On-pack communications

UK Corrugated packaging companies have invested almost £500m in new technology and plant over the past two years, in part to provide retailers and brand owners with effective on-pack communications to entice customers.

The Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI) says significant capital outlay in state-of-the-art digital printing equipment is enabling the corrugated industry to offer innovative solutions for display packaging and personalisation, which can provide a critical edge in the fiercely competitive retail environment.

At the recent industry summit organised by The European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers (FEFCO), speakers from the food and retail sectors, which included Nestlé’s European procurement manager, Alison Coudene, and Paul Earnshaw, Tesco’s packaging manager, echoed the importance of corrugated partners working with them to understand their future needs in an evolving retail world.

The corrugated industry is also embracing new trends such as customisation that bring an extra marketing dimension to packaging – print-on-demand is offering retailers and brand owners cost-effective, personalised promotional campaigns to boost sales.

Eye-catching, innovative shelf ready packaging (SRP) is already being developed that not only enhances visibility on shelf, but provides in-store logistics benefits too. A collaboration between two corrugated companies resulted in new-style SRP as part of a successful rebranding exercise by Taylors of Harrogate for its lifestyle range of coffees.

Taylors’ packaging buyer Matt Hunt says that because each variant of corrugated SRP carries two or three additional colours for the text and graphics, the product’s easily identifiable outer packaging is having a direct benefit by making them easier to identify and handle back of store, long before it comes under consumer scrutiny.

Corrugated innovation is not just confined to transit and display packaging for goods. Other inventive uses of this flexible and recyclable material include an affordable virtual reality headset made solely of cardboard and created by Google, a cathedral built of corrugated in Christchurch, New Zealand, refoldable furniture and eco-cradles for sleeping babies.

CPI’s director of packaging affairs, Andy Barnetson, believes that corrugated is helping bring exciting and diverse products to market in a variety of ways.

He comments: “UK corrugated packaging companies need to keep pace with a challenging retail landscape and are investing significantly in equipment to meet demand for innovation. Whether in transit, back of store or on-shelf, the versatility of corrugated is helping brand owners’ goods stand out and enticing customers to buy their products.”

 

Related content

Leave a reply

Confectionery Production