Report: Making more out of in-store merchandising to optimise packaging
- Date
- June 2008
- Documents
-
(2343 kb)
A report that explores the role that merchandising displays can play in enabling packaging to be optimised. Eight different concepts were developed focusing on ready meals, pizza, fresh pasta, meat, cereal and frozen.
Merchandising solutions such as point of sale material, fixtures, shelving, display shippers, returnable systems and self-dispensing systems have the potential to significantly reduce packaging throughout the supply chain. This can satisfy growing consumer demand for less product packaging, and help brand owners and retailers to meet their waste reduction targets.
WRAP has completed an initial research project in this important area, which included an audit of innovative merchandising solutions already being used in the UK, Spain, Sweden and USA. As a result, a range of generic concepts were developed. In particular, most retailers use a tiered system of “good”, “better” and “best” product ranges, and currently the more premium ranges often use more packaging to denote their quality. The concepts looked at how packaging can be moved to the most minimised format feasible, while using merchandising to portray the quality cues and differentiate between the different value propositions.
Benefits
If these concepts were implemented in-store, the benefits would include:
- commercial benefits as a consequence of reduced packaging use;
- less packaging ultimately in the household waste stream, and subsequent CO2 emission reductions;
- logistics benefits, particularly from the use of closed-loop systems; and
- positive feedback from consumers who are looking for less packaging.
