Smart Packaging: How Retailers can Benefit

The Basics of Smart Packaging

Product packaging has been around for centuries. Bottles, cans, and cardboard boxes may be designed to keep the product inside safe, fresh, or all of the above. However, the generic cardboard box or plastic water bottle have little value other than giving the product inside a place to live and remain safe.

Smart packaging adds extra value to the consumer, shipping facilities, and companies who make said products. For example, smart packaging can keep tabs on the freshness of an item, extend the self-life of a product, track shipping progress, and improve the safety of the products it's carrying.

Smart packaging is divided into 2 main categories:

Active packaging and intelligent packaging. Each host their own functions, benefits, and abilities. Active packaging is designed to provide some type of functionality – like moisture and oxygen control that may affect a certain product, whereas intelligent packaging can communicate with the consumer, shipper, or originating company.

The Benefits…

There is a wide range of benefits that come from smart packaging. Namely, retailers who sell products, particularly bigger ticket items, possess an endless amount of benefits from this tech.

It Can Help Brand Reputation & Manage Risk Issues

Smart packaging can help with better supply chain management, compliance complications, managing inventory, and increase the security of products in the shipment process. Additionally, perishable items and pharmaceuticals can be continuously monitored for freshness and potential condition issues.

In today’s world, we are continuing to see increasing numbers of faked products, ranging from wine to high-end clothing, to big name sports apparel. With smart packaging, retailers can constantly keep close tabs on inventory, shipments, and where things come from and go to.

If retailers always have surveillance on their goods, they can reduce the amount/eliminate product discrepancies and faked products. If retailers can accomplish these tasks, they will reduce the amount of potential lawsuits, or other legal issues, if one of their customers receive a potentially harmful fake item from on of the retailer’s shipments. If a retailer chooses to forgo such smart packaging solutions, they run the risk of damaging their reputation.

It is Environmentally Friendly

For food retailers, smart packaging is a huge development in helping to lessen food waste. We all know most of our food products come stamped with a “sell-by” date or “if best used by…” seal. Are these helpful guides? Maybe a bit, but they are nowhere near foolproof and are riddled with uncertainties and potential errors. This leads to massive amounts of food waste for both retailers and consumers, which in return can hurt the environment. Intelligent packaging can help reduce these common issues and deter large amounts of wasted food throughout the world.

Time-Temperature Indicators

Are used to inform the customer on when the food product was manufactured, what temperature conditions it was exposed to, and show how fresh the food product is. TTI’s react to chemical, biological, or physical changes. Certain indicators will change color when an environmental threat, like heat, can affect the freshness and safety of a food product.

Companies Who Use Smart Packaging

Amcor

Amcor is a leader in the intelligent packaging industry. They have packaging for anything from food and beverage to household items to pharmaceuticals. Amcor is committed to creating packaging that helps protect products, extend their shelf life, and reduce waste.

Ball Corporation

Ball Corporation makes metal packaging for foods, beverages, household items, and more. They serve both the government and commercial customers. They believe in creating products that are environmentally friendly, recyclable, and have added features that help preserve food freshness.

Crown Holdings

Crown Holdings is all about packaging innovation and enhancing consumer experience. They have developed dozens of food and beverage packaging tech, they are specifically dedicated to creating sustainable metal packaging that preserves perishable items in the safest way possible.