This year, packaging industry players are looking forward to new efficiencies and economies of structure. Reorganizations, consolidations, lean manufacturing and sustainability are some of the measures they consider to tackle the current situation. Apart from this, flexible packaging industry is heavily relying on other areas such as performance metrics and looking more stringently at project proposals.

Here we will discuss packaging trends to watch closely in 2013:

Smart Packaging: With changing lifestyles and consumers being more demanding, active and intelligent packaging focus more on consumer benefits such as food quality and safety, freshness and information rather than  specific retailer and manufacturer driven benefits.

Bio-Based Plastics: Recyclable PET made from renewable resource is projected to offer significant growth potential in long term. Hence the corporations involved in the soft drink industry, are investing heavily in the development of this material.

Stand-up Pouches: Bottles and cans have become the things of past. Stand-up pouches are preferred more because of their flexibility, sustainability and convenience. They are one of the most innovative marketing approaches to stimulate the sales of a stagnant brand.

Retail Ready Packaging (RRP), a method of packaging to make the products easier for the retailers to stock, continues to gain traction in North America more and more retailers have started to consider implementation, and others broaden the scope of existing initiatives into additional categories.

Social Media’s Role in Packaging: Marketing strategies are changing and internet continues to revolutionize how we find, buy, sell, and interact with brands and their products or services. While traditional marketing focused on pushing messages out, nowadays, it’s more about getting found by customers. Hence, market players need to provide value and earning customer loyalty instead of simply conveying message to the consumers and hoping it will stick.

Along with this, packaging industry professionals must not ignore the consumer voice. Studying consumer culture will always reveal packaging trends and labeling needs in future. Considering the lifestyle changes and economic growth, Uflex Ltd. always follows a strategy with innovation, proximity to customers to provide better services and quick deliveries and focus on operational excellence.

New Delhi, March 28, 2013: Four young and talented Sepak Takraw (kick volleyball) players who have been selected for the second and final camp of the game in the Asian Game 2014, were accorded a warm felicitation by Mr. Ashok Chaturvedi, Chairman and MD of Uflex Ltd. India’s largest flexible packaging company. The players are registered with the Uflex Khelo Dilli  programme- a philanthropic endeavor jointly undertaken by Stairs, an NGO working towards sports, education & health for underprivileged children and Uflex Ltd.

Congratulating  the players, Mr. Ashok Chaturvedi, Chairman and M.D. of UFLEX Ltd said, “We would like to offer our warmest congratulations to all the four players and wish them luck in all future endeavours. India has a vast pool of sports talent, and the need is to tap this talent at the right time and provide them with the right training and facilities. Our association with Stairs represents an extension of our social commitment to bring about a positive change in the life of underprivileged youth of the society by providing them opportunities and a platform to showcase their talent.”

“We congratulate all the players selected for the Asian Games and would like to extend continued support to them. We are extremely happy with the response we are receiving for Uflex Khelo Dilli. The programme has created an atmosphere of participation, co-operation and team spirit amongst youth and encouraged more and more children to join”, said Mr. Siddhartha Upadhyay, Founder and Secretary General, Stairs .

Uflex Khelo Dilli aims to provide free of cost – space, infrastructure and sports equipment to the less fortunate children of our society, to play. More than 5000 underprivileged children are regularly playing at 28 different sports centers run by Stairs and funded by Uflex Ltd., across Delhi. These centres have emerged as a hub of recreation for children from low economic background and ignited a passion for playing in others as evident from an increasing number of children getting enrolled at these centres.

Apart from Khelo Dilli, Uflex Ltd. has also adopted cricket initiatives of Stairs, namely, Uflex Stairs Cricket Championship and Uflex Stairs Cricket Scholarship. Uflex Ltd. supports Stairs in running cricket training academies, providing sports scholarship and sports gear to the underprivileged children. Since 2011, 72 talented children have been granted the Uflex Stairs Cricket Scholarship and are being training at accredited cricket centres in Delhi.

