Beverage manufacturer's value consumer feedback, as this provides insight into current and future trends. Consumers, who openly share ideas and preferences for appropriate beverage portions and environmentally friendly containers, will find a welcome audience among beverage producing companies. An owner of a water bottling company shared his perspective: "We are trying to get the consumer perspective totally integrated into our R&D process and we are doing this in a few different ways. Overall, we just want to hear from our consumers and even our non-consumers to find out what they want."
To this end, manufacturers often turn to research to take the pulse of the consumer's mindset. This research can be quantitative (a large phone survey) or qualitative (small focus groups). They can occur on-site (surveys taken at samplings) or at home (participating households track their purchases over time).
Consumers are drinking on the go. Many and are looking for convenient beverages in single portion packages that can be consumed quickly and stored discreetly. Smaller-sized multipacks are gaining popularity through club stores and super markets. Multipacks of smaller unit sizes are gaining popularity as a great on-the-go alternative. Many consumers are increasingly aware of sustainability initiatives, environmentally friendly packaging and carbon footprints.
Beverage packaging will have green packaging ratings that consumers might include as a factor in drink purchase decisions.
Other trends that will drive packaging innovations in the long term are efforts to improve package strength, ease of use, material efficiency and packaging designs with improved resistance to breakage, or that substantially reduce spilling. From an operational standpoint, packaging materials and designs that decrease the weight of containers can add to the bottom line.