Marketing, sales and consumer behaviour – March 2023

Packaging markets and trends
A survey conducted by Smurfit Kappa, in partnership with the Financial Times, reveals that sustainability continues to play a pivotal role in the strategy and planning of senior business leaders. 47% of businesses have prioritised packaging innovation as part of net zero targets. You can download the report after filling in your details. To understand what lies ahead, McKinsey looks back at how the global packaging industry has adapted over previous decades.
In the period leading to interpack 2023 (4-10 May) the organisation is publishing a number of expert articles. Recent subjects are industrial packaging and food packaging against waste.
The European tube market remained robust in 2022. The European tube manufacturers association etma (47 kB) reports a growth in tube deliveries of just under 2% to a total volume of around 11.8 billion units. The International Organisation of Aluminium Aerosol Container Manufacturers AEROBAL (182 kB) reports that global shipments by its members increased by 6.8% to approximately 6 billion units in 2022. According to Smithers, Covid-19 triggered growth in counterfeit goods and efforts to counter illicit trade. You can download an infographic after filling in your details.

Market for (bio-based) plastic and paper/board
A new nova report shows capacities and production data for bio-based polymers in 2022 and a forecast for 2027. You can read more in the short version of the report (4.59 MB). A Smithers infographic that you can download after filling in your details, looks at the future of mono versus multi-layer plastic packaging to 2028. According to preliminary statistics (222 kB) published by Cepi, the consumption of paper in Europe remained stable in 2022. At same time, the production of paper and board decreased by 5.9% in 2022 compared to 2021.

Consumer trends
Euromonitor has published a report highlighting the top 10 global consumer trends to watch in 2023. You will receive the report by e-mail after filling in your details.
A Deloitte survey shows that health is an important factor for EU grocery shoppers, followed by sustainability. Many shoppers indicated that they are sometimes put off by online shopping due to excessive packaging and a majority indicated that they consciously use less plastic. You can download the report after filling in your details.

Medication labelling
A University of Georgia study has found that prescription medication labels that list explicit instructions, for example when to take the medicine or whether the patient should avoid alcohol, can dramatically improve medication adherence.

Packaging design
On 9 March 2023, Emma Horsthuis held a speech entitled ‘The future of plastic packaging for the fresh food industry‘ as part of her master assignment at the University of Twente. Chairman of the assessment committee was prof. Roland ten Klooster who holds the NVC Chair Packaging Design and Management.
A University of Borås study (13.55 MB) entitled ‘Design-Based Approach to Support Sorting Behavior of Food Packaging’, is published in Clean Technologies.

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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