Since inception, Stairs has actively worked towards the upliftment of the less fortunate children mainly through the field of sports. The sporting initiatives of Stairs aim to provide a platform to these children to hone their skills and showcase their talent through sports camps. Stairs understands the amount of talent that exists among these children and believes in creating opportunities so that their talent is rightly tapped and nurtured. Talented children are chosen from these camps and provided coaching, sports scholarship and sports gear.

Some of the students who identified by Stairs are already doing well at the national level and are earning laurels for their states. Stairs also organizes sports camps at regular intervals to promote youth talent.

About Stairs:

Stairs (www.stairs.org.in) is a non-profit organization working in the field of development of underprivileged youth through channelization of their energies in sports and education. Since its inception in 2005, Stairs has worked for the upliftment of the less fortunate children mainly through the field of sports. The sporting initiatives undertaken by Stairs provide a platform to these children to hone their skills and showcase their talent through sports camps. Stairs understands the amount of talent that exists among these children and believes in creating opportunities to tap and nurture their talent.

So,marketing companies who want to reach out to the masses must keep in mind that along with appealing designs, it’s also vital to ensure that you’re conveying the necessary information about the contents and quality of the product, while triggering the desired emotion in your customer.

Here we will discuss some “rules of success” that flexible packaging industry can follow when creating something revolutionary:

1. Stand out, be visible: Packaging industry players’ number-one responsibility is to get the product noticed. Making your place amongst thousands of products requires boldly different approaches. You’ll never know about your true sales potential if you don’t work on your packaging to grab buyer’s attention.

2. Be very clear in your message: Shoppers often get attracted toward packaging that presents the most pertinent information in the most prominent and organized fashion. Hence, brands that design with respect for hierarchy are positioned to appeal to shoppers who just want to grab and go.

3. Highlight your product’s unique features: Although every brand brags they are different from the others, but most differentiation is hardly noticeable or meaningful. Hence, it is necessary to pursue differentiation that matters to shoppers in that particular category. With so few slots available at high-volume retailers, you can’t afford to be replaceable.

4. Clarify your value proposition: A clear picture of how you want buyers to perceive your product in terms of segmentation can go a long way towards informing not only the overall tone, but also the minute details of your packaging. Just because you think your product is premium doesn’t mean the shoppers also see it that way. The shopper is deciding the value of your brand based on how your product compares with all the other packages on the shelf next to it.

5. Understand purchase drivers: Have you ever given a thought to what drives your customers to your product? Are shoppers choosing a product in your category based on perceived quality or are they looking for specific health-benefit callouts? Are they weary of certain ingredients or do awards influence their purchase decision? Do they shop by flavor, or by variety? Keeping these factors in mind can help you design a strategy on what you feature, and how you feature it, on your packaging.

Retailers and consumers are becoming aware of the environmental impact of packaging. Hence it would be worth mentioning, that designing for sustainability can actually help drive shelf impact and drive a sale.  Uflex Ltd., India’s largest flexible packaging company are very particular on how the packaging measures up.  As socio-cultural trends evolve, Uflex keep consumers’ perception in mind during packaging design process to identify what resonates with them and what doesn’t as these are the keys to creating successful packaging and gaining alignment.

As per a recent report by Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), Indian packaging industry is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 12.3 percent over the next 4 to 5 years. There are roughly 22,000 packaging companies in the country – from raw material manufacturers to machinery suppliers to ancillary material and nearly 85 percent of them are MSMEs.

“With sales of USD 24.6 billion, India was the 6th largest packaging market in the world in 2011. However, in next few years, it is expected to grow at CAGR of 12.3 percent that will make it the 4th largest global market in packaging industry, with sales of USD 42.7 billion,” said D Purandeswari, Union Minister of State for Commerce during Indiapack-2013 exhibition.

India’s per capita consumption of packaging is only 4.3 kg per person per annum, as against Germany’s 42 kg and China’s 20 kg, which is very low as compared to the global standards. This presents a huge scope for innovation, entrepreneurship as well as logistical advancements for industry’s key players to take initiatives needed to convert the large unpacked commodities into processed and packed and well-presented commodities.

