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Common ways flexible packaging projects can fail

Flexible packaging for consumer goods is gradually claiming market share in a number of categories.

Packaging for these facial wipes uses renewable and recyclable resin for a lower carbon footprint than its competitors.
Packaging for these facial wipes uses renewable and recyclable resin for a lower carbon footprint than its competitors.

Whether you’re the first to market with flexible in your category or trying to ride the wave, it’s best to proceed with caution. Here are some serious considerations to keep top-of-mind while developing a new package.

1. Not understanding consumer needs. A household-cleaning product in a stand-up pouch seems like an innovation ripe for the market. Aside from convenience and refillability, sustainability gains would also be achieved. But what was a popular package format for similar products in Europe did not fly so well in the U.S. For good or bad, U.S. consumers are curious creatures of habit and, sometimes, doggedly resistant to change.

2. Not understanding retailer needs. Avoid shortsighted design that consumers may like but that doesn’t work well in distribution systems or on store shelves. Retailers will reject packaging out of hand if it doesn’t move through their supply chain efficiently, fit on their shelves the way they like, or sell down neatly and easily.

3. Under-marketing the advantages of flexible packaging. With a new packaging format in a category, education is advisable. It’s arguable that some less-than-stellar flexible packaging introductions of the past might have caught on had the brand owner marketed the key advantages to consumers right on the package. Advertising campaigns can also help consumers become more comfortable with a new user experience. Another strategy is to lower the price of a product in a new flexible package, temporarily, to entice consumers to abandon the legacy packaging format.

New e-book on Flexible Packaging
In this e-book, you’ll learn key considerations for vertical and horizontal f/f/s and how to choose between premade bags and an f/f/s system. Plus, discover the pitfalls to avoid on bagging machinery projects.
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New e-book on Flexible Packaging
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