Carton packaging demand surge, carton factory is faced with opportunities and challenges to deal with
carton factory is faced with opportunities and challenges to deal with
The closure of physical stores over the past year, coupled with continued consumer concerns over personal safety during the epidemic, has led to a massive shift to online purchases, meaning e-commerce sales have been booming. As a result, carton manufacturers are increasingly required to provide the volume of packaging needed to ship products to stores and consumers. Rowen Sasin, head of retail packaging consultancy Hudson Winsor, points out that the increase in demand is not just due to the outbreak. As early as 2018 and 2019, e-commerce commodity channels have made rapid development. "Big retailers are predicting a lot of growth in e-commerce in the future, so they're trying to make sure their logistics centers, delivery systems and supply chains match up to achieve that, " Sasin said, the corrugated box industry has performed well. "We have no doubt that there will be greater growth in e-commerce in the future, which will foster a larger carton packaging market, " he said. Of course, it should be noted that in this particular year, this growth is exponential. 2020 financial results, Walmart, Amazon, target, and Kroger all reported that in terms of e commerce sales, Sasin said, they achieved the equivalent of the previous three years in three quarters of the time last year. "We found that some of these companies had annual economic growth rates of around 70 per cent, while target's earnings report indicated a sales growth rate of over 100 per cent. " When the new coronavirus first appeared, there are fears that it could have a negative impact on the demand for products and services from carton manufacturers. Such fears have proved largely unfounded. As Justin Timberlake Steacy, vice president of E-commerce at Fantastapack, points out: "By april-june of last year, industry concerns about sales performance had dissipated and been replaced by a wave of demand.
The rapid sales growth in the third and fourth quarters of 2020 creates a lot of opportunities that we can take advantage of and implement a lot of processes that are not load tested,"Steacy said, as brands are forced to turn to e-commerce to survive, the pandemic has led to increased demand for digital printed packaging. "This wave of demand is constraining supply chains, production volumes and delivery times, " he said, and it is affecting not only carton makers but also upstream equipment and service providers. Unexpected Obstacles and challenges, and new opportunities Sharon Osbourne is marketing manager for the corrugated box division of HP's PageWide industries. "today, the packaging market is experiencing a strong trend across the entire value chain, including consumers, brands and processors, " she said. "e-commerce is the main driver of this growth, but not the only one. Overall, customer demand for HP digital printing equipment has increased because HP digital printing technology has shown very resilient strength when the traditional printing business can not continue,"Steacy said, the surge in demand has also led to longer delivery times.
At Fantastapack, he said, "we have been educating our customer base and now longer lead times are the new normal. " In addition, Fantastapack has invested heavily in plant capacity and location to meet demand growth. We have installed the first laser die-cutting equipment from Heike, the aim is to greatly increase the order capacity. We have also acquired a digital printing company and will break ground with them on a new building by the second half of 2021, our operating output will double."rapid and continuous improvement has become a way of life. This is necessary both to address emerging challenges and to take advantage of new opportunities. Instead of shutting down, e-commerce offers companies an opportunity to reinvent themselves. "We have introduced new products for e-commerce sales that are directly relevant to the current market environment, " says Steacy, noting that the unpacking experience has also become increasingly important during the pandemic, which provides an opportunity to make high-quality corrugated packaging manufacturers. "consumers can enjoy the unpacking experience when they order carton packaging products online, and plain brown cartons become a marketing tool for companies to promote themselves and sell products with more sub-value. Personalization, customization are all part of the E-COMMERCE business, and seasonal products, etc. are available through digital printing technology,"Sasin said, noting that there has also been a shift in what people order, increasing the demand for cardboard packaging products. "there is a very important difference between what we used to buy in e-commerce and what we buy now. In the past, purchases were usually of higher value and higher density products, such as DVD sets and expensive books. Whatever we buy, it's expensive, but it's very easy to transport and it's not affected by transport damage,"he said, adding that ordering a pair of shoes over the Internet, for example, does not pose a significant risk of product damage. But that's not the case with groceries, health care and beauty products that consumers buy online today.
Sasin says the prices are often lower, but the items are larger and can end up costing $100 for groceries, which requires more geometric space than spending the same $100 on three books. "It's not just that consumers are buying more stuff, it's that they're buying stuff differently. ". "differentiation is the driving force for all these additional markets, " says Sasin. 03. How should companies respond to what Sasin sees as an industry-wide response to new challenges and demand growth. In part, this is because many have invested in and improved processes to address the anticipated increase in demand that preceded the pandemic. By 2020, Chesler says, the carton standards industry is well aware of the new opportunities in corrugated digital printing technology, emphasizing the need for strict security and encouraging sustainability measures at every step of the manufacturing process. "H.P. is focused on developing innovative and sustainable technology for printing presses, and despite the challenges posed by the new crown disease, their customers remain focused on business development. To meet demand, says Steacy, it will need "speeds of service that are not available in the traditional world of analog packaging" . In addition to expanding factory capacity, Fantastapack has invested heavily in automation to speed up the front-end purchasing and back-end production processes, allowing the company to expand the size of new customers and the number of orders it receives, but the process is challenging. "whether you're a brand or a supplier, it's important for all of us to understand the root of the problem and acknowledge that challenges have arisen in unexpected ways, " he says. "when we realize supply chain disruptions, overcapacity and waves of demand, we need to be kind and compassionate to each other, making delivery times longer than we used to be. ".
There is a new normal in the market, and your business plan really needs to take that into account,"he said. 04. What will happen in the future Cheslav believes that the development of e-commerce is a trend that has just begun. "Many processors are starting to offer online packaging and ordering services to small and medium-sized and even large companies that compete in e-commerce to cut costs and serve their brands, " Steacy agreed. "We are confident that directly or through our trading partnerships, e-commerce packaging will continue to be our largest growth area, " he said. All indications are that this trend will continue to be adopted quickly,"he said, adding that the only thing that will slow them down is capacity constraints. As Sasin points out, consumers'buying patterns have changed
