Packaging
Function
In addition to primary tasks, such as protection of goods, transport, storage, etc., packaging fulfils a multitude of functions. It provides information on the product including ingredients, displays legal notices, presents quality seals, instructions and much more. But packaging has evolved well beyond the "silent salesman" on the store shelf.
In addition, the use of associated technologies offers the customer almost infinite additional benefits. For example, customers can learn about the production and, ideally, sustainable creation of a product, about additional uses and applications and the availability of informative background reports. Interactive games, competitions, voting etc. take the customer on an engaging digital journey. "Connected Packaging" build a bridge from the real to the analog world. As a vital and often initial touchpoint, packaging not only links manufacturers, retailers and consumers, but also establishes connections to online channels including websites and social media.
From a marketing perspective, packaging has essential functions. At the point of sale, it is and remains the "silent salesman" who captivates with his appearance, attracts customer attention, and, if designed effectively, triggers the final impulse to buy. After the sale, packaging transforms into a personalized touchpoint and a central element that influences the customer experience, binds them to the company and finds its place within the marketing campaign. Subsequently, companies consistently monitor how their packaging builds their brand, a fundamental task that also provides an offense to illegal product duplication and piracy. The consumer can easily recognize plagiarism or product duplication by the packaging. Counterfeit-proof labels, codes, barcodes, or other technologies solidify the authenticity of a product and help to counteract ever increasing product piracy. Consistent brand building and strong branding have naturally become a priority.
Situation
In order to satisfy the expectations of increasingly fragmented target audiences, companies are offering a growing selection of products in far larger varieties which also entails creating audience-specific packaging in relatively small quantities.
The current speed of creating personalized packaging is in stark contrast to the customers demand for immediate product availability, making automated package production an absolute necessity in keeping up with customer expectations. But the current reality is that, in most companies, the worldwide rollout of packaging takes and excruciatingly long 12 - 18 months. Workflows are often too static and inflexible, too many employees are involved in packaging production, agility is non-existent and manual steps make production error-prone and time-consuming.
Antiquated packaging production processes are fragmented into sub-steps that are still too often viewed and controlled in isolation. There are a lot of interdependencies in the process, which cannot be considered individually, but must be treated in context to improve productivity. For just-in-time packaging production, it is essential to interlink these processes and to make all information available to key stakeholders.
Trend
In packaging production, topics such as sustainability, personalization, customization, differentiation, brand experiences, emotionality and speed are in the forefront. When considering design, the goal is to use packaging that is environmentally friendly and recyclable that also meets high design standards and tells a gripping story.
Augmented reality technologies such as Near-Field Communication (NFC) and Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLW) will increasingly be used to create unique brand experiences.
Time to market requires much shorter production windows, which requires linking all processes within the value chain. This can only be achieved through comprehensive system solutions, making technology evolution immensely important.
Digital printing wants to play an important role in this scenario. It is not enough to "only" print using a digital printing press. Companies that know how to exploit the complexity of the presses and have the appropriate customer data will gain an advantage by maximizing the full potential of personalization and automation.
Anyone who wants to be successful in the packaging sector must face a very central challenge: Managing Data! This does not only mean accessing data but effectively controlling and deploying this data as well. It is therefore vital to have a backbone where all the key players are connected and are exchanging data.
The future belongs to solutions that can bring customer data, requirement data and job description data into the digital process to create personalized PDFs just in time.
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More than 30 print-relevant touchpoints help to make multichannel communication more effective so that perfect customer journeys can be orchestrated. The priint:suite with its powerful components helps you to create print touchpoints quickly and easily based on existing data sources.
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One Solution for all print touchpoints
Our Customers use the priint:suite to create a multitude of different types of print media like catalogs, leaflets self-mailers, datasheets and many more.
The priint:suite enables them to integrate the most diverse data sources (e.g. ERP, PIM, MDM, DAM, CRM, CMS Web-Shops or MRM systems), making their data and information usable for marketing and for print touchpoints. The same data that fuels the digital channels can be utilized in the print channel by the click of a button. This ensures a consistent customer experience when it comes to product information. The modularity and scalability of the priint:suite makes it possible to successfully automate the print touchpoints in the company in order to integrate them step by step into the digital communication strategy.
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