As their products and assets become obsolete, their leaders will have to make an early strategic choice: either to be the lowest-cost, most efficient last player in the game or to dramatically reposition the portfolio. In addition, it provides opportunities to improve All Rights Reserved BNP Media. Connected packaging: designed for customer and logistics purposes. This era began with the uncertainty and disruption of the great financial crisis. Especially in the renaissance of e-commerce we currently live in, packaging needs to be structurally sound and durable in order to withstand any potentially harsh shipping and handling conditions. Your go-to destination for custom packaging tips, newest packaging trends, and inspiration. Several category shifts can be expected over the coming years as cost curves come down in response to the higher production of new materials and as extended producer responsibility (EPR) and tax pressures make nonsustainable packaging more problematic. Paper has always been considered an eco-friendly alternative to plastics for almost any packaging. Those companies where termed resilients. See Martin Hirt, Kevin Laczkowski, and Mihir Mysore, Bubbles pop, downturns stop, McKinsey Quarterly, May 21, 2019. The unboxing experience and brand differentiation are the main driver to maintaining a strong brand narrative that customers remember. Resilient and successful companies will embark upon the next level of value creation. Digital enablement is the other componentin customer engagement, internal workflows, the supply chain, manufacturing automation, and faster decision making. She oversees their social media platforms and creates content for Pakfactory's blog. shopping is creating and expanding new avenues of packaging demand, especially for sustainable protective and transport packaging. Melding Technology and Packaging Solutions, 6. People value genuineness in brands. Sustainability pressures will also create challenges for substrate players that rely on materials being phased out. The concept of reusing packaging hasnt come up as often, and its likely very unfamiliar to most consumers. However, it is safe to say that the packaging industry is taking some pretty big steps in 2022 to serve consumer demands and increase packaging efficiency. The headline changes during this era included the continued increasing use of flexible packaging and rigid plastics (such as PET plastic packaging) to replace rigids such as metal, paper, and glass. You should therefore make sure that your packaging supports your messaging. People identify the products based on the name of the brand and the product. From a corporate-structure perspective, private-equity activity increased robustly. This consumer trend has pushed many businesses to design their packaging and products with the purpose of reusing it after purchase. We also expect that emerging business models and technologies for reuse and refilling will gain further acceptance and traction. We predictedthat these trends would raise the bar for performance over the next five to ten years. Above all, as new regulations emerge in response to global consumer concerns, greenwashing CEOs ought to think about sustainability in a fully holistic manner. 2 food safety and hygiene a sixth key industry-shaping trend, McKinsey_Website_Accessibility@mckinsey.com, awareness of sustainability rose significantly, increase their usage of recycled materials, a more balanced understanding of true sustainability, Several category shifts can be expected over the coming years, they will require real market making to succeed, packaging will be specifically tailored to it, still in the early stages of digitization, rebuild the portfolio through acquisitions while also restructuring costs. Overall, its clear that there is considerable work going into improving sustainable packaging design and that packaging trends are heading in a more eco-friendly direction. Inclusive & Accessible Accessible and inclusive packaging design has been gaining traction as more companies focus on making sure that their products are accessible to everyone regardless of age, disability or physical limitations. Therefore, now is the ideal moment to change your product packaging if you haven't done so in a while. 4. From a corporate-structure perspective, CEOs should consider two components of change. It will be important for innovative products to be not only more sustainable but also less expensive, so packaging converters will probably have to consider incorporating new materials. Visit our updated, Three Trends that are Reshaping the Packaging Industry, Shared Planet Leads Innova Market Insights Top Ten Trends for 2022, Four Key Packaging Trends Are Driving Innovation in Inks, New Generation Closure Designs for the Circular Economy. Unfortunately, bioplastics still pose many of the same risks as plastics, as they may be difficult to recycle or compost and it can take significant natural resources to create them in the first place. expect a more balanced understanding of true sustainability. