Respondents from across Europe, of which 62% worked in companies with 500 or more employees globally, cooperated to the survey of brand owners conducted by EskoArtwork in partnered with Adobe and the International Packaging Institute (I.P.I.) with the aim to gain a better understanding of emerging market demands.
“While most of the respondents represented global companies, half are operating in small marketing workgroups and are senior managers or professionals. We believe their responses provide an accurate portrayal of the current state of mind for most brand owners,” says Dieter Janout, Global Director Brand Owners at EskoArtwork.
The survey reaffirmed the growing popularity of and demand for, private labelling, with 54% of respondents reporting that their private label business accounted for up to 25% of revenues.
Other key survey findings included the following:
– Respondents strongly believed that the packaging’s ability to make a product stand out on the shelf is paramount. Equally strongly held is a belief that packaging will increase in importance in its role in the marketing mix.
– 56% expect a significant increase in the use of digital prototyping either ‘definitely’ (12%) or ‘probably’ (44%).
– However, only 15% said that providing sustainable packaging solutions was critical to or already addressed in their businesses today. Key drivers for sustainable packaging identified by respondents included consumers (70%), regulations and legislation (64%) and retail requirements (57%). 84% thought that ‘environmental and sociological constraints’ would require ‘significant change’ (63%) or ‘new ways required’ (21%).
– 50% thought that packaging design will adapt to the opportunities presented by the Internet as online shopping becomes more prevalent.
– Respondents gave a score of 7.8 out of 10 to the assertion that ‘right-sized or optimized packaging sizes’ will increase in importance over the next few years.
