Gillette is striving to simplify where possible among its 1,500 skus, not only to curtail costs but also to ease consumer understanding of the various Venus products.
While hearing about this success story, it’s easy to also think about the many companies struggling to achieve lean measures with broad impact. Why is this so? Contributing factors range from regulatory mandates to supply chain and internal operation obstacles. A recent informal IoPP member poll sheds additional light on one challenge at consumer goods companies: Though they’re carefully applying marketplace research to package development, many have not assessed where and how their packages might affect their operations and the bottom line. Our poll, though unscientific and small in sample size, does suggest a revealing snapshot of inadequate communication and understanding between packaging functions.
