Top Trends Driving Connected Packaging

The retail technology landscape continues to evolve. Shoppers today expect choice, convenience, and easy access to information. Increasingly, product packaging is playing a critical role in this evolving consumer landscape with the emergence of connected packaging.

Connected packaging incorporates new innovations in barcode and packaging technology and makes it easy for product packaging and retail labels to be reliably and efficiently read by consumer phones, point-of-sale scanners and sophisticated machine-vision systems in the supply chain.

Digimarc and GS1 US conducted two webinars with industry leaders on the important trends driving brands and retailers to adopt connected packaging as the centerpiece to a successful competitive strategy. Speakers include executives from Westrock, HP, Wegmans, Sun-Maid and McCormick, among others.

Webinar participants were polled on a number of issues, and a few of the statistical highlights include:

Q: What trends resonate with you and your company today?

• Evolving consumer preferences – 69%
• Connected Millennials – 61%
• Brand Protection - 36%
• Unified Shopping Experience – 62%
• Modern Supply Chains – 46%

Q: What is the number one consumer driver impacting your organization today?

• Price – 39%
• Convenience/Location – 7%
• Product Selection & Availability – 24%
• Product Transparency – 25%
• None of the Above – 4%

Q: What would be your company’s reason(s) to offer connected packages?

• Efficiencies at Checkout – 24%
• Efficiencies on Retail Operations – 31%
• Share Product Information including Product Transparency – 86%
• Offer Promotional Material – 60%
• Build Customer/Shopper Loyalty – 67%

You can access free, archived recordings of the webinars by clicking on the links below:

• Drivers of Change: 5 Reasons Why Brands Must Embrace Connected Packaging
• Getting Organized: How to Create the Connected Package