Packaging for the Wellness-Minded Consumer

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key Findings

Wellness trends are major shapers of consumer trending

At a time when consumers are hesitant to spend in general, wellness spending has been remarkably well protected. Wellness trends are therefore going to become increasingly important in shaping their buying patterns across categories, which will include how they will approach packaging.

Consumers want products that are “clean”

Wellness encompasses a wide variety of functional spaces. A common theme across many of them is a desire for avoidance of perceived negative ingredients such as sugar or artificial additives. This shapes both interest in what consumers want in the packaging as well as what they want the packaging itself to be like.

Plastics face a larger threat from wellness than sustainability trends

Years of anti-plastic environmental campaigning has failed to noticeably dent sales of plastics across most categories of consumer goods. Emerging concern with contaminants, particularly microplastics, could change the situation and catalyse a stronger move away from plastic. Other formats face concerns as well (paper and PFAS exposure, for example) but to a lesser extent.

Packaging needs to convey wellness quickly in an attention-pressed culture

Some consumers research products in depth and read labels closely but most are choosing products with much less reflection. Regulatory trends are also favouring bold, stark labels that convey information quickly and with minimal wording. Wellness labelling is therefore trending in a direction of conveying messages as quickly as possible.

Convenience will be important for packaging as much of wellness is on the go

Many of the best performing categories in recent years have not just been wellness-related but are specifically offering wellness on the go (such as the resurgent powder concentrates category). Packaging will also need to offer convenience for consumers who are pressed for time even as they seek to put more focus on their health.