Seeing as staying in remains all the rage these days in many places across the world, the trend for avoiding the local off-licence altogether has given rise to an overwhelming amount of the general public turning to the post in order to get plastered. Wine, beer and any other assorted booze you can think of is now available direct to your door thanks to the stratospheric rise of e-commerce and the e-beverage market.
Of course, people have been able to order alcohol online for many years (including the downright brilliance of Garçon Wines’ flat-wine-bottle-through-the-letterbox ingenuity I first encountered many years back at a Packaging Innovations show in my then guise as editor of Retail Packaging magazine), but it has taken a pandemic to really inflate that popularity and, as ever, the packaging community has been quick to take note and act accordingly.
Latest to the lockdown party is packaging leader Smurfit Kappa, which has launched a new range of eBottle packaging solutions. The new portfolio includes a variety of sustainable solutions for single and multi-pack products, including the Rollor bottle pack, BiPack, and Pop-up insert.
Naturally, the key challenges for the e-commerce channel are product damage, sustainability, consumer experience and the ability to accelerate growth using the right packing processes. To that end, Smurfit Kappa carried out its own consumer research and discovered that, despite their sozzled state, consumers are also continuing to push for higher standards.
The research found:
- Over two thirds (69%) of consumers prefer paper-based packaging.
- Over half (59%) of consumers want the parcel to be easy to open.
- 1 in 10 consumers will reconsider re-ordering in the case of damage.
Commenting on the announcement, Arco Berkenbosch, VP Innovation and Development at Smurfit Kappa Europe, said: “Our new eBottle product range offers beverage businesses a suite of fit-for-purpose and bespoke packaging solutions which address the key challenges for their e-commerce channel. The innovative range, combined with our focus on e-commerce processes, supply chain and consumer experience, have all contributed to increased sales and greater efficiencies for our customers.”
Herwin Wichers, Market Development Director at Smurfit Kappa, adds: “The online European alcohol beverage market is worth €5.6 billion and we want to help companies take advantage of the real growth and opportunity in this segment. As a result of the implemented packaging and automation solution by InterDrinks, it has increased its packing and filling capacity by 66%, allowing it to fulfil more orders, faster.”
