The Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) will once again hold its highly successful National Technical Forums alongside AUSPACK on Wednesday the 17th and Thursday the 18th of June 2009.
The theme for the two-day event will be Packaging MEGA Trends and will focus on key trends within the packaging industry.
With over 300 people expected to attend over the two days the forums are a must-attend on the 2009 calendar.
Packaging Magazine has collaborated with the Australian Institute of Packaging to identify the Packaging Mega Trends of 2009.
Some of these include:
- Sustainability
- Bioplastics versus traditional plastics
- In store Merchanidising
- Openability
- Private Label
- Surefresh Carton technology
- Contract Packaging
Over the next five weeks, www.packagingmag.com.au continues a special focus on each individually.
In store merchandising
Retailers and suppliers are pushing hard to understand shopper behaviour in-store to develop solutions that meet shoppers’ needs.
According to UK based James Tupper, ECR Learning & Change Manager at IGD, the evidence of this can be seen in the increasing sophistication of information about shoppers via loyalty card data and the use of in-store observation.
“Retailers are encouraging suppliers to information in conjunction with their category knowledge to drive relevant merchandising solutions,” he says.
“IGD Global research shows that more UK companies use shopper insight as part of their category planning process than any other country.”
Despite this, many primary packaging designs are based on brand values and targeted at the end consumer; failing to take shopper insights into account.
“The role of primary and retail ready packaging in engaging the shopper is increasing as traditional media channels become diluted by digital and viral marketing,” Tupper says.
“Companies need to work harder to raise brand awareness in-store through strong packaging visibility. This can go hand in hand with solutions that aid replenishment and increase on-shelf availability.”
In the UK Tupper says grocery industry tends to adopt a clear aisle policy, with fewer secondary display units, less signage and more focused point of sale messages.
“This is in contrast to Asia and South America where there is a greater focus on in-store theatre, higher merchandising fixtures, brighter and busier signage which can be engaging but also confusing for the shopper,” he explains.
“Understanding of shoppers needs to be translated into decisions across all of the following areas of in-store merchandising.” IGD research shows that shoppers often ‘hug’ one side of the aisle and visually scan across it. Other research has shown that shoppers tend to look slightly downwards when shopping.
“In the UK this has led to an increase in the use of ‘bus stop’ signage at eye level to guide the shopper within the category,” Tupper says.
“As shoppers recognise colour and shape more speedily than words, brand imagery is increasingly being used on category signage.
Other developments include the use of TV monitors to communicate category or corporate messages, such as brand advertising, promotional activity and retailer information.”
Cross category merchandising is another tactic being used to provide ease of shop solutions, encourage impulse purchase and grow overall basket spend.
For example, pre-packed ambient sauce units might be positioned at meat/fish chillers or grouping snacks, confectionery and drinks with the DVDs.
“A trend working well in Asia, but yet to gain traction in Europe, is the use of day-part-merchandising,” Tupper says.
“Chilled space is utilised for a lunchtime offer of sandwiches and carbonated drinks, then substituted with ready meals and chilled alcohol in the evening."
"This is highly dependent on a disciplined replenishment process but provides an area of opportunity for ease of shop and fixture utilisation.”
In addition, James Tupper says on-shelf availability is being improved by combining category performance data and shopper observation research.
“This aids shelf capacity allocation by aligning product space to the velocity of stock turn,” he explains. “A significant development in the last two years has been the increased use of retail ready packaging to improve shelf optimisation through better availability and replenishment.”
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