Keep it fresh

Bags, wraps and foils are everyday household staples that almost everyone purchases regularly. If there is a challenge ahead for the category, it is to remain fresh.

Private label is the undisputed category leader, with a 45 percent market share of trash bags and kitchen bags, a 46 percent share of food contact bags and a 54 percent share of scented kitchen bags, says Howard Kirschenbaum, vice president of sales for Armonk, N.Y.-based Trinity Plastics Inc., citing data from New York-based Nielsen. Trinity is a full line supplier of national-brand-equivalent store brand items for a broad base of customers in a variety of industries.

New scents

Scented bags are one of the category’s strongest trends because more non-proprietary scents are now available for store brand use, Kirschenbaum notes.

“Fifty-four percent of all kitchen drawstring bags sold are scented; that’s up 17 percent over last year,” he says. “The point I really want to make, to drill down to private label scented kitchen drawstring growth, is it now has a 30 percent share in private label — that’s up over 26 percent year-on-year. Clearly, that’s an area of growth in private label.”

The concept of the scented bag, in and then out of vogue years ago, is new again, Kirschenbaum explains.

“I started in this industry in the 80s, when the biggest innovation was scented bags, and then all sorts of other innovations came into play,” he says. “I believe a branded world is having trouble coming up with different kinds of innovation. [Scenting] works because there’s all sorts of new scents available now.”

Even when odor-neutralizing technology is used in trash bags, layering a fragrance on top of that is a big selling point.

“People like these smells. How many times have you seen someone pick a sweater out of the dryer and smell it? We offer scents from cinnamon to clean cotton to fresh garden to lavender, and store brand [retailers] are taking advantage of that,” Kirschenbaum says.

Keep food fresh

On the food side, the biggest trend is the growth of the slider product, which seals the food contact bag with a plastic clip, Kirschenbaum says.

“That is particularly growing in the private label space. The slider category itself is up by about 5 percent year-on-year; the store brand slider is up over 15 percent. Within that, store brands have a 45 percent share of the slider subcategory overall,” he says, citing Nielsen numbers for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 2, 2016.

Consumers, particularly senior citizens, are migrating toward the slider, which is easier to use than its predecessor, the zipper-type closure, and more effective than the twist tie of bygone days, Kirshenbaum explains.

On the foils and wraps side, microwaveable claims, as well as eco-friendly packaging claims are on-trend, according to “Category Insight: Home Storage,” a March 2016 publication from global market research firm Mintel. However, efficacy and durability are more important to consumers than eco-friendliness.

On the horizon, Kirschenbaum believes there might be a place for premium products in the category — that retailers might start looking for better than national brand equivalent in the future.

“Store brands are brands; they can develop,” Kirshenbaum maintains.

He advises retailers to monitor and follow the trends — and continue to tweak product assortments.

Freshen packaging

Companies are showcasing many different innovations to keep their packaging fresh and encouraging consumers to seek out their brand, observes Bryan Saxe, marketing supervisor for Flair Flexible Packaging Corp., Appleton, Wis. Flair is a fully integrated supplier of flexible film materials, technology and design solutions for the food and non-food industries.

“Sitting on the retail shelves, packaging serves as a billboard or storefront for the company brand,” he explains. “Whether that means catchy artwork with printing effects [such as] reflective inks, partial matte, hologram printing or perhaps an innovative feature that makes the product easier to use for the consumers, companies are utilizing the packaging to elicit the consumers to purchase their product.”

Print innovations that help make a product stand out also include glow-in-the-dark inks, translucent inks and dimensional printing, Saxe adds.

“With retail shelf space getting more crowded with new products and product categories, it is imperative that companies maximize their packaging in order to stand out and grab the attention of the consumer,” he says.

On trash bag packaging, retailers are touting their scents, Kirschenbaum adds.

“We developed a package that has what we call a scent vent,” he notes.

Small holes are placed on the front of the package, and an arrow graphic directs shoppers to sample the scent through the holes.

Packaging in this category often includes a BPA-free statement, too, to assuage consumer concerns.

“The reality is, the products we make don’t and never did have BPA,” Kirschenbaum says. “But we’ll put [the statement] on the package.”

Remind consumers

When it comes to marketing and merchandising bags, wraps and foils, Kirschenbaum advises retailers to be in tune with key selling periods.

“Make sure you promote within those seasonality periods,” he says. “For back-to-school, promote food contact bags, because sales spike then. Around holidays, sales spike. For spring-cleaning, garbage bag sales spike.”

And don’t forget about off-shelf displays, Kirschenbaum adds.

“Off-shelf displays really help in impulse sales. This is big. It really attracts the buyer that may not [otherwise] make a purchase,” he says.

Marketers also might want to keep in mind what a high priority food freshness and safety are to consumers, according to an August report from Packaged Facts, a division of Rockville, Md.-based MarketResearch.com.

A proprietary Packaged Facts National Consumer Survey conducted in April 2015 among 2,023 adult respondents found that freshness, at 69 percent, and food safety, at 68 percent, were the leading features consumers wanted in their food and beverage packaging, notes “Food and Beverage Packaging Innovation in the U.S.: Consumer Perspectives.”

Do pay attention to the trend toward scented trash bags.

Don’t forget that efficacy and durability are most important when it comes to foils and wraps.