Given the rate at which the Indian packaging sector is growing, country’s largest flexible packaging company Uflex Ltd., is gearing up with innovative packaging ideas and a host of value added packaging materials and sophisticated products for the market. The packaging giant is expecting a 30% growth in the revenue this year.

For the nine months period ended December 31, 2012, UFlex recorded lower net profit of Rs. 149 crore against Rs. 205 crore in the corresponding period last year, while net revenue of the company for the nine months ended Dec.. 31, 2012 stood higher by 19% at Rs. 3940 crore compared Rs. 3320 crore in the same period in previous fiscal.

The higher revenue growth is attributed to new capacity expansion globally and increased uptake of innovative flexible packaging solutions offered by the company across sectors. Uflex completed the expansion in Poland successfully during July, 2012 and in Kentucky, USA during January 2013. Collectively the two facilities involved investments of about $ 150 million.

According to Mr. Ashok Chaturvedi, Chairman and M.D. of UFLEX Ltd, “The market conditions for the plastic film have been unfavourable during the current financial year, causing having downward pressure on prices & margins thereof.  However, conditions have started showing some improvement from February, 2013 and there are hopes that it will show up better in the coming time.  We are quite confident that FY 2013-14 would witness far better results.

Our three pronged strategy of growth with Innovation, proximity to customers with focus on operational excellence and better quality & quick service and deliveries to customers is the key to our success story that also reflects in the company’s top line growth. We will continue with our endeavors to become one of the largest packaging companies in the globe delivering value to our customers with best-in-class products and services; and incremental return on investments to investors.”

Uflex’s strong manufacturing base in India, Mexico, Dubai, Egypt, Poland and USA caters to global markets spanning USA, Canada, South America, UK, Europe, Russia, CIS countries, South Africa and other African countries, the Middle East and the South Asian Countries.

Expansion Plans

UFLEX’s agenda of global expansion and consolidation of its position as a truly Indian MNC (Multinational Corporation) is reinforced with its strategy of capacity expansion and adding manufacturing lines for various product categories across existing and newer locations to increase proximity to the markets, but also to bring broad portfolio of value added products to its clients at competitive price points.

The company offers its flexible packaging products and solutions globally to clients including Unilever, Pepsi, Wrigley, Procter & Gamble, Colgate, Palmolive, Nestle, Gillette, Ranbaxy, Perfetti, Joyco, Monsanto, ITC, Godrej Pillsbury, Tata Tea, Hindustan Petroleum, Indian Oil, Britannia, Dabur, Haldiram, Wockhardt, HUL, Parle Biscuit, Birla 3M, among others.

Flexible packaging by nature is highly adaptable. The clever and solution driven designs that the packaging companies are coming up with, further drives the sustainability benefit of the products which they clothe. Flexible packaging help minimize food and packaging waste by offering appropriate portion sizes and re-closable packs.  The wide range of innovative flexible materials and new design concepts being introduced in this industry to minimize waste in terms of conservational and cost, attracts increasing number of customers.

The complex trait of flexible packaging facilitates for the perfect fit packaging solution by combining the beneficial attributes of different compounds. This results in the packaging solutions that ensures appropriate storage and use, is lightweight and reduces environmental impact during storage, distribution and transportation.  The introduction of thin foil layers creates an absolute barrier effect leading to remarkable benefits in the preservation of nutritional value and extension of shelf-life of packaged food products.  Similarly the flexible packaging solutions offered for liquids like juice, milk and other dairy products not only increases its shelf life but also saves the energy which would otherwise be needed for chilled or frozen transport and storage. Further, the flexible packaging light weight solutions have tremendous advantage over the rigid and relatively heavy containers.

Hence it would not be wrong to conclude that the greater functionality, higher machine speeds and sustainability advantages of flexible packaging over the rigid containers make it the popular choice among brand owners. With the flexible packaging industry competitors coming up with germinal solutions for the challenges in this sector, this industry is already oozing out amplitude of opportunities and demands.