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Luster straightens out freshness problems

This haircare producer begins filling creme relaxer into nestable yogurt-style cups with freshness seals. The switch from traditional jars not only keeps the product fresh, it aids in product display as well.

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For Chicago, IL-based ethnic haircare producer Luster Products, Creme Relaxer is a core product. It's an integral part of the company's six hair relaxer kits, two sizes of each for men, women and children. The kits also contain a variety of solutions and mixing tools in a paperboard carton.

After purchase, consumers were often finding that the creme relaxer was too dry to work with. Though the product was believed to have unlimited shelf life, the 8-oz screw-on, injection-molded polypropylene cap and jar weren't providing an adequate seal to hold in moisture.

Another problem was that in the larger kits, the jar was about an inch short of reaching the top of the box. This gap meant that the cartons weren't adequately supported and could be damaged during shipping. "Our retail cartons were made really large to fill the shelf and create a billboard effect," says Andrew Avant, Luster purchasing agent. "But retailers were complaining that the boxes were arriving crushed."

To eliminate the damage, Luster Products began inserting a 1 1/4" paperboard ring on top of the jar for added box support. "We inserted the ring manually," says Avant. "We had a person standing there, dropping rings all day."

Merry Christmas

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