A stroll through the biscuits and cookies aisle in supermarkets introduces consumers to a number of attractive packaging styles, some with iconic visuals images and mascots, like Milka’s cow. Packaging is a crucial step in the entire process of production and processing of biscuits and cookies, and the marketplace is highly cluttered and fiercely competitive.
The global cookie market is expected to reach nearly USD38bn by the end of 2022. While Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) registered to be the key revenue contributors to cookies market in 2017, demand observed in Spain and Italy was significantly high.
Flexible and effective packaging formats are being increasingly adopted to enhance consumer experience through insistence on communication, convenience, and containment. Vendors are currently experimenting with attractive, effective, and cleaner packaging styles to create a greater appeal among the target audience.
Inventive Designs
Although it may seem otherwise, a lot of thinking goes into conceptualizing packaging designs for biscuits and cookies. Several variations and parameters are considered while finalizing the right design. For biscuits and cookies, color choice, presentation, shape, appearance, and labeling must be in sync with the real-time consumer perceptions and prejudice. For instance, the usual consumer perception is “if the pack is tight-wrapped, biscuits might be broken”. Instead of putting products at stake by choosing tightly wrapped packaging designs, manufacturers are thus adopting several new packaging designs that have multiple layers of paper and other packaging material including polypropylene, metalized films, aluminum foil, and laminates as opposed to a single layer of plastic films.
All the Shapes
The shapes of cookie and biscuit packs also have a bearing on the layout on shop shelves. Round packs tend to roll-off and packs with fin ends tend to interlock with abutting products. A lot of space cannot be dedicated to simple bags, whereas block-bottom bags allow the accommodation of only one layer of packs per shelf.
Recently, Colpac introduced a ‘Big Night In” SharePac format for biscuits and other snacks for the on-the-go consumption. This style of packaging enables consumers to serve four snacks at the same time, from the same pack and comes in two configurations – an outer square comprising a drawer on all four sides and another rectangular pack featuring two drawers on each of the two sides. Great for sharing biscuits and cookies, this SharePac is made of sustainable paperboard and already holds brownie points for the additional features that it offers at the top the box for holding dips and sauces.
Is contemporary packaging more than just ‘passing the consumer subconscious test’?
Attractive and honest package designing always supersedes even the most nutritious biscuits – if the packaging of the latter is dull. Additionally, packaging designs contribute significantly in creating an elevated shelf impact, as products need to have a positive footprint on the consumer’s mindset when viewed together, considering that consumers face enough sensory overload owing to dozens of displays holding multiple brands.
Realizing the need to respond to the growing demand for packaging design innovations, United Biscuits, a top shareholder in the biscuits market, recently entered the USD60bn organized sector. The company required a warrantying packaging solution to enable its products to stand out on supermarket shelves, additionally reflecting the heritage and international stature of the brand. The wholesome pleasure of eating is now excellently conveyed through the colors and graphics on the packaging. Giving a cold shoulder to all the visual clutter has enabled United Biscuits to capture a buyer’s attention, vying with a number of other biscuits and cookies on shelves. Retailers are also preferring these biscuits, as the packaged allow uniform stacking on shelves, adding a visual value to supermarkets when consumers are checking out products.
Smart packaging, product traceability, and sustainability continue to hold the crunchiest opportunities
Smart and intelligent packaging has fast gained ground in the past few years. This is a type of interactive packaging solution that can significantly enhance product traceability and communicate the key product information to consumers. Bio-active packaging has also been a major innovation in the field of packaging technology for cookies and biscuits. Moreover, expected to play a crucial role in deciding the future course of the packaging industry, active packaging is being considered as a breakthrough innovation that is likely to benefit the market apropos of reducing food waste. Food deterioration is another factor contributing to a large amount of food waste, which is why brands are considering the mainstream deployment of active packaging technologies to potentially monitor the status of biscuits and cookies throughout the supply chain.
A new trend witnessed in the Eastern Europe packaging market is the use of composite films. Manufacturers are experimenting with materials such as acetylated paper, enzymes, and calcium oxides for odor removal and scavenging. Mass usage of packaging cartons and layers of plastic and foils is nowhere contributing to the environment, and definitely not to the sustainability aspect of it. Industry experts anticipate that biscuit and cookie packaging would soon feature sensors and indicators to enhance the holistic consumer experience.
Parkside, a leading packager, recently announced the expansion of its sustainable packaging range and launched Ooh-la-la tea biscuits in a new share pack put together using a substrate from Eucalyptus tree – it is completely compostable. The pack consisting of a metalized bio-film called NatureFlex is created using wood pulp of the tree instead of oil-based polymers. For every tree used for packaging business, another is planted. However, with the current demand for flexibility, it would be interesting to see whether manufacturers are ready and could manage to completely rule out plastic.
