Innovating to catch the consumer eye

Retail packaging and point-ofsale (POS) marketing collateral play core roles in ensuring that the product within a package is given the highest level of visibility on the increasingly competitive battlefield of shop floors and shelves.

For packaging and POS endusers fulfilling the all-important contracts in these sectors, there are a number of measures being taken to improve production efficiency, boost package quality and surpass the burgeoning demands placed upon them from their brand-owner client base.

Changing landscape
"There are many challenges, especially economic, of creating retail packaging, shelf-ready packaging and POS in the UK, " says Jeremy Bacon, chief executive of The Sherwood Press Group, an international packaging business that will exhibit at the Packaging Innovations event in London, 1-2 October. One measure the firm has taken to help overcome these difficulties is to develop the packaging and POS capabilities of its Chinese factory.

He adds: "Over the last 12 months we have seen a rapid growth in customers who are taking advantage of producing their packaging in the same manufacturing facility that is creating their product."

Among the Sherwood group's comprehensive production portfolio are multiple Komori litho presses, including a six-colour Lithrone S40P, a single-colour Heidelberg press, a Ricoh digital printer, as well as Polar, MBO and Muller Martini finishing equipment.

"For Sherwood, this growth is being driven by our Smartbox process of consultancy which, through methodical analysis of the entire life cycle of packaging, is providing our customers with solutions that lead to tangible benefits, in cost, reduced lead times and guaranteed quality," explains Bacon.

Another firm, Bristol-based packaging consultancy Design Activity, has experienced "significant interest" from clients wanting to make their packaging work harder in the retail environment.

The company, which has worked for prominent brands such as Nivea, Kenco, Bassetts and Elizabeth Shaw, says it is working increasingly with brand start-ups, digital and communication brands and luxury brands.

However, with the decline in the physical retail sector, all brands have to work hard on consumer relationships both on-pack, at point of purchase and online, says Pat Starke, creative director at Design Activity: "Retail packs and point-of-sale need to be far more interactive. We are working on a number of augmented reality initiatives with brands that understand that the consumer expects to be engaged by brands on all levels."

Challenging environment
Starke also offers a sobering, though far from shocking observation on the challenges facing many firms in the retail landscape."Online retail now accounts for 12% of retail sales and can only increase this margin as younger consumers who are completely integrated with digital get older," he says.

"To this point, on-pack communication and point of purchase materials need to create a similar feel to the more personal experience of shopping online - at the end of the day there is no substitute for holding a brand in your hand."

Keenpac, which creates retail packaging products for a range of brands such as Sephora, Paul Smith and French Connection, believes that the market for new capital equipment to serve retail and POS brand-owners is being driven by a number of global issues.

"In our experience, the driving forces affecting many of our suppliers from China and the Far East in particular, and in Europe are the same," explains Jo Davies, marketing manager at Keenpac. "With labour rates increasing, as well as global competition, manufacturers are constantly looking to remove cost to remain competitive. Investment in new equipment tends to be directed towards increasing automation, and reducing reliance on manual labour."

Davies adds that the biggest challenge facing such businesses is in securing finance. "Where just a few years ago, finance was relatively easy to obtain, in today's economic climate the conditions for securing finance have been tightened, even in China," she says. "And hence, investment in new equipment, factories and expansion has been restricted."

Boosting productivity
But while many packaging producers are turning to efficiency improvements and increased design cohesion with their clients, there is, of course, massive potential for those businesses investing in new heavy machinery. This will often present the converter with a competitive edge over other firms while also enabling them to offer brand-owner clients production benefits that range from better print quality, faster output speeds or innovative new print and finishing effects.

One company that has just invested inits packaging and POS production firepower is Staffordshire-based Swanline Print, a business that specialises in the trade supply of laminated packaging and POS displays. The £10 million turnover firm, which employs 80 staff, has taken delivery of an HP Scitex FB10000 Industrial Press, the first of its kind in the UK.

The firm opted for the highly productive machine to serve a diverse range of clients that currently fall into a business split of 60% packaging companies and 40% POS clients. Swanline Print managing director Nick Kirby says the investment in digital print technology will enable the business to address client demands for both short and medium run print jobs.

Capital investments
According to manufacturer HP, productive digital flatbed printers such as the Scitex FB10000 are proving popular with endusers
who require their investments to carry out a range of tasks and to serve a range of clients.

Another firm that has taken the plunge by investing in high quality digital equipment for retail packaging and POS is STI Group, which has just ordered the UK's first Inca Onset S40i flatbed press for its facility in Gillingham, Kent.

The new equipment, which is specifically designed for corrugated application production, will enable STI to offer digital print for POS clients in-house. Employing more than 200 staff and with a turnover surpassing €300 million in 2012, STI has produced work for a raft of major international brands.

According to Dave Driver, operations director at STI Line, the new machine will enable the firm to cater for a challenging anddemanding client base. "The packaging & display market is extremely demanding, and quality is paramount for some of our key categories such as cosmetics and beauty," he adds.

Elsewhere, paper and packaging system manufacturer Easypack believes that the increasing environmental demands placed on converters have ramped up the volume of "green" packaging in the industry.

"A major driving force for retail packaging that Easypack is seeing is the requirement for eco-friendly packaging, with much of the demand for it coming from consumers," explains Clare-Louise Quilty, marketing executive at the Hertfordshire supplier.

"We've found these demands to be perfectly suited to our eco-friendly ethos, as our paper packaging systems use only 100% recycled paper that is easily recycled by end-users with standard household recycling, meaning no mess when compared with traditional packaging methods such as loose fill."