Modern consumers are becoming more and more busy looking for products that adapt to their life-style and facilitate them in their everyday life. In this context, they choose food and beverage packages that are easy to use and provide a pleasant consumer experience wherever and whenever they want to consume them. In fact, convenience and ease of use is the top priority of prospective buyers in the final purchasing decision.
The features that consumer-friendly packaging should include are as follows:
• Ease of transport
• Check the spill of their contents
• Control of the intake
• Simplify the preparation process of the food
• Incorporating mechanisms that facilitate opening and closing as well as content removal.
As a result, more and more manufacturers of food and beverage packaging, responding to consumer needs for convenience and ease of use and consumption, are developing innovative packaging that incorporates the above properties. A form of packaging that is particularly popular with consumers and brands of beverages and food – especially snacks – is plastic pouches due to light weight and the impressive graphics, messages and logos that can be illustrated on them, helping to enhance brand identity and differentiation on the shelf.
An illustrative example is the lightweight plastic pouch package which consists of two parts, the upper portion which incorporates a fork and the lower part which includes the foodstuff. In fact, the upper part is removed, whereas the bottom once opened can be turned into a bowl, facilitating food consumption and avoiding spilling problems. This packaging has a low ecological footprint, is durable and keeps the food fresh, reducing the risk of spoilage, while its surface can be decorated with graphic elements, attracting the attention of consumers.
The cylindrical plastic packaging that looks like a small cup is pioneering. It includes three small flexible pouches, a rectangular instruction card and a wooden spoon. More specifically, once opened, the consumer removes the contents of the pouches and blends it into the bowl using the spoon. In addition, its surface incorporates high-resolution graphics to enhance brand image. This packaging was used by an American company to produce healthy food for fresh humus products, aiming to offer an effective solution to customers who wish to eat healthy meals in an easy way.
An additional intriguing solution is the square metal jar with a red plastic cylindrical lid (made of flip-top polypropylene), which incorporates two different opening and closing mechanisms. In particular, one mechanism permits direct spillage of the contents into the dish, while the other allows the use of a spoon to consume a portion thereof. On its outer surface there is a label decorated with stylish graphic elements to stand out on the shelf, while on its front it includes a transparent window, allowing shoppers to see the content with a naked eye. This packaging was used by a US-based producer of nuts to meet the consumer’s needs for easy-to-use packaging that will facilitate the consumption of healthy snacks and meals as well as desserts.
Ease of use is therefore a primary factor in choosing food and beverage packages for consumers because of their busy lifestyle. But demographic factors such as an increasingly aging population in the world as well as an increase in single-person households are expected to further contribute to the rising demand for easily transportable packaging that can be consumed either on-the-go or at home with convenience and ease.
 Sources: www.foodmanufacturing.com, www.greenerpackage.com, www.packworld.com, www.packagingstrategies.com, Rick Lingle (2017, 2016), Anne Marie Mohan (2016) Tom Szaky (2016)