Originally posted 12/31/2018
Ninety-five percent of consumers report packaging significantly affects their online purchase experience and almost half share their experience on social media.
Don’t think consumers care about the packages dropped at their door? Go on your computer and do a Google search for “unboxing video” and you come up with more than 150,000,000 videos! A new study from PMMI Business Intelligence, “E-Commerce 2018: Think Inside the Box,” talks about the kinds of consumer engagement savvy brands are seeking with omnichannel distribution.
The trade-off for a brand selling online is the risk of losing that branding moment on the shelf in the grocery or retail store. Companies are looking for ways to retain shelf appeal (even at peak growth, e-commerce will only account for 20% of retail sales) as well as own the shopping site pages, as well as the package that arrives at your door.
“We are looking at more personalization and seasonal messages on the primary package.” said one Project Manager at a fragrance company.
“We are considering printing directly on the corrugated for cost savings, to eliminate preprinted cases,” offered one Manager of Engineering at a leading food company.
“We have only discussed direct printing onto corrugated but have not implemented it due to cost and the variability of the corrugated material,” said a project manager for a contract packager.
This combination of digital printing using more corrugated keeps coming up in e-commerce “consumer experience” conversations. While box-on-demand machines are one possibility, they typically don’t really offer high-speed production. That might be alright, however, because right now the majority of e-commerce order fulfillment is done primarily be hand.
What kind for creativity is afforded by digital printing? Here is a collection of short videos featuring real-world examples of how brands upped the consumer experience.
The new PMMI report says 41% of brand manufacturers are predicting more corrugated use, compared with 56% of the logistics companies polled.
For more information on the impact of e-commerce on CPGs, 3PLs and packaging OEMs, download the FREE Executive Summary below. PMMI members can access entire 56-page report here.
To see all ten articles in this series, click here.
