3 Ways How COVID-19 Has Changed Packaging Supplies

The current pandemic has hit hard every aspect of our lives. Due to the sudden nature of the changes, comprehension of and adaption to the situation were difficult, however, alternatives and solutions are continuously produced. Take shopping par example, customers used to walk down the store aisles, interact with and put items into their shopping carts; after waves and waves of infections, customers were left too afraid to go to the stores, let alone touch anything on the aisles. This behavior impacted the buying pattern of customers vastly. Now, as the shopping patterns shift, so do the packaging.

Wondering why packaging changes with changing buying patterns? Let us answer your curiosity:

Adaptive Packaging for Changing Buying Patterns:

Due to different risks that come with shopping and interacting freely with products, customers have found their safety in shopping online rather than in stores. The number of weekly online shoppers has increased by 6 to 10%. Research shows 36% of European and North American respondents shop online. The rising online shopping trend means packaging has to be able to keep up with the difficulties and hardships of shipping. This makes customer satisfaction highly dependent on the mailing and shipping of the goods. If the items reach the cu7stomers damaged or fail to reach at all, it can hurt the image that a brand has been sustaining for years.

As the pandemic is speculated to roam around for a while and its lingering fears and impacts even longer, online retailers must stay wary of their packaging and the protective measures that are needed to be taken.

Health and Safety Concerns:

As people are concerned about what they choose to bring into their homes, so are they about the products that they receive from online stores. Many have expressed this concern through either disinfecting their parcels and packaging or choosing to quarantine i9t for a while. This makes businesses rethink the way they pack their products and choose packaging that can reassure the customers, physically and psychologically, of the safety of packaging.

• Physical Health: Retailers can make sure the customers perceive their packaging as a hygienic one and free of infections. For instance, one way is to choose a packaging that has not cutouts or openings that would allow external factors to infect the product inside. Aside from enclosures, research has shown how some materials are more friendly for the hosting of the virus than others. Keeping this in mind, retailers can choose the right packaging material for their products.
• Psychological Health: Due to the increased risk of contamination and general panic anxiety and depression numbers have skyrocketed in the past few months. To appear more considerate to their customers, businesses might want to rethink their packaging according to the occasion to help customers cope.

Focus on the Environment:

As the restaurants and food points started closing, the number of takeaway foods and consumables kept increasing. This demonstrated how the safety of customers came at the expense of the environment. This does not include the food industry solely, online retailers and stores have also faced increased orders. The more orders customers place, the more waste is produced. Several industries have topped the game by shifting to sustainable packaging materials to reduce customer concerns from every aspect.