Knowledge base

The coronavirus pandemic’s demand-shock, brick-and-mortar store closures and stay-at-home orders have upended retail sales. As total spending declines, online spending is projected to surge by 18% in 2020, reflecting the impact of new buyers joining the online retail space as a result of the pandemic. With ecommerce expected to reach 14.5% of total retail sales this year – both an all-time high and the biggest ever share increase in a single year* – the findings of Two Sides’ recent U.S. Packaging Preferences Survey provide brand owners with valuable insights into consumers’ current thinking on packaging materials, online shopping and related behavior.

Tweet

Small particles provide orientation and signal effect, but also camouflage and sun protection if required: Pigments are coloring substances that are practically insoluble in water or other application media. They are mainly added to paints and coatings, plastics and building materials. (In contrast, soluble dyes are mainly used for liquids for dyeing). Ceresana has now analyzed the entire market for pigments for the sixth time. In 2019, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for the largest share of consumption. For this part of the world and for Africa, the market researchers expect the highest growth in the coming years. Global demand for pigments is expected to increase to approximately 11.14 million tons by 2027.

Tweet

The printing, signage and packaging industry has postponed most of its shows in 2020, others got cancelled, resulting in a multitude of show announcements, dates in the first half of 2021. By Sabine Slaughter

Tweet

Over the last days news emerged that several tradeshows, slated to happen in autumn of 2020, have been postponed to 2021. This now makes the already quite squeezed calendars of 2021 a kind of mess with overlapping events, tradeshows and meetings. By Sabine Slaughter

Tweet

With sustainability firmly at the forefront of today’s packaging supply chain, Flint Group Packaging Inks, one of the largest consumables suppliers to the global print and packaging industry, has detailed its vision for supporting circular economies in a new white paper that reveals the formation of a dedicated Sustainability Task Force.

Tweet

A new study shows that sustainability is a key driver for companies. The "Balancing Sustainability and Profitability Study" was conducted among 200 executives and 1500 consumers in the UK before the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic. The study shows that increased conscious consumer behaviour is driving companies to integrate sustainability transparently into their business operations. However, with a new generation of consumers increasingly demanding greater transparency in the area of sustainable business, the study also shows that two-thirds of companies are finding it difficult to measure the impact of their sustainability strategies.

Tweet

In the UK new recommendations allow paperboard packaging to contain up to 15 per cent plastic and still be considered recyclable. One item of such packaging can have 80 per cent less climate impact compared with the corresponding all-plastic packaging.

Tweet

Diageo’s Will Harvey and Rewrite Digital’s Jon Reay discuss how digital technologies such as AR and AI devices such as
Alexa can help the beverage industry adapt to challenges and opportunities in the wake of Covid-19

Tweet

With sustainability firmly at the forefront of today’s packaging supply chain, Flint Group Packaging Inks, one of the largest consumables suppliers to the global print and packaging industry, has detailed its vision for supporting circular economies in a new white paper that reveals the formation of a dedicated Sustainability Task Force.

Tweet

By Uwe Stebani, General Manager Xeikon Prepress

In the first part we introduced the lessons of the corona crisis; part 2 examines whether digital printing offers solutions to these lessons. In some cases, the current crisis is seen as a trigger for further automation in the manufacture of print products [1]. We have also shown in the first part that in flexo plate production, a still very manual process, follows a highly digitized data flow in pre-press. It is therefore obvious to assume that digital printing with its “direct-to-print” promise will be the winner in the competition between the different printing technologies. Does this mean that digital printing will survive the corona crisis almost undamaged? And therefore, after the crisis, digital printing will begin its triumphal march into packaging printing?

Tweet