FEATURED ARTICLE

Global growth for stand-up pouches

Throughout the world, and particularly in Asia, stand-up pouches are a common sight, used for a wide range of end-use applications and also positioned as refill packs for bottles. Pouches have only recently begun to gain traction in the US however, as manufacturers favor the cost and environmental benefits of the format and pouches gain acceptance among consumers.

As environmental interests have gained priority over a number of other concerns, manufacturers are seeking ways to promote sustainability while cutting costs. Stand-up pouches allow for this in multiple ways. The flexible materials used in stand-up pouches allow companies to lower the cost of transporting packaging materials, lightweight their packaging, and reduce the volume of waste sent to the landfill. At the same time, the properties of stand-up pouches allow for excellent billboarding within the retail aisle, making them attractive to manufacturers who are looking to packaging as a way to increase shelf appeal.

Consumers, for their part, have not shown the aversion to stand-up pouches that some manufacturers worried about. This is thanks to several major brands across categories adopting the format for premium products. For example, Procter & Gamble's Cascade Complete All-in-One Action Dish Washing Pacs are now sold in a plastic stand-up pouch, and Frito-Lay recently introduced their Lay's Cracker Crisps in an aluminium/plastic stand-up pouch.

The result of these packaging introductions and transitions has been an explosion in stand-up pouches in the US market. From 2006 to 2008, volume sales of stand-up pouches used with packaged food products in the US have increased 14.3%. In Japan, where the format is already commonplace, that growth was only 9.7% over the same period. As more products in a variety of categories are packaged in stand-up pouches, the format is only likely to continue its prominence.