Packaging’s changing role?

With news of supermarket giant Tesco trialling “virtual fridges” at Gatwick airport in the UK, what does it mean for printed packaging in the next age of retailing?

 

Huge electronic “fridges” allow customers to scroll through 80 products before placing a shopping order, which will be delivered on their return home.

 

Customers need to download the Tesco app from the App Store, Google Play or Android Market to scan products' barcodes using their smartphone.

 

According to Tesco internet retailing director Ken Towle, as quoted by the Huffington Post, the initiative ‘blends clicks and bricks’, and merges UK consumers’ love for browsing and online shopping.

 

Initially, the use of such a means to shop could drastically reduce the in-store impact of printed packaging, with the physical “moment of truth” and shelf appeal becoming less important, and the delivery of valuable health and safety information on cleaning products and allergy advice on foodstuffs moving from the physical product to the Tesco app ecosystem.

 

However, once a product has been chosen and purchased online through the app, packaging and labels come into their own, as without them it is near-impossible to successfully deliver products to consumers in the optimum condition and in a way in which they can be effectively used, stored and maintained.

 

Packaging and labels already play an integral part in the delivery of essential product information on everything from fresh and chilled foods, to beauty and pharmaceutical products, but this could become an even more important part of packaging’s role in the supply chain.

 

You could suggest that if such a trial as being undertaken by Tesco proves fruitful, and we see “virtual fridges” deployed in other locations and by other retailers, then we could see the market for printed packaging, and labels, worried less about producing stunning samples, using techniques such as embossing and lenticular printing, to snare the consumer at the “moment of truth” at the till, and concerned more with producing fully functional packaging that goes even further in ensuring the product reaches the consumer in the best possible condition, and plays a bigger role in reducing end-of-life waste, amongst other roles when in the home.