Packaging Beyond Containers: How Beverage Brands Turn Packaging into a Purchase Driver

Packaging is shaping purchase decisions: research indicates that one third of consumer decisions are based on packaging.

Ipsos’ China Food and Beverage Trends and Consumer Insights offers several key figures: 53% of consumers are willing to try new packaging; 59% are willing to pay more for packaging with better, more creative design; 72% are willing to spend more for an attractive brand image; and 80% lean toward personalization.

Packaging has therefore moved beyond surface-level “homework” to become a powerful marketing tool that directly affects purchasing behavior and helps drive sales.

For beverage brands, packaging is often the first touchpoint on the shelf and a medium for communicating with consumers.

As Millennials gradually become the main consumer force, food and beverages that are smarter, more interesting and higher in quality attract more attention. Packaging thus becomes the key to standing out in market competition, while innovative technologies add greater value to products.

2021 figures from Think Tank show that the smart packaging market is growing at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 8%. By 2023, the global smart packaging industry market is expected to exceed USD 300 billion, while the Chinese market is expected to exceed RMB 200 billion. With the arrival of China’s Internet of Things era, intelligent packaging in end markets such as food and beverages is an inevitable trend.

Danone’s Spanish natural mineral water brand Font Vella launched Coach2O in 2019. The device clips onto an existing bottle cap, reminding users to drink more water while remembering how much water they drink each day.

In 2017, Nongfu Spring collaborated across categories with NetEase Cloud Music. NetEase Cloud Music vinyl-record images were arranged on the bottle to form Nongfu Spring’s landscape logo. With AR technology, scanning the vinyl pattern turns the phone interface into a starry sky; clicking a planet pops up a random music review and can also jump to the corresponding playlist.

These examples show how packaging can bring interactive experiences onto the bottle and make the purchase journey more memorable.

As Generation Z continues to rise, it has become a consumer force that cannot be underestimated. These young people dare to express bold, individual needs. When it comes to food and beverage packaging, they want products that fully satisfy their personalized and customized needs.

Bud Light, for example, during the 2016 Mad Decent Block Party festival, converted 31 designs into more than 31 million graphics. Using digital printing technology, it printed festive patterns and ultimately created 200,000 personalized cans, each one unique. This personalized packaging won the favor of countless young consumers, delivered a disruptive consumption experience and created a more relaxed and joyful drinking occasion.

To scale personalization, digital printing becomes a key enabler.

SAPPORO’s Black Label draft beer is also a practitioner of personalized packaging. In addition to changing its packaging every year, it launches limited-edition packaging for special holidays, festivals or seasons, and has thus won consumer pursuit.

Limited editions and personalized design keep packaging fresh and strengthen the connection between brands and consumers.

In the future, food and water shortages will become an increasingly serious global challenge. To help reduce problems such as food waste, protective packaging will play a key role. The demand for more product protection will be balanced with the demand for more sustainable, high-protection packaging that is more environmentally friendly, lighter and more efficient to transport.

For example, packaging made from nanomaterials can provide a better protective barrier, blocking light and air and further extending shelf life. Nanotechnology can also promote active packaging that uses materials interacting with product contents, thereby fighting microorganisms and reducing the risk of foodborne illness.

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Source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn), original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-378738.html