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Packaging Trends In 2020 For Food And Beverages Buyers want to make a responsible choice in the products they purchase daily and food and beverage packaging made with viability in the mind creates an impression

By Gaurav Jain

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These are the times when it is buyers who are mainly driving packaging selection of Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG). Many reasons have contributed, like a heightened concern for sustainability and the big rise of e-commerce. As the retail environment continues to modify, food and beverage packaging must have to make scope for the changes to save brand integrity.

Also, selling to an empowered customer base is a challenging business. Never before the world has seen a generation so sharply focused on eating healthy, taking out their smartphones to read the reviews, look for ingredients and find an organization's or brand's back story.

Hence it is not at all surprising that the style of better for end-users is showing up in food packaging, not only showing what is on the inside in terms of content, be it organic or non-organic but also what is on the outer side. The requirement for food producers to provide an on-brand message in an easy to understand, clear and environmentally friendly presentation is way stronger than ever.

Here are some of those points.

Viable Food And Beverage Packaging

Brands are following the concept of reduce, reuse, and recycle as an order received. Not only does it makes sense in view of their own expenses and viability actions, but it also resounds with consumers.

Buyers want to make a responsible choice in the products they purchase daily, and food and beverage packaging made with viability in the mind creates an impression. Though there is no one solution to the viability issues, packaging manufacturers, processors, recycling equipment owners and various communities are observing these issues from various angles.

Post-Consumer Resins (PCR)

Post-consumer resins (PCR) generally comes from consumer product packages like water bottles and shampoo bottles that are recycled. Various brands are applying PCRs in their packaging, though there are some problems.

PCR material normally has a greyish or yellowish tint this makes it difficult for brands to match their brand colors, but better technical advancements are being achieved to address this. Research indicates that the usage of PCR can dramatically reduce carbon footprint as compared to the making of virgin plastics. Thus, the use of PCR can assist keep microplastics away from the atmosphere.

E-Commerce Packaging

Due to busy and hectic lifestyles. Customers now look to buy groceries online. When the platform of the sale takes place on a digital device, the packaging and delivery pattern becomes more daunting.

A package on the retail store might have been handled plenty of times before someone else takes it home. Estimated up to 30 touches may happen before an e-commerce product reaches the customer. Therefore, food and beverage packaging have to increasingly meet the demands of e-commerce in terms of product protection while still attending to aesthetics, easiness, and buyer needs for sustainability.

Interactive Packaging

Interactive packaging has been there for quite some time now, but new technological advancements are being added quite frequently. Let's say, augmented reality has appeared on the scene, with packaging that gives games and other experiences to attract the consumers. Whereas baby boomers and people of X generation have gracefully accepted interactive packaging, Millennial and their younger counterparts are expected to embrace it even more excitedly.

Sophisticated

Brand trust is nowadays everything to the consumers. Once a brand has lost its trust, it is most likely lost them forever as customers. Surprisingly, with the concept of reliable, premium food products on the rise, companies are increasingly shifting their strategy by getting design language only found in what is considered secure, trusted, safer and reliable industries, like finance, real estate or the law. For instance, there is a huge rise in the use of bold serif typography in designing logomarks, headlines, and body both copies. This method was taboo only some years ago as brands established themselves as trendier, as against to aligning with seemingly non-appealing, stale industries.

Transparent

The urge to push to be ahead and clear about food ingredients will be a big factor in 2020, both for on-package the wording and packaging design and structure, with the use of see-through and translucent materials increasing. The more that brands address consumer demand for transparency about what they do and how they prepare their products, the more industry will see clear packaging that eradicates the guesswork completely out of what is inside. Not surprisingly then, it still shows that when given a preference, buyers will opt for transparent packaging against opaque packaging.

Simple

In modern day's high-end technology, spontaneous world, people do not have time to go through the unending lines of information, nor do they are interested to do so. In response, several companies are starting to see food brands cater to tell what exactly the buyer need to know quickly trend by using onto simple, bold colors, big fonts and single word brand names, having messages that are eye-catching and to the point. Some leading food companies are already taking an aggressive stance on making it simple by only listing its food ingredients in big font on the front of its packaging.

Also, one of the biggest impacts one would get to witness is the establishment of corn starch packaging in the food industry. As the name itself suggests, the major component used in the packaging is corn starch. It grips a consistency of plastic and generates polylactic acid (PLA) from corn starch while in the process. This says why corn starch-based plastics are also called as PLA plastics.

As far as the food packaging industry is concerned the biggest advantage with those packages would be its quality of being transparent as well as opaque. They will be just an ideal means with restricted use like the case of take away food items. Some of the benefits of corn starch packaging are below:

Renewable: Corn starch is obtained from corn, which is a renewable resource.

Biodegradable: Compostable in industrial composting centres and then reintegrated as an agriculture fertilizer. Thus, it is less likely to pollute the atmosphere.

No Toxins: It does not have any harmful chemicals, like polyvinyl chloride or dioxin.

When the experts of food packaging consider one aspect they always ensure that food inside the package does note becomes contaminated by getting in contact with the packaging material. This is why non-toxin quality of corn starch food package is a great choice for packaging food items.

In all, corn starch packaging is highly beneficial for the food product, environment, and the company. Using this eco-friendly packaging even for a promotional gift is a great move to stimulate customer loyalty.

Besides, one can raise the brand awareness only by imprinting brand name and logo on the cornstarch package.

Food and beverage packaging design were never been simple. Current technological achievements, along with customer's demand for sustainability, have only added to the hardship of developing packaging that meets buyer needs and wishes. The better news is that packaging manufacturing is becoming highly advanced, making it simpler for food and beverage brands to avail packaging options that work for them while maintaining consumer loyalty.

Gaurav Jain

Managing Director, ColdEX

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