The Future Of Packaging Industry

According to the research of Smithers in the future of packaging: long term strategic forecast to 2028, by 2028, the global packaging market will grow at an annual rate of nearly 3%, reaching more than US $1.2 trillion.

From 2011 to 2021, the global packaging market increased by 7.1%, most of which came from China, India and other countries. More and more consumers choose to move to urban areas and adopt modern lifestyles, which promotes the demand for packaged goods. The e-commerce industry has accelerated this demand worldwide.

Many market drivers are having a significant impact on the global packaging industry. Four main trends in the coming years:

According to the statistics of who, by September 2021, the number of new crown infections in the world has reached 210 million, and experts predict that the epidemic sweeping the world will continue for 1-3 years. The impact of the epidemic on the global packaging industry is also in all aspects. For example, in China, South Korea and other countries that take the lead in responding to the epidemic, the packaging demand for groceries, health care products and e-commerce transportation will rise sharply. But at the same time, the demand for industry, luxury goods and some B2B transportation packaging may decline. Therefore, COVID-19 may become one of the trends in the packaging industry.

In addition, global consumers may be more and more inclined to change their pre epidemic shopping habits, resulting in a strong rise in the momentum of e-commerce express and other door-to-door delivery services. This translates into increased consumer income on consumer goods, access to modern retail channels, and a growing middle class eager to access global brands and shopping habits. In the United States, where the epidemic continues, the online sales of fresh food have increased significantly compared with that before the epidemic in 2019, with an increase of more than 200% in the first half of 2021, and the sales of meat and vegetables have increased by more than 400%. With it, the pressure on the packaging industry is also increasing. Because of the economic downturn, customers are more and more sensitive to prices. Packaging manufacturers and processors need to try their best to win enough orders to maintain the operation of their factories.

In fact, since 2017, people have become more and more interested in sustainability, especially in the packaging industry. These situations are reflected in central governments, municipal regulations, consumer attitudes and consumer brands who want to convey values through packaging all over the world.

The EU is in a leading position in the field of promoting circular economy. European governments and people pay special attention to plastic waste. Plastic packaging, as many disposable items, is very strictly reviewed in Europe. Many EU strategies are advancing to solve this problem, including replacing alternative materials, investing in the development of bio based plastics, designing packaging to make it easier to recycle, and improving the recycling and treatment of plastic waste.

However, it should be noted that in the context of the current epidemic, people's consideration of health and food safety may become a higher priority. On the contrary, the sustainability of other packaging substrates may not be so important in people's minds - at least for now. Consumers and the packaging industry have a new understanding and expectation of the health and safety advantages that plastic packaging can provide, which seems to exceed the concerns about recyclability and leakage of plastic waste into the environment.

Driven by the popularity of the Internet and smart phones, the global online retail market continues to grow rapidly. More and more consumers are used to buying goods online. Smithers pointed out that this situation will continue to increase in the next 10 years, and people and businesses will need packaging solutions that are more environmentally friendly, healthier and safer to transport goods. For example, more and more people will consume food, beverage, medicine and other products on their way to work or travel. Therefore, the demand for convenient and portable packaging solutions is increasing, and the flexible plastic industry is one of the main beneficiaries.

In addition, with the shift to single life, more and more consumers, especially young people, tend to buy groceries more frequently and less. This has driven the growth of convenience store retail and the demand for more convenient and smaller packaging forms.

As brand companies around the world continue to seek new areas and markets with high returns and high growth, the internationalization of many FMCG brands is also improving. In the next few years, people's increasingly modern and scientific lifestyle will accelerate this process.

Similarly, the globalization of e-commerce and international trade has also stimulated the demand of brands for components with "RFID (radio frequency identification technology) "tags and "smart" tags, to prevent fake and shoddy products and implement better market monitoring.

Short comments: Frankly speaking, at present, consumers' loyalty to the brand is not as high as in the past. In order to solve this phenomenon, brands try their best to attract customers to participate in various marketing activities, and have added the "packaging experience" to their customers' shopping process, because brand owners want to rely on flexible packaging design to provide personalized products and convey unique sales proposition (USP) and brand concept, so as to make this "profitable" The way to attract consumers and earn customer loyalty can be described as killing two birds with one stone.