The company called these trends simplify life, human connection, and me & my planet.
Samit Chowdury, regional marketing director –Asia for Tetra Pak, gave insights on these trends during his presentation at Protein Now, an event organised by NZMP, the global dairy ingredients brand of New Zealand-based dairy manufacturer Fonterra, in Singapore.
Simply life is about consumers’ quest for more convenient ways to consume food and drink in their busy lifestyles.
“Consumers are looking for ways to simplify their lives. Everyone is extremely busy. People are getting money rich, but time poor,” said Chowdury.
“As brands how do you try to simply consumers’ lives? How do you make them eat healthy without using too much of their time? How can food packaging simply the lives of consumers?”
Popular among consumers with active and sporty lifestyles are protein and other sports nutrition drinks in re-sealable opening and closing packs, which is also driving consumption of other ready-to-drink products.
Other convenient food packaging features motivating consumer purchase include using packs where content can be viewed, and packaging in form factors that require less storage space.
The second trend is human connection, where products or brands enable interaction and connection via third-party technologies.
“The way people interact now has changed dramatically,” said Chowdury.
“And that also has implication in packaging.”
This trend use technologies such as QR scanning, mobile phone apps or virtual reality to enhance consumers’ product consumption experience.
Chowdury added that this trend was used by brands in China and Japan, but not so much in South East Asia.
Lastly, the me & my planet trend plays on consumers’ preference to use only environmentally-friendly packaging for products they consume.
Chowdury said: “52% of consumers globally say it is important for brands to be environmentally responsible. They weigh this up when deciding which food or beverage product to eat and drink.”
Thus, with eco-sensitivity increasing among consumers, the desire for a cleaner environment and greener consumption options are also growing.
“This is all about sustainability and sustainable packages,” Chowdury added.