Packaging
5th Retail Press Day: One Day Update on Solutions and Strategies in Food Retailing
Monday 17. November 2008 - The Sealed Airs Cryovac permanent customer care center near Paris, Packforum, hosted this year its fifth Retail Press Day on 17 September 2008. Following the now well established tradition, the event caters to the specific needs of major European retail publications. For this occasion, 15 selected press editors came from all over Europe to attend a full day of discussions into future solutions and strategies in food retailing.
The novelty this year was the special focus on Cryovac Food engineering – or the brave new world of prepared foods and Ready Meals, clearly a key point of interest for all participants. The event was packed with presentations on major retail trends, recent success stories and insights into the fridges of tomorrow. The full day event ended with the results of the much awaited “Best of Packforum” 2008 Award.
To kick start the event, Christophe Gottar, European Retail Director, Cryovac Food Solutions-EMEA, reminded participants that packaging is and remains a top of mind priority for retailers, as identified during the CIES Retailers Top of Mind 2008 survey. These key issues include corporate responsibility, food safety, consumer health and nutrition, technology and the supply chain, the economy and consumer demand. “We run this event every year to help retail editors get a feeling for latest packaging solutions and understand, through specific retail case studies, how packaging can address consumer needs and sustain retail strategies”, said Gottar.
After an introductory roadshow into the equipment hall to help editors better understand the basics of food packaging, Luca Cerani, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Cryovac Food Solutions-EMEA, gave a short corporate presentation. “Sealed Air in 2008 continues to expand and develop solutions and applications to support the sustainable trends that are relevant worldwide”. With the support of numerous global case studies, Cerani showed how the company is fully in line with retail priorities: with corporate responsibility by allowing sustainability in the UK with a 20% reduction in packaging weight, with food safety in China by providing clean vacuum packs for poultry, with consumer health in the USA by clearly communicating key nutritional information, with consumer demand in France by greatly enhancing convenience or with the supply chain by offering vertical display and shelf-ready boxes.
European Retail Overview
Isabel Cavill, Retail Analyst at Planet Retail in the UK, a source of intelligence on global retailing, gave an updated global overview of European retail. On the retail industry front, market consolidation is continuing in Western Europe while growth opportunities continue to be attractive in Central and Eastern Europe. Looking at significant trends, Cavill described the changing face of discounters, private label growth fuelled by economic slowdown, and the packaging & green issues.
Still on the rise, discounters are adapting their concept to widen their customer base in times of economic uncertainty. Setting foot in high street locations and offering premium private label goods, they are now targeting both discount and convenience shoppers. The effect on packaging is increasing demand for single portions as well as shelf ready packaging.
In times of economic slowdown, both economy and premium private labels can benefit. The 3-tier positioning for product lines (economy, standard and premium) offering a greater choice to consumers is proving highly successful. Shoppers are trading down, but interestingly, the promotion of economy is occurring at the same time as the expansion of premium/specialist lines.
Retailers are also likely to continue to embrace green issues particularly as financial incentives to go green are becoming clearer than in the past. Packaging is one of the areas likely to be most affected by green concerns as around 30% of all household waste is supermarket packaging. Solutions are being found in refills for cleaning agents, concentrated detergents, reduced/compostable packaging, local sourcing
Another trend is the carbon labelling indicating distance travelled and resulting CO2 emissions – a possible threat to air freighted foods.
European Case Studies in Line with Retailers Top of Mind 2008 Survey
The latest Cryovac packaging successes currently on the shelves of large European retail are all in line with the Top of Mind issues identified by retailers in the CIES Retailers Top of Mind 2008 Survey.
Corporate responsibility: Fresh meat packed in vacuum skin Cryovac Darfresh from Marks & Spencer UK
Andy Stratton, Retail Manager UK & Ireland, presented a success from the UK where highest quality steaks at Marks & Spencer were converted from MAP to vacuum packaging to further save on packaging material and achieve high efficiency on shelves with vertical display and extended shelf-life. With adequate information on the point of sale to reassure consumers on the meat bloom and tenderness due to prolonged maturation, the launch was a success. The new format has reduced packaging weight and wastage to the great satisfaction of M&S.
Food Safety: Poultry in CRYOVAC BDF film from Spar in Hungary
In Hungary, Spar successfully introduced printed Cryovac BDF packaging to provide drip and tamper proof packs on tidy shelves with enhanced consumer information, a major change from the standard dripping PVC stretch packs that were the norm. “In-store waste was virtually eliminated”, said András Hodossy, Retail Manager Hungary and Romania. “And food safety was significantly improved, which secured a successful partnership between Spar, poultry processor Hungerit and Sealed Air”.
