2020 A packaging
year in review By Benjamin Punchard, Global Packaging Insights Director, Mintel
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his year has seen COVID-19 drive a new appreciation for the protection and preservation that packaging can bring. In the UK, 63% of shoppers report that they prefer to buy products with packaging that will protect the contents from contamination. This renewed focus on hygiene and the role of packaging in keeping our products safe has seen brands look to reassure consumers with new structural packaging features. For example, in the Netherlands, Good Morning Crunchy Oat Biscuits are individually wrapped in tear-able wrappers to enable touch-free consumption. Looking to 2021, even if vaccines bring new confidence and a return to travel, consumers will remain concerned about touch and contamination. Consumers will continue to actively look for packaging formats that minimise contact with food and drink and make it easy to eat, serve or cook without unnecessary contact. Formats like pouches, bottles, wraps and sticks could be repurposed in that context.
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Consumers are currently rating hygiene over sustainability, but environmental concern still runs high. Packaging, consumerism and climate change are becoming inextricably linked, with a connection being drawn between man, nature and future pandemics. As a result, increased use of plastic to deliver hygiene benefits will have only short-term acceptance. Consumers are looking to reduce their environmental footprint without compromising convenience or cost. This is driving an acceptance that plastic will be part of the packaging mix, but in a more responsible form. Mintel’s Global New Product Database shows that claims of plastic-free packaging remain niche, whilst claims of recyclability are growing fast, particularly for plastic based packaging. Whilst recyclable is the dominant sustainable packaging claim, use of recycled material is gathering pace as consumers see recycled content as validation of their own recycling activities. For example, Biona Organic in the UK retail in a tray made from 57% recycled plastic. As a response to the stress of a difficult year, consumers will look for positive outcomes in 2021. As explored in Mintel’s Wellbeing trend driver, food and drink brands will look to support mental and emotional wellbeing. Mintel is already observing the growth in mental wellness foods, supported by packaging that can help create engaging moments of escape, peace and inspiration. As shoppers return to stores and look for affordable indulgences, those products that win will be the ones that can elicit a positive emotional response, with packaging that engages the senses through colour, texture and functional form. Mintel can help you understand consumers’ packaging preferences and where innovations are heading. For more information on how, please get in touch with us. Top left image: Good Morning Crunchy Oat Biscuits (Netherlands) are individually wrapped in tearable wrappers to enable touch-free consumption. Right image: Biona Organic Provencale Style Ballini (UK) retails in a package that is made from 57% recycled plastic. Source: Mintel Global New Product Database.
