Bright future, big changes for the packaging industry

There was a buzz at the RISI conference in Chicago as the Chicago Cubs baseball team ended a 108 year drought by winning the World Series. Stefano Rossi, DS Smith Packaging CEO, was at the conference to present on the equally exciting future of packaging to a packed house of packaging and containerboard industry executives from North America and Europe.

There is little doubt that the future is bright – the next ten years promise more change and innovation than the last 50 years!

Those changes will come in a number of different sectors: Sustainable packaging, Innovation, E-commerce, RRP, Personalisation and Digital print. 

DS Smith believes that an intense focus on performance optimisation can shift mindsets from linear to circular thinking and save some of the $11.4bn in recyclable, post-consumer packaging that is wasted just in the US each year.

E-commerce, of course, has boomed in the last few years and is increasing at about 20% per year. And yet the packages sent out by major retailers (both pure-play online retailers and bricks and mortar retailers) are often 50% air leading to incredible waste and inflated costs. We are putting a lot of R&D into developing a flexible and scalable solution to enable e-retailers to utilise packaging that is adaptable to each and every one of the products they are sending out.

It’s harder than ever in retail: more competition than ever and impatient customers spending less time browsing the shelves – they want convenience. With this in mind, the mantra must be: If it’s easy to see, it’s easy to buy. Retail-Ready Packaging (RRP) can have a positive impact on sales by improving shelf stock and maximising the in-store experience, which 85% of shoppers believe is more influential than out of store marketing.

Personalisation and digital printing are also important trends that allow relevant, topical messaging for specific regions, events – or even specific stores! These are powerful tools for marketers in the battle of the brands.

With all of these developments the future is as bright for DS Smith and the packaging industry as it is for the Chicago Cubs! 

You can download Stefano Rossi’s complete presentation here. The RISI conference website also has the other presentations that were given.