Consumer Health and Nutrition: Pizza in CRYOVAC BDF looking better and fresher on Aldi shelves in Germany
In Germany, fresh pizzas are trying hard to compete with the well-established frozen pizzas. By converting thermoforming packs to a highly attractive Cryovac BDF VacMap solution, the hard discounters Aldi and Penny are increasing the market share for fresh pizzas. “The new packaging provides a fresher, less industrial image and secure shelf-life”, explained Holger Löhr, Retail Manager Germany/Austria/Switzerland. “This premium product looks home-made and as such is highly attractive to consumers”.
Technology and Supply Chain: New Cryovac Case-Ready fresh meat from SMA (Auchan Group) in Italy
“The challenge for SMA in Italy was to bring improved product availability with competitive prices and consistent quality”, said Elena Casati, Retail Manager Italy. This success illustrates the benefits of central packaging of fresh meat in a country where 47% of the meat is still packed backstore, more specifically a shorter and highly controlled supply chain. A strong partnership between SMA, meat processor Alicarni and Sealed Air in setting up a multi-functional team project secured the successful introduction of tray-lidding for improved quality insurance.
The Economy and Consumer Demand: Frozen ready meals packed in convenient Cryovac Simple Steps from Mirital Russia
In Russia, Metro C&C joined forces with frozen meal producer Mirital and Sealed Air to boost the frozen ready meals segment by upgrading the packaging from the standard and unattractive cardboard printed sleeves. The highly convenient vacuum skin pack Simple Step was selected to achieve unique differentiation and innovation, along with consumer convenience. “With strong POS and brand promotion, the launch led to significant sales increases and the project is being widely expanded as a result”, said Alexander Kolesnik, Retail Manager Russia.
Cryovac Food Engineering: Prepared Foods and Ready Meals
Following the morning presentations, the supermarket and equipment road show featured this year a two-way session on the impact of the fast growing Ready Meals market on modern food preparation, packaging design and cooking techniques. Sidi Chouikhi, Technical Director Global Ready Meals, took this opportunity to briefly present the three Cryovac packaging systems for prepared meals and meal components, as follows:
1. Cryovac Simple Steps, the microwaveable tray and skin system: this is the ideal solution for in-the-pack microwave cooking of meals and meal components allowing steam-assisted heating, the containment of cooking smells, self-venting and easy peel.
2. CRYOVAC BDF combined with any tray, the shrink wrap barrier film and tray system: this is the flexible packaging for ready to cook meals which can be combined with microwaveable, ovenable or dual ovenable trays. With minimal packaging, it offers a traditional presentation and is very easy to use.
3. Cryovac n’Oven with DOF film, the tray and lid system: the next generation, light weight, CEPT tray based system. This dual ovenable concept remains cool to the touch, allows enhanced heating of the product and its lidding film is very easy to peel off.
Improving Sustainability with Packaging
According to Leo Docherty, Director Sales & Marketing, Cryovac Food Solutions-EMEA, a practical definition of sustainable packaging is “packaging that meets market requirements for price and performance while minimizing impact on the environment”. Sustainability is a desired product attribute. In the words of William V. Hickey, President & CEO of Sealed Air, “environmental sustainability means keeping as much of the products we and our customers make and sell out of the waste stream as possible, and ensuring the efficient use of our natural resources, including sustainable resources.” As a result, Sealed Air sustainable actions include reducing waste, energy and water usage, cutting GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions, pursuing renewable energy, improving ability to recycle materials, developing new sustainable products, maintaining a safe work environment and making a difference in our communities.
Sealed Air has thus developed or is developing product offerings that clearly reflect its environmental sustainability strategy. At present, these offerings include down-gauged bags, laminates and trays; thin, high performance shrink films; reduced headspace packages (MAP and vacuum); as well as light weight, foamed trays. For tomorrow and the years ahead, the offering will include foam trays and solid trays based on PLA (polylactic acid), biosphere starch containers, cardboard Darfresh, as well as barrier trays, barrier and non-barrier films, and shrink films based on renewable materials.
Finger Food Tasting and Best of Packforum Award 2008
Following the well-known tradition at Packforum, participants at the Retail Press Day were invited to taste finger food specialities from all over Europe to get a touch and feel for products packed in Cryovac materials. This Taste and Test tour was followed by a roadshow of packaging lines in operation, to show the latest technological innovations. To close the event was the 2008 Best of Packforum Award, a contest inviting retail editors to vote for the best packaging amongst 20 attractive European retail packs. The results of this award are announced in a separate press release.