Transparency, innovation & wellbeing: research shows clean packaging trends

Over the last decade, the packaging sector has undergone a significant transformation with brands ex…

Over the last decade, the packaging sector has undergone a significant transformation with brands exploring new strategies in line with consumer’s desire to lead an environmentally-friendly, sustainable and more hygienic lifestyle.

In the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, trends point towards innovation, transparency, wellbeing and more for consumer-packaged goods.

Sumit Chopra, Consumer Research Director at GlobalData, highlights the top clean-packaging trends that are going to impact the production, marketing and sales of consumer packaged goods in APAC in 2019.

Trust and transparency

GlobalData’s 2018 Q4 consumer survey reveals that 68% of consumers in APAC are always or often influenced by how trust-worthy or risk-free a product is. Subsequently, food and beverage manufacturers are creating a niche for themselves across a range of criteria by addressing supply chain inefficiencies and investing in targeted sampling and testing programs along with fraud-aware audits to boost consumer satisfaction.

Innovation and Differentiation

Safety and quality are driving tremendous innovation in the consumer packaging space. With consumers embracing products with simple claims, clear labels and environmental-friendly packaging, brands are focusing on improving the labelling on their products and using claims on food products such as ‘fair trade,’ alternative nutrient sources (such as vegan meat), and innovating beyond plastic by ensuring that materials used are completely recyclable.

GlobalData 2019 Q3 survey reveals that 69% of APAC consumers look for sustainability aspect in product packaging while 71% look for reusable and refillable product packaging.

Ethical Wellbeing

According to GlobalData 2018 Q4 Consumer Survey, 65% of consumers in APAC are always or often influenced by how a product impacts their health and wellbeing while making product choices.

As a result, brands are keeping high-quality ingredients at priority and moving towards bio-degradable packaging materials to support the health and wellbeing of consumers.

Smart Packaging

Technology has not only created consumer engagement opportunities for the brands but also allows them to track their products at all stages of the logistics and distribution channels, prevent counterfeit products in the supply chain, gain real-time product feedback and other measurable marketing insights.

As a result, brands have started engaging the consumers through smart packaging, offering them tools and apps with a barcode scanner to track toxic ingredients, and using software tools to create digital identities for their products.

In APAC, countries such as Korea, Japan and China have already adopted on-pack QR codes to bridge the information gap between the physical and digital worlds.