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CLEAR SAILING THROUGH THE FINANCIAL TSUNAMI
by NAME/TITLE
Much has been said about how billions of consumers are tightening their belts as a result of the financial tsunami. People everywhere are altering their lifestyles. And their buying preferences are consequently changing in many ways. I had a chance to see how these changes were playing out during a recent visit to a well-known discounter during a recent US, visit to a Chicago suburb
I was initially surprised by the bustle of shoppers, which suggested that individuals may be shifting to shopping to high-volume shopping outlets such as retail discounters and supermarkets. I also observed a couple who were interested in purchasing a small stuffed animal, probably for play in a toddler’s crib or playpen. There was a variety of species available, some were in paper box packaging, others in soft plastic. What captured their attention was a cuddly stuffed bear attractively packaged in a clear gift PET plastic box where the handle colourfully displayed the printed brand and trade name, providing an unobstructed view of the animal. The brand looked to be a house label. Printed on the box was a brief but clear description of the safety requirements that the product complied with as well as complementary attractive decorations centring attention on the bear.
Then our couple scanned the area for similar stuffed animals and picked up some others, including some renowned brands, for a closer look. After several minutes of comparison and discussion, they opted for the bear in the plastic box.
Changed consumer behaviour
From their behaviour, I had a chance to witness a few other trends in action. For starters, their comparison and discussion suggests impulsive purchases are apparently being replaced by the trend towards selective buying. In fact, In the UK Mintel has found 29 percent of British shoppers now spend more time in supermarkets to compare prices with 31 percent of shoppers now using value supermarkets more frequently than before. Department stores and luxury stores are starting to feel the pinch caused by this shift.
Despite the apparent trend toward trading down, from watching that couple one concludes that quality continues to be important. The selected toy was priced less than some other comparable products, including two within a paper box package with a photo illustration of the product. The toy they selected appeared to have the hallmarks of a well-made and designed quality product, which were plainly visible, thanks to the clear plastic container and the crisp printing citing safety compliance information. Our couple did not select an inferior product, which means that consumers still expect quality, hoping they can get the same value at prices as low as possible.
The couple, like more and more of their counterparts elsewhere, were attracted to house brands, which are proliferating in efforts to boost sales. According to a survey by Nielsen 72 percent of consumers believe private labels are good alternatives to national brands, and 63 percent consider the quality of private labels is as good as national brands.
Helping consumers to make a clear choice
In the high-volume discounters, shoppers such as our couple are faced with choosing from a bewildering number of products on a cluttered retail shelf. If producers of consumer goods want to increase sales to more rational consumers, like our couple, they need to devote more effort to product design and development to offer the quality consumers demand in this changed market. Like the producer of the stuffed bear, they must convince consumers that they do so.
A clear view of the product provided by a well-designed plastic package can go a long way to demonstrate product quality to discerning consumers and inspiring consumer confidence, as it did with our couple.
For quality clear packaging, it is paramount to use Grade A materials. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), packaging the stuffed animal selected is increasingly popular due to its strength including higher barrier characteristics and superior recycling capabilities while yielding more film per pound of resin than PVC. PET’s design flexibility and choice of decoration options mean the material can create a striking visual identity for a new brand as well as a more established name. Equally important, PET can retain this image as a family range across a number of different sizes.
Clear plastic packaging transparently showcasing product quality is a worthwhile investment with a return of stronger sales revenue that can help product marketers overcome the challenge presented by the financial tsunami.
A CLEAR WAY THROUGH STORMY ECONOMIC TIMES
by NAME/TITLE
Hip Lik Packaging
The global financial tsunami is eliciting sea changes in the way consumers in many markets shop. There is, in particular, a significant shift towards cheaper items, thus leaving less for lavish consumerism over the medium term and probably beyond. Consumers are therefore cutting their expenditure, and shopping more strategically as well. With shorter purse strings, they are exploiting a variety of means to trade down – buying something cheaper or seeking bargains to save money, presenting a challenge that threatens the loyalty of customers for brands.
Another important trend is the re-emergence of cocooning, a trend first noted after the terrorist attacks on September 11 where people turn towards the comfort and protection of their homes. Cocooning results in a change in lifestyle and a tendency to further cut shoppers’ budgets. To meet these challenges, companies need to commit themselves to delivering quality products and packaging. A clear plastic box where product quality is showcased may be the best way to demonstrate this commitment, and thereby gain sales.
Quality still king
According to a survey by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), 72 percent of Americans indicate trading down makes them feel practical, while 62 percent feel smarter. In a survey by Mintel, 41 percent of shoppers in the UK have switched to cheaper brands.
Consumers are increasingly purchasing much cheaper house brands at the expense of loyalty to national and global brands. The intense competition in a shrinking market leads many companies to think beyond restructuring through layoffs and plant closures. Should they explore slashing the cost of development and packaging of their products? The answer is “No,” as customers insist on quality, and packaging is a highly visible, or, in the case of clear packaging, highly transparent evidence of that quality.
The clear advantage to boosting sales
In this changed environment, if they want to increase sales to consumers who are increasingly shopping strategically, producers of goods must step up efforts to design and develop packaging that is a perfect complement to the product. Clear plastic packaging is the ideal way to more easily sell consumers on their products’ unique quality and increase sales by ensuring that the clearly visible product is an appealing focus of attention.