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. Packaging isnt the only issue raised by digital. In the next few years, ship-ready packaging The impact was mixed for different end-use areas, however: food and beverages are necessities, and thus their packaging was more resilient to the downturn; industrial and luxury-goods packaging was more sensitive to it. 2022 has brought the future of packaging into question and has started to push companies to begin incorporating sustainability into their strategies, especially in packaging. However, doing so has also caused a lot of confusion for businesses and corporations, as they try to balance their own interests with sustainability and public demand. Therefore, fully recyclable packaging is being pushed by consumer demands and many businesses are already taking steps to implement new designs around recyclability. Bioplastics, although popular to begin with, have simply not been around long enough to fully understand what the impact of this plastic alternative actually is. Digital and e-commerce: Embrace digitization (including the use of automation) in the front, back, and middle of processes. In addition, sustainability regulations around packaging have also become increasingly ambitious, adding another challenge for businesses trying to improve on their environmental impacts. In the current era, a dramatic shift to online shopping, increased global regulation of packaging waste, and the acceleration of consumers sustainability concerns have combined to reinforce the rapid pace of change. For example, Hersheys was an early adopter of the transparency initiative with Smart Label. The movement against plastic straws, for example, increased consumer awareness of the potential dangers of single-use plastics. Doing so negates the potential positive effect on the environment, so it may not be the most realistic long term shift in the industry. 1 According to The Financial Times, The price for containers moving goods from China to the US and Europe has remained at a record high and is projected to increase over the next coming years. Again, becoming more common in food packaging to communicate accurate best by dates. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. the end-to-end customer journey, to manage the pipeline for new and current customers, and Waiting and riding out this transformational change is not an option. Given the ongoing effects of the pandemic, consumers will continue to focus on safety and hygiene in 2022. People judge the product by its outer gaze. Perfect packaging may act as a brand ambassador for your brand. Throughout the year, Berlin Packaging tracks consumer insights, product trends and packaging innovation to better understand what is happening in the market. generated excess total shareholder returns (TSR) during the downturn and the recovery. From a growth perspective, the performance and attractiveness of subsegments (such as specific combinations of substrates, geographies, and end uses) will continue to vary significantly. Businesses can make drastic changes in sustainability, but they will not be truly successful if customers are not educated about impacts and their role. Quality Control: Advanced sensors and other technologies can do constant Quality Control check ups on products from warehouses to the end destination, reducing worries and chances of missed revenue and damaged products. They will continue to shape the business, and we expect that two of themsustainability and digital (particularly e-commerce)will create significant challenges for industry leaders, as well as once-in-a-lifetime transformational opportunities. To understand the future, industry leaders must consider where the packaging industry is coming from. The first requirement is Sustainability: Invest where it matters to consumers and regulators. Intelligent packaging: designed to provide more accuracy in communicating the quality of a product, product safety, and provide more valuable information about the product. But that's not usually the case with product packaging. However, this industry trend is likely short lived because without adding additional materials such as paper or plastic, the packaging becomes heavier and bulkier and may require other additives or materials to maintain its shape. Browse our Buyers Guide for packaging equipment, materials, supplies and services in the the flexible packaging industries, along with converters! In 2022, manufacturers have found a way around this by creating sustainable packaging materials that consist of just one single substrate. Procurement and the supply chain: Use strategic category management to get ahead of inflation and supply headwinds. Responsible & Sustainable Sustainability in todays market is imperative as consumers demand eco-friendly products and services, and packaging plays a significant role in a brands environmental footprint. In 2022, digital printing has become an affordable way to create impactful unboxing experiences and create some brand differentiation in a world of brown boxes. In fact, a few are about going back to the basicsfor example, retraining the talent base to fill critical capability gaps in sales and procurement. For industry leaders, this disruption has two main aspects, the first from a customer-back perspective, the second from a product-forward one. Packaging is a critical enabler for the everyday lives of most consumers. doesnt cut it anymore. Companies like Amazon struggle a lot to identify fake goods in their product listings. A large number of companies are still actively using manual packaging inspection processes, leaving plenty of room for errors in the quality of the packaging.