled.
When people are unable to ship packaging waste to other countries or make them disappear from sight, there may be significant improvements in recycling facilities. This will drive the production capacity of quality recycled materials. In the future, brands have the opportunity to be part of a solution that promises to use recycled materials in new packaging and to comply with consumer perceptions of recycling.
● Remodeling the box
Packaging and branding experts believe that the impact of fast-moving e-commerce on global packaging design far exceeds what the industry has experienced in the past few decades. More and more consumers are shopping online, and brand e-commerce packaging and packaging strategies are changing the face of the industry.
E-commerce brings challenges and opportunities to every aspect of the supply chain, and brands face the challenge in ways that reduce costs and increase consumer engagement. For a new generation of shelf display displays, the 'home image' on the retailer's website, and the 'unboxing' experience, brand marketers have unlimited exploration space. From an environmental point of view, e-commerce has become a catalyst for new ideas in sustainable design.
For consumers, in traditional retailing, brand-tune and information conveyed externally to the package are important purchase considerations. In e-commerce, brands are increasingly aware that information transfer and branding should be separated from transport packaging and internal packaging – the latter will include design elements that will surprise consumers when opening online shopping products.
For brands, while consumers currently prefer to buy groceries in physical stores rather than online, the convenience of online shopping will eventually spread to food, beverages and household products. Only through a mature e-commerce packaging strategy can brands design packaging for the worst distribution scenarios. At the same time, by exploring the use of sustainable packaging optimization elements, merchants can achieve significant financial, social and brand equity benefits in e-commerce packaging.
● Zero plastic
Marine plastic pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems in the world, and people are gradually realizing that materials should be treated differently. New explorations, such as zero plastic channels, zero-package stores and alternative packaging materials, allow consumers to proactively choose the plastics in the market. And these new attempts are still facing challenges.
The zero plastic channel maps consumers' disappointment with excessive plastic packaging. However, few people in real life are willing to give up the convenience and advantages of plastic packaging. The term “zero plastic” seems simple, but there is no uniform definition. Even zero plastic packaging usually contains plant-based plastics, which indicates that the definition of zero plastic is not clear.
For consumers, zero-package stores offer bulk, unpackaged products. Shoppers need to carry their own containers and the products are weighed for sale. Consumers can only buy the amount of products they need to avoid food and packaging waste.
For brands, brands should take immediate action to ensure that they have a place in the emerging zero-plastics market by switching to widely-recognized packaging materials. They can also participate in discussions that clearly explain the benefits of plastic packaging for products and eliminate people's plastics. Contamination concerns provide the right solution to deal with problems with the expiration of the package life.