Shoppers dish on e-commerce packaging

New survey says 34% of shoppers return online purchases due to packaging. Meanwhile, e-commerce is boosting demand for insulated packaging.

New survey says 34% of shoppers return online purchases due to packaging. Meanwhile, e-commerce is boosting demand for insulated packaging.
New survey says 34% of shoppers return online purchases due to packaging. Meanwhile, e-commerce is boosting demand for insulated packaging.

In the burgeoning e-commerce business, a new study/survey on shopper behaviors in food and beverage markets says 34% of shoppers return an online purchase because of the packaging.

Packaging and the Digital Shopper: Meeting Expectations in Food & Beverage, conducted by Esko and its sister companies Pantone, X-Rite, and AVT, makes the following points:

• Online and offline experiences must mirror each other as primary shoppers expect nothing less from brands. The packaging and experience must be the same.

• Forty-seven percent of shoppers expect the product image to match the product packaging.

• Twenty-six percent of primary shoppers who had returned product based on packaging did so because they thought it looked wrong or counterfeit.

Pharma, e-commerce and insulated packaging

Perhaps not surprisingly, the e-commerce industry—and rising pharmaceutical demand—are leading to ResearchAndMarkets’ prediction that the “global insulated packaging market is poised for strong growth during the forecast period from 2017 to 2027.” Its 180-page report, released in July 2018, notes that “some of the prominent trends that the market is witnessing include growth in flexible insulation packaging, [the] increasing e-commerce industry, [and] rising demand in pharma industries.”

The e-commerce market is also on the radar of GS1 US, the not-for-profit standards organization that just announced it has expanded its GS1 US Certified Content Provider Program to include five newly certified partners.

Its Senior VP of Corporate Development, Melanie Nuce, says, “With consumers increasingly gravitating online to research products and make purchases, the role of product content has become critical to making a sale. These experts are helping small businesses scale, share, and sustain good product content online through streamlined processes and expert guidance.”

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