Even though 2022 is coming to a conclusion, the packaging sector has seen some noteworthy trends this year.
The packaging sector has integrated and adapted to many industry trends around the world as e-commerce continues to be a customer choice, technical innovation, and sustainability remain priorities.
Let's take a closer look at the packaging industry's past experiences and what the final few months of 2022 will hold for it below.
1. Melding Technology and Packaging Solutions
The phrase "smart packaging" actually refers to a variety of technologically enhanced packaging options rather than just one specific form of packaging.
Businesses can readily monitor the valuable advantages of security, connection, and authentication provided by smart packaging.
Customers are searching for brands that can monitor and verify the products they are buying and consuming are sanitary and haven't been tampered with, particularly with the pandemic leaving residual impacts throughout the world.
Active packaging: created to communicate with the product within to extend shelf life and/or maintain quality while being stored. Most frequently used in food packaging to extend food shelf life.
Intelligent packaging is made to communicate a product's quality, safety, and other important details more accurately and to give consumers more useful information. Accurate "best by" dates are once more frequently communicated in food packaging.
Connected packaging is created with logistics and customers in mind. Customers may more easily actively interact with brands thanks to things like QR codes and hidden URLs. For instance, Hershey's Smart Label was a pioneer in the transparency movement.
Why are Businesses opting for Smart Packaging Solutions?
Market Share of Smart Packaging is Growing: Because the market for smart packaging is growing quickly, becoming an early adopter can set your company apart from rivals. Smart packaging enhances the usability, dependability, and convenience of both your items and their packaging.
Improved Brand Transparency: Consumers love to engage with transparent brands in a real way. Through the use of QR codes and quality control procedures, connected packaging is the ideal solution to give consumers more information about products while also keeping them secure and safe.
Products that are counterfeit-proof: With fakes and knockoffs on the market raising worries, smart packaging can filter them all out and strengthen consumer trust in businesses by employing RFID sensors to track their packaging and products.
This enables firms to guarantee that no fake goods will find their way to buyers.
Quality Control: Cutting-edge sensors and other technologies can perform continuous Quality Control checks on goods as they travel from warehouses to their final destination, easing concerns and lowering the possibility of lost sales and damaged goods.
2. E-Commerce and Digital Printing
Although digital printing has been around for a while, in 2022 its use for e-commerce packaging is expected to become considerably more widespread.
In economically challenging times following the effects of COVID-19, brands have chosen more cost-effective alternatives due to the reliance on e-commerce operations.
When compared to periods of time in 2020 and 2021, when brick and mortar establishments saw little to no business, investing in high-quality printing techniques, including offset printing, has shown to be less beneficial due to the exterior of boxes being damaged during shipping.
In a world of brown boxes in 2022, digital printing has developed into an accessible means of producing memorable unboxing experiences and establishing some brand uniqueness.
Despite the possibility of damage to the packaging's outside, this printing technique's cost effectiveness justifies taking the chance.
Creating an experience for clients who only use a screen to interact with your goods can be very challenging.
The essential factors in sustaining a strong brand narrative that consumers remember are brand uniqueness and the unboxing experience.
Additionally, because digital printing uses less time, firms may produce bespoke packaging in shorter amounts of time.
Smaller designs like logos, patterns, or shapes can benefit from digital printing even if it has a reputation for being of poorer quality than offset printing because the quality difference is not particularly apparent.
Additionally, with the advent of sustainability programmes, current digital printing also has a little environmental impact because it does not require prepress steps or additional labelling, which reduces waste and lowers inventory needs.
3. Adopting Packaging Automation
The main difficulties the packaging sector has encountered have to do with productivity, accuracy, and quality control.
Numerous businesses continue to actively use manual packaging inspection procedures, which leaves a lot of possibility for mistakes in the packaging's quality.
Manual packaging inspection is inefficient, dangerous, and frequently results in total packaging recalls that consume a significant percentage of a company's budget.
The packaging industry has switched to automated production methods for more accurate output as a result of the implications of such errors.
Packaging needs to be structurally strong and sturdy in order to resist any possible difficult shipping and handling conditions, especially in the "renaissance" of e-commerce that we presently live in.
Manufacturers have increased their investments in package quality control automation as a means of protecting their companies and, more importantly, their customers.
Automated technology enables producers to create an all-in-one quality control platform that can be integrated with other systems and hardware, in addition to the individual control of each stage of product production.
A maximum return on investment, time efficiency, and greater customer loyalty are all benefits of such a production method.
4. Supply Chain Issues Affecting Packaging
The repercussions of the epidemic continue to have an impact on the world in many ways as it begins to settle into new norms. One significant shift is the increased reliance on shipping.
For many organisations, rising shipping costs and constrained cargo capacity have persisted stubbornly, making it challenging to manage money effectively.
Businesses have little options because they are bound by expensive transportation costs and contracts, which forces them to pass these costs on to customers.
Unfortunately, this holds true not just for their items but also for the bespoke packaging.
The Financial Times reports that the cost of shipping containers carrying goods from China to the US and Europe has stayed at an all-time high and is expected to rise over the next few years.
It is becoming clear that increasing freight costs might be a permanent trend as companies continue to sign contracts with rates that are higher than typical.
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