Insights: How brands can drive center store growth

Everything from shopping trip frequency, to how consumers navigate store aisles, is revolutionizing retail shelves today. What’s driving all this change?

1. Shoppers are replacing traditional weekly shopping trips with more frequent, smaller excursions.¹
2. Young consumers are increasingly shopping the perimeter of the store to align with their interest in fresher, healthier foods.¹

As a result, new shopping behaviors are putting pressure on brands to bring consumers in to the center of the store. Smart brands are responding by leveraging retort pouch packaging to refresh the center of the store experience and earn consumer loyalty.

Retort pouch packaging has been around for decades, until recently they were primarily limited to military MRE applications. Brands have discovered that they can use this packaging innovation in the retail space to extend product reach and deliver new, on-the-go consumer experiences.

In addition, today’s shoppers want to see and know exactly what they are consuming. In fact, 54% of U.S. adults agree that it’s important to see the freshness of a product.² Pouches help convey the perception of freshness through new packaging formats and designs. Retort pouches can also incorporate transparent windows to showcase product freshness, as well as add re-close features and fitments for secure storage, all while offering new possibilities that cans and jars cannot match.

Tuna was one of the first categories to refresh the center of the store experience. Once limited to inhome use due to the need for a can opener, now consumers can enjoy a healthy on-the-go tuna snack anywhere, anytime in a new portable packaging format.

But it’s not just about meeting consumer demand. The new packaging format delivers benefits to the wallet and the environment. Pouches are lighter than metal cans and glass jars and they take up less space in a truck.

FACT: 26 truckloads of unfilled glass jars can convert to one truckload of unfilled flexible pouches, significantly reducing a brand’s carbon footprint.³

Sources: 1. Mintel – 2018 Global Packaging Trends, December 2017; 2. Mintel – Food Packaging Trends, July 2014; 3. DuPont Packaging Awards for Innovation