The Incredible Flexible Pouch

They differ from solid-bleached-sulfate (SBS) paperboard boxes in that a foil or multi-layer film pouch is more conducive to graphics that literally shine as they reflect vivid colors out to the shoppers.

27/01/07 In the 1984 movie Moscow on the Hudson, Robin Williams, playing a Russian defector, enters a U.S. supermarket for the first time. “Coffee, coffee, coffee,” he cries before collapsing overwhelmed by the abundance around him. Fast forward 22 years to today's supermarkets. His cry might very well be, “Pouches, pouches, pouches.”

Who could have predicted in 1981 when Kraft introduced All Natural Capri Sun juice beverage in the United States that the distinctive silver-foil pouch, with an attached straw for convenience, would begin a packaging revolution? Case in point—The Freedonia Group projects a $6.5 billion market for pouches in the United States by 2010.

A range of factors contribute to the enormous proliferation of this packaging format. These include:

• Shelf appeal
• The increase in the number of new products
• Faster inventory turns
• Market differentiation
• Convenience features
• Economies of scale

Pouches offer eye-popping graphics

Standup pouches are similar to boxes in that they present a billboard effect on the shelf. They differ from solid-bleached-sulfate (SBS) paperboard boxes in that a foil or multi-layer film pouch is more conducive to graphics that literally shine as they reflect vivid colors out to the shoppers.

“One of the things driving the growth in standup pouches is shelf appeal,” says Michael Olejnik, director of marketing and sales at flexible packaging supplier Exopack-Canada. “When you take a package with the kind of outstanding 8-to10-color graphics available today on standup pouches, you pull the consumer to that product.”

C.R.S. Ravishankar, CPP, packaging development manager, BP-Castrol India, agrees. “One of the big factors causing the rise in popularity of the pouch,” he points out, “is the quality of printing and graphic design, in addition to cost effectiveness. Reverse printing gravure cylinder technology offers noteworthy graphic appeal.”

“The big chains love the graphics achievable on standup pouches,” says Jack Cunneen, vice president of sales, LPS Industries, a supplier of flexible films. “There is an intense brightness provided by reverse printing the polyester and laminating it to the metalized polyester. This also enhances the sheen. Printing on SBS simply can't compare in terms of impact.”

Standup pouches not only provide graphic pop, clear barrier materials give designers the flexibility to reveal the product inside the package. “Clear barrier materials are extremely important to shelf appeal,” says Peter Ettridge, development manager at film supplier Amcor Flexibles. “This is especially true if the product is premium priced. The appearance of the actual product helps differentiate it.”

Inventory turns and shelf life

In the good old days, manufacturers had the luxury of long runs of relatively small numbers of products—one or two variations of a cookie, for example, or a choice between diet or regular flavor for a soft drink. Now dozens of variations for a single line and new products come out faster then ever before. The pouch format plays well with this trend.

“One of the most important factors driving pouch development is the ability to make short runs and handle the expanding number of SKUs that brand owners bring to market,” says LPS Industries' Cunneen.

Frank Bauer, marketing manager at Cryovac, a flexible film suppler that is part of the Sealed Air Corp., points out that with quicker inventory turns and just-in-time delivery, packaged goods manufacturers do not have to be as concerned about extraordinarily long shelf life. “From an economic standpoint,” says Bauer, “inventory turnover in months rather than years favors flexible materials, which are usually less costly, cube out better on trucks, and take up less space in the back of the house.”