While consumer concerns have influenced the design of retail packaging to minimise waste and processing, the opposite has been the case in the supply chain.
More use has been made of shelf-ready packaging which can simply be dropped onto the shelf. These items can increase sales but there can be no excuse for this being an extra, sometimes plastic tray-type, insert.
In a drive to minimise stock held in stores, many retailers have gone for daily delivery of all items. This has been followed with smaller case sizes - with as few as five units in a box. For an item with a 12-week shelf life, which will sell 10 units per week, this is a stock holding of only three days in store. This increases waste and the risk of the store running short of product in the event of uplift in sales.
There has to be a drive from retailers to increase case sizes to force more units per case, less deliveries to store and to minimise the secondary packaging - the reductions in packaging waste and carbon used in fewer deliveries have to be worth it.
Meanwhile, we plan to put all Wyke branded products into re-sealable format this autumn. Our customers tell us they want this as it saves using additional cling film in the home. Small steps such as this, combined with more units in a well-designed shelf-ready case could make a real difference to our carbon footprint.
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