The clear plastic box forms the winning combination of design flexibility, modern production and printing techniques to prominently present product features and quality as well as brand identity and attributes. The flexibility of plastic enables custom-moulding for functions beyond the packaging to cost-effectively support success in the retail environment.
Soft creasing in packaging creates a longer as well as stronger crease, and also allows a tearproof carton to be designed in a single piece. Boxes can then be delivered flat to customers for assembly to save transportation cost. Use of glue and tape is avoided, further saving material and labor costs. An auto-lock bottom carton which automatically unfolds itself and locks the carton in a ready-to-pack condition by applying pressure to opposite folded edge saves time and effort in assembly and packing. Marketers therefore can bring their product to market more quickly, at a lower cost.
The latest specialist automatic printing machines from the US and Europe dedicated to printing on plastic offer a variety of printing options such as vivid offset, colour and silk screen printing as well as embossing and hot stamping. For example, high quality offset printing can create more attractive packaging to capture and keep the consumer’s attention, while maintaining brand identity and with more consistent color packaging in bulk quantity production reinforcing the perception of product quality.
Today’s current economic climate where products are competing for consumers’ attention, is the right time for an investment in better packaging. Better packaging can help the product stand tall – and better stand out on crowded supermarket or discount retail outlet shelves. Once the rough financial waters recede, consumers are likely to continue to spend cautiously, as unbridled consumerism may be a thing of the past. No matter what lifestyle or product preferences changes the future brings, clear plastic packaging where product quality is visible for all to see can help win the battle of the brands and increase sales.
Showcasing Your Product Quality
A CLEAR CASE FOR YOUR PRODUCT AND BRAND
by Mr.CM Yeung /Managing Director , The Hip Lik Group
It may be surprising to learn that a disproportionate amount of time and effort is spent on defining brand strategy and promotion in the marketing media. Truth be told, advertising is glamourous while the packaging, on the other hand seems to be in many cases little more than an afterthought. This neglect stems from packaging’s traditionally mundane purpose of product protection. It is a great opportunity missed when one considers that there is no more critical display area than the shelf in a retail outlet. Thus, packaging needs to accent the value of products while promoting the brand and commercial success through pumping up sales volumes.
To fulfil these needs, packaging has in a very real sense extended its original protective role to become a communication medium with similarities to advertising. Now, more than ever, quality in packaging design and material is critical. Clear plastic box packaging represents a better packaging solution over other popular choices such as paper boxes to optimise sales. It not only protects the product, but also transparently promises what the product can deliver and, ultimately, arouses the consumer’s need to buy.
The advantage of clear plastic packaging stems from showcasing product quality and brand identity while making product features visible. The market has noticed, witnessed by increased take-up of plastic boxes within industry sectors as diverse as fashion and cosmetics industries, pharmaceuticals and healthcare and houseware and consumer electronics. Underlying reasons for the increased popularity is that the clear plastic box forms the ideal nexus of materials, sustainability, modern production and printing techniques and design flexibility.
PRODUCT THE STAR
Imagine a shopper scanning the product packaging on the retail shelf at the local department store or supermarket. He or she faces an almost bewildering amount of technical information that the poor dear has neither the time nor inclination to read. The packaging looks cluttered and unattractive, even if it is well-designed. Even worse, a potential opportunity to start a customer relationship, and make a sale is lost when the customer loses interest.
Clear plastic packaging can overcome this potential buyer resistance factor by ensuring that the product is an appealing focus of attention for the consumer. The flexibility of plastic enables custom-moulding for functions beyond the packaging to support success in the retail environment.
Critical to keeping the spotlight on the product is a high clarity in the clear plastic box displaying the product. Crisp clarity also reinforces the notion of quality. Key here is resistance to surface-defacing scratches and static to avoid dust buildup together with a low incidence of unsightly water flow marks. Regardless of the thickness or whether the choice is PVC, one of the various types of PET, or polypropylene, it is important to maintain a high material quality standard to create clear and durable plastic boxes.
An upright design for the box also can help your product better stand out among the crowd by standing up. Soft creasing can create a longer as well as stronger crease, and also allows the carton to be erected faster, and more easily folded and packed through automation. Advanced technology for high-end production, assembling and printing represents a worthwhile investment for packaging manufacturers with the benefits passed on to product marketers.
DECORATION COMPLEMENTS PRODUCT AND BRAND
The latest automatic printing machines from the US and Europe offer excellent printing options on plastic such as colour, silk screen and offset printing as well as embossing and hot stamping. Not only does this create more attractive packaging to capture and keep the consumer’s attention, while maintaining brand identity. Clearly differentiating product features can also be tastefully printed on a clear plastic box to drive the right concise message home to the customer.
Packaging represents an integral part of every company’s product and brand communications to the consumer, so it is imperative that companies create the right packaging. Failure to do so will go beyond buyer resistance and negative perception of the specific product to actually reduce the value of the brand. Quality clear plastic packaging represents one way to get it right at all levels, whether in the realms of sustainability, consumer convenience, sales and marketing and branding. In today’s world, products enjoy widespread distribution in multiple channels among an increasing number of competitors on a global scale. In this setting, plastic packaging where product quality is visible for all to clearly see complemented by the right messaging can go a long way towards successfully selling the product and enhancing the brand.
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