Page 66 - Print 21 July-August 2019

Business Intelligence
Intelligent
packaging opportunity
Research agency Smithers Pira says intelligent packaging will create new markets for printers, as it grows by more than 12.5 per cent a year for the next five years.
In 2018, the combined active and intelligent packaging market value is projected to reach $7.9bn (US$5.68bn) and will continue to present new
value-adding options in the future. Analysis within the new Smithers
Pira report The Future of Active & Intelligent Packaging to 2023 shows that the active packaging market is the larger market – valued at $6.4bn (US$4.6bn) in 2018.
This includes a range of components used to enhance the preservation of goods within the packaging – such as gas scavengers and emitters, moisture scavengers/ emitters, microwave suceptors, antibacterial, antioxidants, self-venting films, flavour/odour absorbers and temperature
control components.
Moderate growth is forecast for this segment through to 2023 at
an average rate of four per cent per year, as packaged food penetrates underdeveloped consumer markets in areas like Asia, but remains more stable in more developed economies.
In contrast, the intelligent packaging component market will pass US$1bn in value for the first time in 2018. This covers a raft of components – including printed coding and markings, chemical sensor/output devices, electronic environmental sensors, logic circuitry, and antennas – designed for the dynamic communication of information within the supply chain, or increasingly, direct to the consumer.
As the segment where technology has not penetrated as far, and
given that there are multiple
new solutions coming to market, the global intelligent packaging market’s forecast growth is much higher, more than 12.5 per cent year-on-year for 2018-2023.
The evolving nature of active and intelligent packaging can
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present challenges and market opportunities for the print industry. This is especially true for intelligent packaging, where printed codes and marks already represent 60 per cent of overall value globally.
Smithers Pira’s analysis identifies the following four key drivers and opportunities for print businesses as the intelligent packaging segment expands.
Consumer engagement through smart packaging
How to achieve greater consumer engagement is currently one of
the biggest drivers of intelligent packaging for brand owners. Smart packaging can make a real difference in the way a product is marketed. Major brand owners are seeing the value of using the pack to make direct contact with the consumer.
A mark printed on a cereal
box can encourage consumer interaction via a simple smartphone game – an approach already shown by other technology providers. The joint software platform developed by the companies allows these to
be linked to Cloud-based ‘Active Digital Identities’ for individual consumers that create real-time data and insights that brand can use to drive repurchase rates or other promotions.
Consumers increasingly view their smart devices as mediums to maximise personal productivity and avoid wasting time, money and other resources. This means that mobile technologies will need to
be simplified, and their connection to packaging and retailing more intuitive to use. One major future trend, the use of mobiles for payment (mPayment), is now in
its infancy with demonstration stores allowing the buyer to scan
the item he or she is buying and automatically paying for them without a store checkout.
As this approach to retail becomes more widespread it provides brands with a new route into the digitally engaged consumers lifestyle, via their packaging.
Item-level traceability
Concern over counterfeit drugs
and medical devices has prompted the development of new laws on both sides of the Atlantic. The US Drug Supply Chain Security Act, and the EU’s Falsified Medicines Directive 2011/62/EU, mandate that individual identifiers for
such products packs must in
future carry 2D data matrix codes with standardised information, and to allow them to be tracked individually through supply chains.
This is already creating a boom in demand for digital (inkjet
and toner) print systems that
can quickly impart the unique identifiers to labels or folding carton packs in existing converting lines. With estimates that 10 per cent of drugs in supply chains worldwide are counterfeit,
and the continuing success of global e-commerce trade, this
is increasingly an international problem. This makes it is likely that such mandates will expand at both national and supranational levels across 2018-2023, meaning expansion of printed coding for medical and pharma will by more than double that for any other application examined in the Smithers study.