Industry speculates on future packaging trends
With apples long found mostly in bulk displays, some high-value apples have moved to high-graphic bags with marketing that trumpets the variety.
More change could be on the horizon, said Steve Lutz, vice president of marketing at Columbia Marketing International, Wenatchee, Wash.
The volume sold of 2-pound bags of apples - which carry higher-value apples - has increased dramatically in comparison to 3-pound and 5-pound bags, which are made with lower-quality material than that used for the 2-pound pouch bags. Lutz said the move toward smaller package types is likely to continue and could segway into other types of packaging.
"It wouldn't surprise me to see some of the flat-top - sort of a heat-sealed, flat-top clamshell," Lutz said.
"You see those in the berry industry. Tomatoes have them, where there's a clamshell that the tomatoes fit in but then they … heat-seal cellophane across the top of it, and I would expect that you'll start to see those show up in apples. That would not be surprising at all.
"Mesh bags are already used, so that won't change, but they'll be higher-quality mesh bags that will continue to be brought to the market," Lutz said, "those mesh bags that have high-graphic printing on the wraps like they do with Halos or Cuties."
Given the increasing use of pouch bags, Lutz said display of apples by retailers may also adjust.
"It's a package designed to be sold upright, and so one of the merchandising aspects that may come in the future is a different type of racking that allows these pouch bags to be sold - these 2-pound pouch bags of high-value apples, the apples that retailers are really getting paid to sell, versus the commodity apples - it's not hard to envision those apples being sold in a more upright fashion," Lutz said.
Cherries
Roger Pepperl, director of marketing at Stemilt Growers, Wenatchee, Wash., said he once thought clamshells would take over the cherry industry - but not anymore. He predicted that regulations governing how retailers can price cherries will likely stifle growth in that area. For example, cherries in random-weight bags can be advertised at $3.99 per pound even though they contain more than a single pound. A closed container like a clamshell cannot be marketed the same way, as a 2-pound clamshell would have to be listed at $7.99 for 2 pounds rather than $3.99 per pound.
That same obstacle could prevent the category from moving toward the same type of packaging mentioned by Lutz, the flat-top, heat-sealed packaging already used for berries and tomatoes.
"I think that might enter our business," Pepperl said, "but it hasn't so far."
Eating better faster
Sam Monte, director of operations at Monte Packaging, Riverside, Mich., and Albena Leon, general manager at Destiny Packaging, Monterey, Calif., do not see the movement toward convenience abating any time soon.
"We're looking for things that people can throw in the car and take with them to work or throw in a lunchbox to send their children to school with," Monte said. "More and more we're seeing consumer packages in a more individual-based pack … That's something that I think is on the forefront.
"It's definitely not something huge now, but we're talking to some customers about it and looking at what the options are and looking at what the global landscape is doing for individual-use packages and seeing what's out there," Monte said.
Leon expects customers will want quick options in the home as well as on the go.
"The convenience factor and the ready meals are what the future is," Leon said. "Everybody is looking for that convenience … They want to have something that they can cook at work - pop in the microwave - that will satisfy their appetite … You can have that healthy meal in minutes."
