Viktorija Gnatoka, Global Packaging Analyst, Mintel09.17.15
Mintel’s Personal Care Consumer US report talks about the importance of simplifying shopping for time-strapped consumers as well as providing convenience-driven packaging solutions.
Mintel’s Transumers trend emphasizes the lack of time spent on regular personal grooming steps and an increasing tendency for doing everything on-the-go. The biggest implication for packaging is shrinking package sizes and development of package types that support convenient and safe product application on-the-go.
Portable packaging, until recently, has been represented mostly by small sachets and tiny bottles – both copies of their regular size packages (i.e. flexible pack or full size bottles). Pods and capsules are still new in the personal care category and bring an element of diversity to this convenient packaging format.
In the past, Mintel has highlighted single-use pods from Sephora along with cosmetic capsules from South Korea that provide more functional ways to use small amounts of product for out-of-home use. However, it is not only the new usage occasions that portable packaging offers to consumers but also new distribution channels for retailers.
Pods and capsules, inspired by the same package format in the coffee category, could be seen as more modern and technologically advanced. This represents an opportunity for retailers to distribute single-use personal care pods and capsules in new channels like vending machines, offices, and transport hubs, etc.
Today, pods are still an evolving packaging format in the beauty and personal care category. Unlike coffee pods in the food and drink category or laundry detergent pods in home care, pods in beauty care are competing against such pack types as sachets for providing portable solutions for travel occasions or simply out-of-home use. We are seeing skin care brands offering single dose pods for products like facial creams and masks. Easy-to-open and apply, pods also have the benefit of providing a single dose, eliminating the need to guess how much is enough.
In addition to the pods format, we are also seeing a diversity of small packaging for travel use or sample size. For example, Pantene in Poland introduced a travel kit for shampoo and conditioner. Hatchbeauty Products added a sample size of argan oil to the shampoo bottle which does not only provide added value but also lets consumers sample other products from the same brand.
Some brands are even targeting certain demographics by positioning a travel kit for men only or baby’s first travel kit. Overall, brands have to be careful how sampling size products are positioned in beauty categories.
According to Mintel Beauty Retailing US 2015 report only 16% of U.S. consumers choose where to shop for beauty products based on whether the retailer gives samples of beauty products. Sample size packaging can be more beneficial for the convenience of size and one-time use rather than its trial appeal.
CLICK THROUGH ABOVE: Take a look at some examples from all over the globe in the SLIDESHOW ABOVE.
Mintel’s Transumers trend emphasizes the lack of time spent on regular personal grooming steps and an increasing tendency for doing everything on-the-go. The biggest implication for packaging is shrinking package sizes and development of package types that support convenient and safe product application on-the-go.
Portable packaging, until recently, has been represented mostly by small sachets and tiny bottles – both copies of their regular size packages (i.e. flexible pack or full size bottles). Pods and capsules are still new in the personal care category and bring an element of diversity to this convenient packaging format.
In the past, Mintel has highlighted single-use pods from Sephora along with cosmetic capsules from South Korea that provide more functional ways to use small amounts of product for out-of-home use. However, it is not only the new usage occasions that portable packaging offers to consumers but also new distribution channels for retailers.
Pods and capsules, inspired by the same package format in the coffee category, could be seen as more modern and technologically advanced. This represents an opportunity for retailers to distribute single-use personal care pods and capsules in new channels like vending machines, offices, and transport hubs, etc.
Today, pods are still an evolving packaging format in the beauty and personal care category. Unlike coffee pods in the food and drink category or laundry detergent pods in home care, pods in beauty care are competing against such pack types as sachets for providing portable solutions for travel occasions or simply out-of-home use. We are seeing skin care brands offering single dose pods for products like facial creams and masks. Easy-to-open and apply, pods also have the benefit of providing a single dose, eliminating the need to guess how much is enough.
In addition to the pods format, we are also seeing a diversity of small packaging for travel use or sample size. For example, Pantene in Poland introduced a travel kit for shampoo and conditioner. Hatchbeauty Products added a sample size of argan oil to the shampoo bottle which does not only provide added value but also lets consumers sample other products from the same brand.
Some brands are even targeting certain demographics by positioning a travel kit for men only or baby’s first travel kit. Overall, brands have to be careful how sampling size products are positioned in beauty categories.
According to Mintel Beauty Retailing US 2015 report only 16% of U.S. consumers choose where to shop for beauty products based on whether the retailer gives samples of beauty products. Sample size packaging can be more beneficial for the convenience of size and one-time use rather than its trial appeal.
CLICK THROUGH ABOVE: Take a look at some examples from all over the globe in the SLIDESHOW ABOVE.