In an interview, Andrés Salgado, head of marketing for Dow’s Adhesives and Functional Materials Business for Latin America, talked about trends in the use of packaging coatings.
The market trend in packaging is evolving to create products that have greater resilience and adapt to consumer needs.
Andrés Salgado, head of marketing for Dow’s Adhesives and Functional Materials Business for Latin America, pointed out that there are innovative solutions on the market for packaging coating matte finish*.
“This type of coating is made of light-reflecting microspheres, due to which the product loses its shine, but retains the intensity of the color. Most packaging in supermarkets has a glossy finish, the matte finish tends to differentiate and is mainly focused on gourmet, organic or premium foods,” explained the expert.
He added that there is increasing competition in attracting the attention of consumers on the shelves, “the ways to attract the attention of consumers are different, one is optical, and the other is sensory. By giving a matte finish, the customer’s attention is achieved, which is different on the shelf, and when he takes the packaging, that finish has a different, softer texture. Therefore, the packaging also communicates with the consumer in this way.”
New product launch
The presenter pointed out that in the future there will be more products with packaging that has an optical or sensor finish.
“There is increasing competition on the market, there are not only brand owners, but also their own brands (which even already have segmentation). This competition for the consumer is increasing. 80% of the products on the shelf are not promoted outside the supermarket; ultimately, their promotion and positioning tools are limited to price and shelf space. But those two variables are not a competitive advantage because they are easy to match,” he said.
And he added that packaging is the most important variable in the long term, because it is fundamental for brand communication.
“The trend is about how we manage to communicate more with that packaging, at the moment when the consumer makes a purchase decision,” he said.
Flexible
Andrés Salgado indicated that the trend of moving from glass and cans – generally rigid – to flexible packaging remains constant. “He the growth of flexible packaging in the number of units it is still higher than other materials. For example, if you look at retortable packaging, growth is Even more, in Latin America we are talking about 4.4% per year in the last 5 years.”
He emphasized that the challenge is to maintain the functionalities offered by rigid packaging (such as food protection and shelf life) in flexible packaging.
“We see that in terms of shelf life, retortable packaging is an obvious solution because it allows products to stay on the shelf for several years. In terms of functionality, there are also different solutions, for example a combination of flexible and rigid packaging where functionality-enhancing valves are inserted for balance,” he commented.
In this sense, he added, flexible packaging provides additional functionality, “for example, we have microwave corn packaging, which is a one-sided flexible packaging with little space. After the corn is finished in the microwave, it remains in the shape of a bowl. “There is functionality that you would normally have with rigid packaging,” he concluded.
Reference
*Refers to Dow OPULUX solution.
