Food packaging plays a vital role in the success and growth of food manufacturing brands. Especially in India where temperature, humidity level, and rain varies from state to state. On one side we have deserts in Rajasthan, snow in the Himalayas, throughout the year rainfall in Meghalaya and intense humid and heat in eastern and southern states of India – food business is a tricky business if it’s done at the national level.
This is why food packaging plays a vital role in this country to preserve food throughout the distribution chain as well as to attract both the diverse preferences of urban and rural consumers.
Thus in India the strategize for developing food packaging and shelf life caters to the needs of intense planning in a number of areas including material development, food package interactions, designing machinery, microencapsulation, the shelf life of packaged food products, as well as sustainability and recycling of food packaging materials.
In this article, Mr. Gaurav Jalan, Founder & Director of India’s leading packaging company, Packman Printing and Packaging shares certain critical points that food manufactures (especially start-ups and SMEs who doesn’t holds endless investments or experiences from a global operation) must consider prior deciding their product packaging.
Personality Of The Brand
Packaging decision-makers must know exactly what demographics your brand needs to market to. This will impact what kind of food packaging you need, so your product will catch that market’s attention in a store. For instance, green colors represent nature, which is ideal for all-natural or vegan products. Red is a hugely significant color for all foods because it gets people’s metabolisms moving and inspires boldness.
Market Trend
For motivation, it helps to see what other businesses are using for their packaging. One essential trend that will likely remain popular for ages to come involves eco-friendly packages. It can immensely work to your advantage to use a package that will be recycled, so your business comes across as one consumer can put on trust.
Expenditure
You have to consider how much food packaging will cost prior to you manufacture the product in earnest. Between packaging, distribution, shipping and the expenses of the product itself, you need to make sure you can still manage a reasonable profit. By knowing how much the package will cost first, you can distribute funds to labor and materials accordingly.
Safe Packaging
Lastly, you have to make sure the package you choose will be able to perfectly protect the item inside. You need to ensure the food inside will remain fresh for as long as it can. Dry and frozen items will need different packages, and it is important to select a covering that will withstand contamination. It is suggested to work with a packaging professional to ensure you choose a combination that works optimally for your needs.
While you need to suitably inform consumers of what your product consists of, it is also important to have fun and be creative during the whole process.
Mr. Gaurav Jalan is the Founder and Director of Packman Packaging, one of the largest Indian packaging company that has been serving some of the world’s eminent technology, pharmaceutical, retail, fast-moving consumer goods, food, courier, publication, Jewellery, fashion, e-commerce organizations for the past 30 years.
A brilliant academic, a good graphic designer and a graduate from India’s top management institutes, Mr. Jalan is a visionary businessman and an eminent spokesperson on matters related to the Indian Packaging industry. He has witnessed and as well as participated in the growth process of India’s packaging industry’s that was few billions dollar market in 2010, grew into USD 31 billion in 2015 and is expected to turn$72 billion by 2020.
Under the leadership of Mr Gaurav Jalan, Packman.co.in (Packman’s official website) became India’s first e-commerce store for packaging solutions in the year 2002 (5 years before Flipkart was launch).
In years 2003-2005, when the majority of Indian packaging companies were primarily focused on their revenue and operations, Packman under Mr Jalan’s leadership has started using eco-friendly and recycled packaging raw materials.
Today, Packman Packaging manufactures more than one lakhs of corrugated rolls, corrugated boxes, high quality bubble sheets, safety/courier bags and more from it state of art manufacturing unit, located in Delhi NCR region. The manufacturing unit uses some of the world’s most advanced packaging material manufacturing machinery with world’s best printing technology that ensures Packman’s customers get fast and efficient delivery, high-quality brand representation through their product packaging.