Two leading figures from major fmcg brands appeared at a recent Convenience Retail Show seminar to put their weight behind the industry-wide campaign to reduce the weight of packaging.
However, as Richard Taplin, packing manager at dairy giant Arla Foods told the audience, while customers were "demanding" information on the packaging they are being asked to buy, "they like it nice and simple".
He said the company's consumer research told them things were "very different to three or four years ago - they are asking if all that packaging is necessary".
Taplin added that consumers were "turned off by the CSR method of informing - they see that as business, they want to keep it personal. However make sure statements are backed up by evidence".
He said a degree of sacrifice would be needed on functionality, for example if milk bags were to be introduced, yet "organic consumers are prepared to sacrifice more on functionality".
Rae Cherrie, United Biscuits' packaging innovation manager, said practicality in-store remained the key, however, sometimes retailers' schedules were the enemy. "Retailers can have unrealistic timescales," she said. "Don't let them force you to speed a packaging change up."?
Has the number of customer complaints about the price of goods increased recently?
