Future of packaging

There are two megatrends shaping the future of the cosmetics industry; digitalisation and sustainability. Both trends affect the offered products, the packaging around them and the company brand. And both trends are actively driven by the customers. In the digital age, branding products and building a link to customers is not a one-way street anymore. It’s two-way and interactive. Educated and influential consumers today have the social networking strength to empower your brand, to ignore it or even to drag it down if it’s without uniqueness and authenticity. This is where sustainability plays a crucial role. More and more people are aware of their environmental impact and live an eco-responsible lifestyle. They inform themselves about what is sustainable and eco-friendly, and they are on a mission to convince the people around them. This is more than a short-term trend or hype. It is a movement which changes our culture in the long-term. Selling cosmetic products is basically selling people the feeling of wellbeing. Now people with an ecoresponsible attitude will only feel well if it includes a responsible use of resources and minimal or ideally zero pollution to the environment. They want to know: Where do the raw materials come from? Under which labour conditions was it made? Were animals mistreated? Where will it end up after use? Based on the credibility of the answers they not only make their own purchasing choice; they have a powerful and multiplying voice for others as well. The Open Beauty Facts platform1 is an example for collaborative consumer empowerment. It is a free, open and non-profit database of around 17,500 cosmetic products.

Started by Stéphane Gigandet, who also founded Open Food Facts², it has thousands of volunteers who are passionate about cosmetics and who are assembling and publishing detailed product information. They list the origin of ingredients, additives, allergens, traces and packaging criteria, helping everyone to make better and responsible choices. A smartphone app delivers this information by scanning the product’s barcode. This “Yes, we scan” movement shows that digital empowerment is much more than infantile TikToking or glamorous Instragram influencing only.

Rethink packaging

A retail product package has two essential functions to fulfil; protecting its contents during transport, storage and use, and attracting the potential customer to buy it. All this with minimal harmful impact on the environment and at an acceptable commercial cost. Both essential functions change fundamentally in the digital age as the distribution chains are directed to the customer’s home and the advertisement space is shifting from the packaging itself to the smartphone display. Traditionally, the Point-of-Sale shelf space was equivalent to advertisement space with the packaging serving as a “buy me” banner. Therefore, we hardly see any products when entering a supermarket or department store but fancy package hiding the real products.

Tips for future packaging

Use the game-changing megatrends of digitalisation and sustainability as opportunities to newly position your brand. But do not act half-heartedly as greenwashing will backfire! It must be an honest, authentic, longterm, 360° branding approach. Let your customers connect closely with your products. Tell them the complete and real story. Make use of the opportunity of personalised offers which new digital tools allow for. Most importantly, the sustainability movement is a big opportunity for you to abandon the use of microplastics, fossil fuel-based ingredients and single-use-plastic packages from your product portfolio. Follow the mantra of the Circular Economy:

Reduce – Reuse – Recycle. Let’s start with Reduce: The less packaging the better for the consumer, and there are benefits to be had cost-wise too. Let the contents be king. If you can use materials for packaging which are leftovers from production, even better. Your customers will love this approach. Reuse: Start Refill initiatives. There is no better way of building long term relationships with your customers. Look at the ‘ReUse Revolution’ Map as an example³. And at least Recycle: Do not write ‘recyclable  on your product, it doesn’t mean a thing. Recycling works economically and ecologically well for metal, paper and glass. It does not work well for plastic. At least not today. Work with young and talented designers who have eco-friendliness running in their veins and know a lot about the circular economy, biodesign and integrated design. Give them room, support and let them realise their ideas. And don’t corrupt them.

The good news? Everything is already there! Nothing must be invented. Generations of bright minds have laid the foundations of a century-old rich culture in manufacturing and using natural and eco-responsible packaging materials. Let’s rediscover it, intertwine it with our new know-how and technology and start a plastic- less product and packaging renaissance. There are already so many beautiful projects realised by designers, start-ups and indie brands in the cosmetic industry.

References

¹ world.openbeautyfacts.org 
² world.openfoodfacts.org 
³ reuse-revolution-map.greenpeace.de