Packaging Impressions Parlor: Helping Packaging Buyers Unlock the Puzzle of Brand Loyalty

Establishing brand loyalty is an important factor for companies seeking to maintain consumers’ share of wallet and keep them coming back to their products in lieu of those of their competitors. However, brand loyalty around the world appears to be in the midst of a steep decline. In fact, according to the 2023 Customer Loyalty Index from SAP Emarsys, a customer engagement specialist that works with several major brands, customer loyalty dropped 14% last year.

Despite the dip in brand loyalty, Emarsys reports that brands that offer personalized or customized experiences can help avoid this consumer erosion. While Emarsys cites personalized offers and discounts as a way to enhance the consumer experience, ective measures have resulted in a proliferation of SKUs and short runs, a trend that dates back many years but is still causing challenges for package printers and converters.

In fact, as reported in NAPCO Research’s 2023 study Digital Packaging: Opportunities to Thrive, finishing and converting of short runs and accommodating an increase of smaller jobs ranked among converters’ top challenges. Short-run production was deemed a critical challenge by 28% of respondents, while an influx of smaller jobs was a critical challenge for 27%. Additionally, just 16% and 14%, respectively, stated that these issues presented no challenge.

With SKU proliferation continuing to present a challenge to package printers and converters, those that have yet to seek a solution would be wise to do so, as data reported by NAPCO Research indicates that this trend will continue. Brand owners surveyed as part of this study indicated they expect to see their SKU quantity increase in the coming years. Specifically, 41% of brand owner respondents stated their SKU quantities had increased in the past two years, while 60% stated they expected to see an increase in SKUs in the next two years.

Credit: NAPCO Research

Meanwhile, the traditionally implemented solution to this challenge – digital printing and converting technology — is still viewed as an essential strategy. In fact, among the package printers and converters surveyed by NAPCO Research, the ability to accommodate short runs (36%), printing multiple versions in a single run (31%), and the ability to create personalized packaging (31%), were amidst the top benefits these respondents attribute to their adoption of digital printing.

Credit: NAPCO Research

With the trend of SKU proliferation expected to continue into the foreseeable future, printers and converters serving packaging segments that have yet to see much adoption of digital printing should keep an eye on the latest developments in these areas. Unlike the label and folding carton segments, which were among the earliest packaging segments to benefit from an influx of digital printing solutions — with labels leading the charge in terms of overall adoption — the flexible packaging and corrugated segments are still in their early days of digital printing.

Both of these segments are high-growth areas: Flexible packaging is gaining in popularity due to its portability, resealability, food preservation advantages, and ease of use, and corrugated packaging is becoming increasingly important amid the rapid rise of e-commerce. In flexible packaging, HP Indigo has led the way in digital printing with the launch of its 20000 digital press, which has since evolved into the Indigo 200K. While HP’s liquid electrophotographic technology has helped usher in the digital age for flexible packaging, other technologies have also hit the market, including dry toner offerings from Xeikon, as well as inkjet solutions from Fujifilm, Kodak, Screen, and others.

On the corrugated side, the rise of e-commerce has led to an increased need for corrugated shipping containers, as more products are sent to consumers’ homes to be unboxed rather than picked up in-store. While much of the corrugated output is traditional brown boxes with limited graphic treatment, the increase in products sold online, and the subsequent versions of those products, has resulted in a desire to transition the branding experience typically found in store to the moment a consumer receives a product at their home.

Multiple digital printing platforms have hit the market for corrugated printers, including digital solutions for preprint and postprint (direct-to-board) corrugated. On the direct-print side, scanning-head and single-pass solutions have emerged, giving converters various options depending on the speed and size they need.

With brands expected to maintain, and in many cases exceed, the rate at which they introduce new products and packaging, the challenge of SKU proliferation and short runs will continue. With digital printing and production solutions viable across all packaging segments, converters should pay close attention to these technological developments to see how they can help optimize their businesses and better serve their customers.