In a series of webinars looking at how the packaging industry will emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, Mike Ferrari identifies trends and shifts that will occur in society and consumer behaviours, sees the opportunity for digital assets, and asks ‘are you ready?’
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted society and industry like never before. Large portions of the global population have been ordered to stay at home, maintain stringent social distancing measures, and/or been subject to lockdown conditions.
Such things are expected have a profound and prolonged impact once the COVID-19 crisis is brought under control. ‘Once the pandemic subsides, there’ll be a new normal,’ says Mike Ferrari, a packaging industry consultant with decades of experience at the CPG level, and now renowned as a digital converting evangelist. ‘Shifts will occur that will change society and consumer behaviours ongoing.’
He examples the 9/11 terror attacks on New York City and the 2008 global recession as recent examples of events that have also brought about change.
‘The recession caused CPGs to change their packaging inventory management, and move from carrying cost and warehouse management, to contracting printers and converters to manage it.’
In 2020 and as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Ferrari says that change will begin with government regulation and consumers behaviour, trickling down to products and services, and packaging.
He asks, ‘Will you be ready, and prepared to leverage the changes? Or will you look to continue as before?
‘The shifts that are and will occur can overwhelm you, or take you down the road to opportunity. You want to take advantage and embrace the opportunity. Now is the ideal time think about and prepare your strategy, and adapt to new consumer sentiment and behaviours to leverage the shifts that are occurring.’
In his analysis of the market, Mr Ferrari identifies four trends that are defining current and future developments: shopping with convenience, health and safety, production agility, and single-use packaging and sustainability.
The power of e-commerce
The shopping with convenience trend has driven online grocery shopping and food ordering to grow rapidly as stay-at-home orders have made a trip to the shops the biggest risk of exposure to the virus for many.
‘Once a casual trip without thought or preparation has changed to an event that requires extra time to prepare for and carry out to minimise the risk and danger of infection.
‘Once in store, consumers face long lines and empty shelves, and at the end of the shopping ordeal are left with a less than satisfactory experience. This has seen many consumers look for alternatives, and those who had never shopped online before broke traditional habits and online shopped for the first time.
‘A lasting effect of the pandemic will see first-time users become regular online grocery purchasers, as convenience, along with a desire for health conscious and safe practices, are here to stay and will be driving factor for change’
What will this mean for packaging? Will it remain relevant as online shopping gains ground? ‘Yes, it will,’ states Mr Ferrari, ‘and have an even bigger role to play during the second moment of truth. Packaging and printing need to add value at the time of use.
‘There are new opportunities to consider how a package and its design offers convenience in use, storage and disposal. Are your visual communications consistent? Does the package include an e-commerce call to action and easy to use trigger for reordering? Packaging for online might also not be the same as retail. You should learn the requirements for shipping, especially in the case of liquids.’
Mr Ferrari notes corrugated packaging will grow in importance as a result of online grocery shopping. Exampling pizza boxes, he notes how they are increasingly taking on the appearance of primary packaging, which is often the face of a brand.
‘E-commerce corrugated packaging should no longer be treated as just a brown box. Full multi-colour printing, decoration and finishing are needed to deliver a delightful unboxing experience.’
Wash your hands
The second trend Mr Ferrari identifies is that for products that reflect their desire for effective health and safety as consumers look for reassurance that their efforts to wash hands and clean surfaces are killing germs, bacteria and viruses.
He notes that many consumers are avoiding natural products in favour of those based on alcohol, bleach and hydrogen peroxide. From hand wash and dish soaps, to wipes, Mr Ferrari says those that carry a marketing message of being effective in killing 99.9% of germs and bacteria resonate with consumers during a pandemic.
‘It provides certainty while there is a perception that natural products that do not qualify to carry such a claim are inferior.
‘This will see the market rebalanced and new products launched as health and safety becomes ever-more important to consumers. These will be based on safe synthetic cleaning and beauty products, and continue the move away from preservatives and artificial ingredients while providing consumers with the certainty they require.’
