Market Insight: Spout Pouch Style Baby Food Is Blooming

Market Insight: Spout Pouch Style Baby Food Is Blooming

Happy Family, the organic baby food makers, started its organic baby food business in 2006 with $115,000 in sales. In 2011, the pouch style baby foods' sales was up to $35 million.
"The top pouch is the spinach, mango and pear flavor. At 3.5 ounces and 60 calories, parents are smitten with the idea of getting their kids to eat spinach." Shazi Visram, the founder & CEO of Happy Family said.

How’s popular is baby food spout pouch

Happy Family said, “Squeezable baby food pouches of organic baby food have been hitting the market for over 5 years and exploded in popularity.”
“Parent Friendly” makes spout pouch baby food be so popular
Parents love the pouches for the convenience: They can squirt the puree onto a spoon for the baby; when the child gets older, he or she can suck the food straight out of the pouch. There is very little mess. In the last few years, Gerber and other power players in the baby food market added pouches to their product lines, and not just for organics, according to Mintel. And just as conventional baby foods come in pouches these days, some organics are sold in jars.

Who else in the pouch-style baby food market?

Gerber, Heinz, Plum Organics, Sprout, and other baby food players added the spout pouch-style baby food & expanded its product lines with baby food pouch.

Reference:
www.logospack.com.hk

Moving From Cans To Retort Pouches

In the beginning of 2013, I made a prediction about ready to eat food packaging as I found that many global food brands, such as, Heinz, Campbell, Knorr, started to use the stand up retort pouch for their new ready soup or ready food packaging.

Tesco ready soup in retort pouch

Now, Tesco PLC, the world's largest retailers, re-designs its private label ready soup from cans to stand up retort pouches in 2013. See? Retort pouches ,the latest and innovative ready food packaging, are really on the rise. Thanks to the excellent graphics printing panels, advanced printing technologies & variety of value added functionality, retort pouches offer market differentiation. It grabs customers attentions in a competitive market. It's clearly the major reason that many and many ready food manufacturers and private label ready soup companies start to use retort pouch for its ready food and ready soup.

Now, I'm not going to list out all retort pouch benefits to customers and producers here. If you're interested in retort pouches, you can read my previous blog or click here for more information.

I really wish this blog can give you some fresh packaging ideas about the ready to eat food packaging and help your business to be successful in 2013.

Lastly, i would like to share you a quote from Gail Sheehy.
"If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living"

Reference:
Logos Packaging Holding Ltd: http://logospack.com.hk/index.php
Tesco: http://www.tesco.com/
Gail Sheehy: http://www.gailsheehy.com/

The revolution in beverage packaging?

Spout Pouch, Pouchlink, Internal of Pouchlink
(Left To Right) 

"Pouchlink", the most innovative cold drinks vending system I have ever seen, designed by The Green Drinks Company.

It's a packaging on demand machine, which designed for packaging liquid based products. By making use of the latest vending technologies, it has a 4-10 times capacity than traditional drinks dispenser and less energy consumption. To optimize the operation of "pouchlink", spout pouch, which are easy to be filled, easy removed & replaced screw cap, light, easy to be stored, is the best and only choice for it.   

Now, some global brands such as Vimto, Sunkist uses this machine as it's cost-effective & eye-catching. Will the other global beverage brands such as, Coca Cola, Pepsi will try it? 

Will Spout Pouch be the next generation for beverage packaging?

If Pouchlink is success, spout pouch will definitely be the next generation of beverage packaging.

Reference:

Pouchlink:http://www.k6.co.uk/ http://www.thegreendrinkscompany.com/downloads.html

Spout Pouch:http://www.lipackhk.com

Packaging is everything!

Packaging is everything. Who doesn’t like awesome & innovative packaging? A product with better packaging is worth more in customers’ mind. To be a marketer, you should pay more attention about how you package your products. Selecting the right packaging for your products is a kind of philosophy. “Right” packaging makes a mid-range product be a premium products. Let’s consider the difference between the rival companies and Apple with a similar specification smartphone . For example, rival companies’ accessories are wrapped by tough plastics, which fully protect the products,yet,  it’s not user friendly. How about Apple? Apple’s well-designed packaging box, which allows customers to get the charge, USB cable, other accessories easily at one time. From packaging the product itself to packaging box, Apple provides an excellent user experience to customers. So, you know how important packaging is?

Tips for choosing the right packaging specifications

Packaging is not only the aesthetics, a “right” packaging can protect your products, deliver a message to your customers, build up your brand as well as make your products be more user-friendly, which is the major and the most important packaging’s function.

To design a package of your product, there are many and many factors should be paid attention and considered. Here is a simple checklist for you when you are designing your products’ packaging:

1.Barrier
2.Stiffness
3.COF
4.Sealing properties
5.Pollution resistance
6.Hot Tack
7.Formability
8.Puncture resistance
9.Mechanical Strength
10.Printability
11.Gloss
12.Opacity/Transparancy
13.Heat Resistance
14.Corrosion Resistance
15.Electrostatic Properties
16.Easy Tear
17.Easy Peel

To sum up, marketer should find a packaging which fulfills your requirements with a minimum of materials and costs.