Crown study: Younger consumers prioritize sustainable packaging in purchase decisions

24 Oct 2018 --- Crown has partnered with the design and research agency Kinneir Dufort to conduct a UK study into consumer perceptions of packaging. The study followed consumers from a variety of demographics over a two-day period where they were asked to explore the soup, vegetable, fish, ready meal and pet food categories and to provide contextual insight into how consumers store, open and use food packaging. Crown aimed to better understand purchasing decisions and found that while younger consumers prioritize sustainable packaging in product choices, older consumers were more concerned by ease-of-opening and exhibited unwavering brand loyalty.

Crown say the goal was to validate and better understand how metal packaging is perceived, how it is used in everyday life, its functionality and consumers’ opinions on how it can be improved. Several key learnings were identified as a result of the study. For example, for older consumers, it is clear that food cans with easy-open ends have high value. In addition, this demographic as a whole displays fierce brand loyalty.

Meanwhile, younger consumers placed high priority on sustainability, recycling and minimizing waste. They demonstrated an openness towards new, modern, dynamic packaging and graphics. Pet owners showed great familiarity and experience with a variety of package formats due to the high level of innovation in the sector.

As a result of the study, Crown has developed a number of “influencer platforms” designed to put insights gained into action and deliver packaging that appeals to the modern consumer.

“We take our responsibility as a partner to our customers seriously and know that delivering packaging that truly connects with consumers and motivates them to make a purchase requires truly understanding who they are and what they value,” says Laetitia Durafour, Marketing & Communication Director at Crown Food Europe. “Undertaking research studies like this one enables us to advise, develop and create innovative packaging formats.”

“It takes less than three seconds for consumers to make a decision when choosing a product to buy in a supermarket. This means they make a lot of their choices unconsciously and they are persuaded by the image/perception conveyed by the packaging, a Crown representative tells PackagingInsights.

“For younger consumers, we discovered how a great decoration and an appealing design can impact and prevail over anything else in their instant choices. For the younger generation, we use new shapes, new soft-touch print finishes, more use of substrate/tinted lacquers, and coffee can style in new product categories.”

“From a sustainability point of view, metal cans are very well positioned. They are perceived as extremely reassuring in their levels of sustainability. Metal has a great story to tell, as it is 100 percent recyclable and infinitely recyclable and this is an important aspect for the younger generation,” they add.

In other Crown news, the supplier announced this month that it has exceeded one of its two targeted 2020 sustainability goals two years into its five-year initiative to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2016, the Company announced its plan to reduce energy consumption by 5 percent per billion standard units of production from 2015 levels by the end of 2020. As of December 31, 2017, Crown has surpassed this goal, reducing energy consumption by 5.1 percent per billion standard units. Absolute energy consumption has increased by only 1.6 percent while the Company increased production by over 7.1 percent.

In a similar study into paperboard packaging, Sonoco found that consumers are more likely to buy organic, premium brands if the packaging is “natural-looking.” The study shows that packaging that offers a distinctive natural look – such as Sonoco's own EcoTect packaging board – enhances product attributes such as “organic” and “natural,” which in turn help brands stand out on the retail shelf. Read more about the study here.