Packaging, he says, will be central to conveying this message and educate consumers in this space. Consumer-facing PPE will also emerge as a new product category demanding packaging.
Single-use and sustainability
A further topic, and one that will re-emerge according to Mr Ferrari, is that of single-use packaging and sustainability.
Prior to the current coronavirus pandemic, reusable products and packaging were gaining serious traction in retail environments and with consumers directly. Disposable coffee cups and plastic shopping bags are two noticeable examples, largely as since the coronavirus outbreak many bans on them have been reversed. Starbucks for example has temporarily stopped the use of refillable cups and many stores in the US are no longer advocating the use of reusable shopping bags, which are seen as a potential source of contamination. In the UK, those using online food shopping will have noticed the widespread use of single-use plastic carrier bags for deliveries brought to their doors.
‘Fresh coffee cups and single-use bags have been deemed as appropriate during the pandemic,’ says Mr Ferrari. ‘It is seen that the fact that single-use packaging, whether plastics or folding cartons, can be taken away and thrown away, actually gets rid of the virus.’
Mr Ferrari states, ‘There is going to be a resurgence in the talk about what we do at end of life for packaging.
‘It is important to think about packaging adding value to society. We have engineered this product for decades to provide food preservation, functionality and low cost in all of our products.
‘What has got us to this point are the three Rs of reduce, reuse and recycle, and now talk of alternate materials such as biodegrables; this just isn’t a solution or we wouldn’t be at this point as those have been around for some time. We need to look deeper, come together and transform how we handle packaging at the end of life.
‘It’s not that plastics or folding cartons are bad, it’s how we process them that is inadequate. At this time, the industry needs to come together to fix this.
‘The use of landfills and incineration have been around for over 100 years, with no real innovation. That infrastructure will be what the conversation will be about.’
Agile production
Another key topic in how the packaging industry develops and evolves after the coronavirus pandemic will be supply chain agility and production, identifies Mr Ferrari.
The rush to buy store cupboard staples, particularly at the start of the pandemic and when lockdown measures were imposed, left many retail shelves bare, and supply and distribution chains rushing to get products out and into the hands of consumers quickly and efficiently. We have also seen a number of companies move into making new products entirely out of their comfort zones, notable with distilleries and breweries repurposing their production lines to produce alcohol-based hand sanitiser products.
‘Many of these were realised in a very short period – a matter of days in some cases –, from the drawing board, to production, then labelled, packaged and shipped.’
Digital printing and converting technologies have played an integral role in helping realise these such developments, notes Mr Ferrari.
‘All that has been enabled by digital assets. It would not have been possible to use long-run type production machinery to convert so quickly. This pandemic has made it clear that agility and speed to market are important parameters when purchasing digital assets.’
He adds that this requires a different mindset when considering investing in digital assets, ‘as thinking of cost and the speed of a machine is not the way to think of disruptive technologies.
‘You should think about what you can do new and differently, and couldn’t do before to satisfy consumers. Digital assets help keep business moving, and the speed of changeover becomes your friend, providing value versus chasing volume and low cost.’
Mr Ferrari adds that even those already invested in digital assets should consider their asset mix. ‘Ask ‘do you have the right ones and/or enough of them’,’ advises Mr Ferrari. ‘Agility can help get you through times of uncertainty.’
These trends will be important developments to the future of packaging in a post-pandemic world, says Mr Ferrari.
‘While I’m unable to predict the exact magnitude of these changes, I can say with confidence that each of these trends will impact the industry and are worth including in your business strategies.
He continues, ‘There will be winners and losers. For those that create and offer new value, versus those that go back to business as usual. If you need to be right before you move, you won’t win in these days of fast-moving trends. Those that see this as a great awakening will grow and take business from those that remain stagnant.’
For more on the future of digitally printed labels and packaging as the industry adapts to new ways of working, check out the updates in the Digital Labels & Packaging ‘Going viral’ coronavirus hub, which you can access here; register here to receive Digital Labels & Packaging, for fee
