Marketing, sales and consumer behaviour –November 2022

Market for industrial robots and market for single serve capsules
The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) reports an all-time high of 517,385 new industrial robots installed in 2021 in factories around the world. This represents a growth rate of 31% year-on-year. You can find more information in an executive summary (331 kB) of the World Robotics 2022 report.
According to a new report by AMI, over 80 billion single serve capsules were filled in 2022 globally, both aluminium and plastic formats. Unlike previously, there was a significant volume increase for brand capsules. You can read more in a press release (230 kB).

Consumer involvement in packaging development
University of Sannio research (631 kB) published in Psychology & Marketing finds that consumers' evaluation of product packaging in Virtual Reality is consistent with everyday life. This suggests that VR can effectively be used in the development stage.
Research (in Dutch, 939 kB) by RIVM shows that the packaging can play a part in medication errors. At the moment, there is not enough user involvement during the development stage.

Consumer perception and consumer trends
Mintel has announced five trends set to impact global consumer markets in 2023 and beyond. You will receive the report by email after filling in your details.
A University of Leeds study (3.43 MB) published in Nutrition Bulletin explores consumer perception of food packaging, investigates specific features associated with portion control and elicits design ideas to improve packaging for healthy eating and downsizing.

Consumers and packaging waste
For his dissertation at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Malte Dewies studied how behavioural insights can be integrated into public policy. In one of the cases he found that street litter was drastically reduced by handing out stickers to the residents that read 'I keep our street clean' with a request to stick them visibly on their house.
University College London researchers assessed UK home composting of biodegradable and compostable plastics. The results show that the public are confused about the meaning of the labelling of these plastics. Of the plastics tested under different conditions, the majority did not fully disintegrate, including 60% of those that were certified “home compostable.” An article (6.75 MB) about the research is published in Frontiers in Sustainability.
New insights (700 kB) released by WRAP have found that the vast majority (84%) of well-intentioned households are putting one or more ‘contaminator’ items in the recycling bin. The biggest contaminator is drinking glasses (33%), closely followed by foil pouches (29%) and toothpaste tubes (26%).

Sanctions against Russia
In a press release, the European Commission welcomes the Council's adoption of an eighth package of sanctions against Russia for its aggression against Ukraine. Part of the package is a ban on the import of Russian finished and semi-finished steel products, machinery and plastics.

Prices for plastics
Dutch trade magazine Vraag en Aanbod publishes a weekly overview of the prices for plastics (in Dutch). The prices given are estimated averages between the gross prices published in the trade journals and the net prices.
 

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