Biscuit packaging also varies in terms of collation. The most common type of biscuit packaging is by automatic machines and conveyor systems that transport biscuits at high speeds through creaming, wrapping, and sealing machines. Different types and quantities of biscuits are transported in a column, as a set of piles, or jumbled. This paves way for convenient sorting techniques; for instance, biscuits in pile packs are determined by their numbers, biscuits in column packs are sorted by thickness, whereas jumbled packs are sorted by their weight.
Recently, Bosch Packaging Technology introduced a ‘Two-in-One’ biscuit packaging system to render maximum flexibility. Capable of changing pack styles- from slugs to pile packs- using the same feeding component, the newest biscuit technology offers packaging solutions for smaller on-the-go packs as well as larger family packs, providing sufficient room for flexibility so that packagers and batchers can readily respond to evolving market trends – apropos of packaging designs.
For Kids, Packages Turn into Toys
Adding a lightweight, crisp, and appealing element to its packaging – this time for kids – the French biscuit company Lu has experimented with both the external appearance and the paper shell inside the pack. Product designers employed origami techniques that can remodel paper into a series of creature-shaped objects without using scissors and glue. Lu’s website has additional designs and instructions on how to construct quirky toys.
Milka too found a new to pack biscuits – the ‘peal and reseal system’. It lets consumers use the label to open and close the package. Additionally, with two transparent lines appearing on the packaging foil, Milka biscuit packages allows consumers to trace the evidence of package tampering.
There’s a Lot to Do with Clean Labeling
For conscientious consumers, knowing the food origin is paramount. According to Nielsen, sales of clean-labeled products have increased in the past two years, accounting for almost 33% of the total food and beverage sales estimated in 2018. While shoppers’ interest in production, processing, packaging, and transportation rises, the concept of clean labeling firms up deeper. The consumer perspective of health and wellness is mostly connected to clean labeling and ‘premiumization’ of fresh, less-processed food – which ultimately associates with high-quality ingredients, sourcing, transparency, and storytelling.
Making it absolutely paramount for cookie and biscuit bakers, clean labeling promotes the need to display clean and premium image among brands. On the other hand, regulatory guidelines regarding package labeling have increasingly become more stringent than ever with essential information to be displayed on the pack, which is carefully monitored by different government bodies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is mandated that the packages must comprise a consumer-facing side of the package at a retail store called the ‘Principal Display Panel’ (PDP) that displays the key information such as product name and quantity.
The PDP often does the trick and is aimed at grabbing consumer attention. Any information pertaining to the country of origin is also displayed prominently on the PDP. The PDP also comprises ‘highly regulated’ artwork which acts as a key marketing tool. Additionally, other information is highly preferred – including the name and address of the manufacturer, details of distributor or packer, list of ingredients, and the information of nutritional content. Another set of rules also determines the font size used for labeling, for the consumer’s convenience.
Consumers are increasingly looking for additional nutritional information on products such as gluten-free, non-GMO, sugar-free, low-fat, vegan, and high-protein. However, studies have also revealed the fact that excessive health and nutrition labels on cookies and biscuits packaging may have a negative influence on the perception of sensory characteristics and taste expectations. A research carried out by the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology, Spain concluded that labeling like ‘non-sugar’ on biscuits raised negative product expectations, especially among the consumers with sugar metabolism disorders. The tasting sessions conducted as a part of the research indicated a negative influence on the perception of hedonic sensory characteristics. Such studies may be of help to manufacturers and consumers alike when it comes to adhering to stringently specific health-oriented demands.
Europe is lagging in package labeling policy, says WHO; manufacturers focusing on catering to region-based consumer perceptions.
A progress report by WHO for the European Region and Member States to implement the European Food and Nutrition Action Plan 2015–2020 presents valuable data on the nutritional status of European population. It concludes substantial progress in areas such as food product reformulation, surveillance of childhood obesity, and school food. However, policy implementation is sauntering in areas including front-of-package labeling and extensive marketing restrictions. While marketing, manufacturers mostly focus on the consumer perception in that region – adapting their products to various regional markets depending on the thorough understanding of consumer sentiments in a specific region.
A careful study of Oreo biscuit packets reveals an interesting product timeline. The shifting focus on package flexibility is coupled with increasing consumer convenience. Earlier sold in boxes, Oreo biscuits have evolved in terms of packaging over the years. There is a clear sign of intent to target consumer psychology, and the old slogan “Oh-oh! OREO” has successfully made the transition to a more eye-catching “America’s favorite cookie” or “Milk’s favorite cookie”. The use of the word ‘America’ clearly shows the intent of the brand to appeal to a specific set of consumers – the Americans, and possibly, the rest of the world.
As per a recent market evaluation, developed economies are more likely to enjoy portion packs for convenience and on-the-go snacking, whereas consumers in developing countries are projected to prefer smaller pack sizes considering the affordability factor. For single serve products that are meant for any time snacking, manufacturers generally prefer resealable packaging that allows portion-control and thereby, responsible indulgence – especially for health cautious consumers.
Ismail Sutaria is a consultant, consumer goods and packaging, at Future Market Insights