By John W. Allen
Future developments in food packaging is a provocative topic. Since none of us knows for sure what the future will bring, here are trends that seem reasonable to me:
-- There is the challenge of communicating to shoppers that highly protective packaging offers higher quality and greater "freshness" than the unpackaged or inadequately packaged item.
-- Displays might be accompanied not only by more consumer information on packages, but also with creative and appealing signage and display strategies that equate the fresh photo of unpackaged items with the packaged products. Fast-food operations effectively use photography to enhance the appeal of their products. Supermarkets should apply similar techniques.
-- New packaging technologies for perishable products-meat, produce, bakery and deli/prepared foods-make it more feasible to go beyond the token cross-merchandising between existing departments.
It is now possible to group products throughout the store by meal occasion, recipe ideas, social functions and other ways that offer solutions for shoppers. UPC and PLU systems allow for tracking sales so that accounting for products by departments is feasible.
-- The popularity of case-ready meat packaging, which appears similar to in-store packaged products by using foam trays and film overwrap with modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), may prove to be a transition stage toward greater use of vacuum packaged meats which have longer shelf life (10 days MAP vs. 20-plus days for vacuum).
The reason is as manufacturers apply R&D and product development to commodity cuts, today's prized fresh bloom will be superseded by the coloring resulting from marinades, flavorings and pre-cooking. Meat color will become less important. This process will be accelerated if retailers encourage manufacturers to apply their brands rather than be forced to provide private brands.
-- Increasingly, the industry will need to have packaging that allows for combining ingredients for in-kitchen assembly and complete meals.
The most underdeveloped packaging is for take-out meals, which does not protect against temperature changes, is not leak proof, does not add to eye appeal, and does not provide the essential consumer information. One interesting exception is the dual-ovenable, sealed and windowed take-out package offered by Ukrops, a Richmond, Va.-based supermarket chain.
-- Back to basics. Information must be more legible on packages. It is incredible that printing on many food packages is in such small type with poor color contrast.
-- The legacy of Efficient Consumer Response will have a bearing on packaging. When formal ECR projects are concluded, there will continue to be a strong awareness of the need for achieving lower cost of distribution and logistics.
There will be a greater effort to use packaging of lighter weight, and packages will be designed to optimize cube and shipping.
Moreover, the huge frontier of in-store costs that ECR has identified will lead toward such possibilities as prepared displays and unitized pallet handling of product from manufacturers to the supermarket display areas. Packaging will be designed with these and other productivity goals in mind.
John W. Allen is professor of marketing and logistics at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich.