Market Insights | Page 2

The packaging you use for your retail products can make a big difference when it comes to attracting customers. In order to boost business, your products need to stand out among the competition and make a strong impression on customers. Whether your products are on store shelves and displays or delivered right to a customer's home, custom retail packaging can provide you with an effective way to help your business thrive. How can you make sure customers head right for your products in stores or online? Consider the following packaging ideas for your retail products.

In order to stay competitive in the ecommerce industry, it is important to have a well-oiled ecommerce fulfillment machine. This means having a system that can receive and inventory products, pick and pack orders, and get those orders shipped out quickly.

To ensure you have the packaging products necessary to pull this off, you need a partner who understands the challenges of running an ecommerce empire. This is where Smurfit Westrock Packaging Solutions comes in. We have the experience and expertise to understand your needs and keep your fulfillment centers stocked with the packaging materials your business requires.

When it comes to making environmentally conscious decisions, the packaging industry is in a unique position. On one hand, there are many options for eco-friendly materials that can be used in packaging designs. On the other, many companies are hesitant to switch to more sustainable materials for fear they won't be able to meet performance and aesthetic demands.

Retail-ready packaging, also known as shelf-ready packaging, is a bit of a cheat code in the world of retail. It enables you to do a little less while ultimately gaining a bit more, which is something that’ll make any business owner’s ears perk up a bit.

For far too long, packaging had one job and one job only: protect the product. Not much mind was paid to what packaging looked like or how one felt when opening it for the first time. This approach led to designs that kept products safe while inflicting stress and anxiety upon the customer.

As 2021 winds down, we look forward with excitement at what’s to come. With a new year comes fresh new ideas in the packaging industry, and as a packaging solutions company, we keep a close eye on trends so we can best serve our customers.

For a prediction post, we suppose that does give us an unfair advantage — we’re bringing some insider knowledge to the table. But it’s our goal to have that knowledge benefit your business, enabling you to stay one step ahead of everyone else.

With that, we present our packaging predictions for 2022.

We’ve written before about what goes into the design of a package. In a well-thought out box or container, every element has a specific purpose. Perhaps you see that in the packaging your company uses now, and if so, that is fantastic. But what if you aren’t so happy with what you have at the moment? How could it improve?

There are a number of ways packaging can fall short. Below, we’ve laid out several areas you can focus on to ensure you have the best packaging possible.

These days, sustainable packaging is becoming more commonplace; so much so that you may not even realize you’re interacting with it. Companies like Amazon and Kellog’s have initiatives for sustainable packaging options. Your new Kindles come in this type of packaging, as do the cereals millions eat for breakfast each morning. What you may not know, however, is what exactly sustainable packaging design is.

As we continue to push forward from COVID, you'll need to handle increased omnichannel inventory management that keeps everything on the same page. See how we can help.

Retail is Surging in 2021

Earlier this summer, The National Retail Federation announced an updated annual forecast for 2021, which expects retail sales to grow between 10.5 percent and 13.5 percent to more than $4.44 trillion. The NRF’s original prediction was for 6.5 percent growth, so this revision shows that 2021 is poised to be a massive year for retail sales as the economy recovers from the pandemic.  

It’s not unusual for a business to hit a bottleneck. Sometimes, that bottleneck is demand that outstrips packaging capabilities. Enabling more growth means figuring out how to package and ship products more quickly. You could move people over to take care of this issue, but you’ll just be taking them away from doing other work.