Smurfit Kappa grows Wine & Bite Box’s Brazilian e-commerce sales with home-gourmet tasting boxes
28 Apr 2021 --- Smurfit Kappa Brazil’s paperboard shipping box for wine and food has scored a Red Dot Award in the Product Design 2021 category, impressing with its combination of product safety and eco-friendly materials.
In partnership with sommelier Myriam Echeverri, CEO and founder of Wine & Bite Box, the recyclable paperboard boxes secure and protect wine bottles and food. “Each of my gourmet tasting boxes are unique – that uniqueness starts with the packaging,” she notes.
“Wine bottles also come in different shapes and sizes, which means that conventional packaging doesn’t always provide a perfect fit,” Smurfit Kappa Brazil CEO Manuel Alcalá tells PackagingInsights.
“The accessories developed by Smurfit Kappa for the Wine Bite & Box mean that different designs can be packaged correctly and safely.”
Currently, Wine & Bite Box products are being delivered across Brazil. “The new packaging solution will ensure my products arrive safely and securely to my customers, guaranteeing a positive experience from start to finish,” says Echeverri.
“The Wine & Bite Box, it offers an unboxing experience aligned with that of the premium brands and products it encases,” says Alcalá. “This in combination with the safe arrival of the products, wherever they are, ensures a positive customer experience from beginning to end.”
Wine & Bite Box has enjoyed a 21% sales increase in Brazil with the new packaging.Home-delivery haven
As highlighted in Innova Market Insights’ top packaging trend for 2021, e-commerce is a long-term trend but exponentially expanded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, the “unboxing experience” is crucial to ensure customer satisfaction, social media exposure and repeat purchases.
According to a 2021 Innova survey, 35 percent of global consumers have increased their home food delivery use since the virus outbreak.
Notably, Brazil is above average, with more than half (58 percent) of consumers turning to online purchasing. This is further evidenced by Wine & Bite Box’s sales increase of 21 percent throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Smurfit Kappa further highlights a growing trend of tasting boxes being delivered to Brazilian customers for at-home gourmet experiences as lockdown restrictions continue to impede restaurant visits and out-of-home eating.
In vino veritas
Smurfit Kappa specializes in eco-conscious wine bottle shipping, as noted by a string of recent fiber-based packaging launches. The paper-based “eBottle” range includes 11 designs for single and multi-pack products, while targeting the UK alcoholic beverage market with individual paper shipping sleeves.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also surged consumer demand for Bag-in-Box wines, attracting 3.7 million new customers in France and the UK in Q3 and Q4 of 2020 alone, the company shares.
Driving consumer interest for environmentally friendly boxed wine, Smurfit Kappa received Amazon’s “Frustration-Free Packaging” certification earlier this month and launched a tracking service to boost shelf life for its Bag-in-Box wine packaging last August.
These efforts coincide with the supplier’s goal of a 55 percent drop in carbon emissions by 2030 and at least net-zero emissions by 2050. At the start of the year, the corrugated paper packaging provider upgraded its Better Planet 2050 program with bolder environmental and workplace diversity goals.
By Anni Schleicher
