Shaking up the industry

Consumers are continually changing the way they view, interact with and discard packaging. Whether you're a manufacturer or a product marketer, you know how important it is to reflect the changing needs of the consumer in your company's products.

Sustainability
Consumers are becoming more aware of global environmental issues and are changing their buying habits accordingly. These days,
it's 'cool to care', and understanding how commitment to sustainability can be communicated in an engaging way is key to attracting, relating to, and keeping consumers.

Sustainable Packaging: Myth or Reality, a white paper by PricewaterhouseCoopers, explains how sustainable practice has become
essential to the perception and identity of a brand. In line with an ambition to be the 'most sustainable and desirable sportswear brand', Puma worked with PwC to produce an environmental profit and loss account, highlighting a €145 million environmental impact across its supply chain.

Recognition of this allows the company to a build a more sustainable and resilient model for the future, and to communicate its green
achievements to consumers.

The complete story of a product is now becoming a key factor in purchasing decisions - where does it come from, how was it made,
what are its recycling credentials?

Healthy living
The health and wellness sector is booming, reflecting a wider public desire to understand what is and isn't good for us. Consumers now expect packaging to display the health credentials of the product, allowing them to make informed choices about their food.
Regulations often stipulate how this information must be displayed, and packaging must balance these needs.

The healthy living market is crowded, so it is difficult to attract (and maintain) attention from the shelf. It's therefore important for
packaging to focus on unique benefits such as natural ingredients and formulations, offering transparency on the label.

Healthy snacking alternatives may be a way of overcoming this issue. Increased consumer snacking encourages product innovations
offering healthy options in smaller pack formats - such as Snack-a-Jacks, a light snack with an advertised low fat content.

Convenience
Smaller and more easily disposable packaging makes consumption on-the-go easier. Innovations such as no-mess applicators and
dispensers also eliminate the need for additional packaging, adding to a no-fuss and disposable approach.

This need for convenience is particularly visible in the supermarket chilled foods sector. Supermarket chain Tesco has recently
introduced resealable packs among a variety of its savoury snacks, successfully balancing convenience with perceived freshness.

Another innovation by Tesco is its Tomato & Chicken Pasta Salad, which has shifted from plastic to paperboard, leading to increased
visibility of the product, which aids in quick, impulse buying decisions.

Authenticity and trust
As a result of several global food scandals, such as the discovery of horsemeat being used in beef products in the UK and around Europe, there is now more demand for transparency between manufacturers and consumers.

Origins of products need to be traceable back to their source to re-establish trust throughout the supply chain. Advertised provenance on packaging increases perceptions of authenticity, and reassures consumers of high quality and truthful produce. The Brand Owner Trends Report: Consumer Packaging to 2018 by Smithers Pira links local provenance to sustainability, stressing that brands should communicate the carbon footprint benefits of consumers buying a local brand.

Cost-effective shopping
Understandably, consumers don't want to pay any more than they have to for their packaged goods, and price is one of the first
considerations made when making buying decisions.

There is a growing tendency for consumers to make purchases when they are running out of a specific product, as opposed to taking a 'pantry-loading' approach as has previously been the norm. Smaller and easier to carry types of packaging therefore hold thegreatest potential for these money-conscious, last minute shoppers.

If you would like to know more about consumer packaging trends, Smithers Pira's full and comprehensive The Brand Owner
Trends Report: Consumer Packaging to 2018 is available for £3,950 (via website, below). For more information on the report, you can
contact Bill Allen via email directly at wallen@smithers.com

www.smitherspira.com