Consumers shop at a supermarket (Photo: VNA) Nguyen Minh Tien, director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Centre forAgriculture, asserted that good packaging can protect and buffer a product frompotential harm during warehousing and shipping. It also helps firms boost brandawareness and drive buying behaviours.
In Vietnam, the packaging of many products, including coffee, cashew and rice,involves the use of PP woven bags whereas some others require specific typessuch as water-proof PE-layered bags.
As consumers become increasingly design-conscious, their demand foreye-catching packaging rises. It is essential to develop new types of bags thatcreate an emotional connection between products and consumers.
Environmental concerns should also be taken into account since consumers areshifting their buying behaviour towards sustainability. It is equally importantto replace plastic bags with degradable paper-based bags.
Nguyen Ngoc Sang, chairman of the Vietnam Packaging Association (VPA), notedthat packaging has reached a total global value of 500 billion USD with anannual growth rate of 12%. The rate tops 13% in Vietnam with over 4,500 bagmanufacturers.
Bag manufacturing is not an easy task as consumers increasingly insist onhigher standards for the product. Packaging bags need to be budget-friendly andattention-grabbing at the same time. Additionally, durability must come withenvironmental friendliness.
"Packaging should be smart to convey product information to consumers moreeasily," he added.
The chairman called for the use of bags to not only be eye-catching but alsoinformative, which display in-depth information about local cultures.
A representative from Malu Design remarked that many global environmentalcampaigns, including Earth Hour and Make The World Cleaner, have becomeprominent in recent years, attracting a large number of participants.
A greener mindset has had a significant impact on buying habits. Notably, greenbags have become a global trend and bans on plastic bags have been the order ofthe day in numerous countries.
In the US, San Francisco was the first city to put an end to plastic bags inlarge shops, reducing 1.4 million tonnes of plastic waste per year. In SouthAfrica, the use of plastic bags could incur a fine of up to 13,800 USD. Chinafollowed suit in 2008.
"Plastic bags are cheap, convenient to use and familiar to consumers, yetdetrimental to the environment and human health. Many bag manufacturers haveswitched to green ones," he said.
Huynh Thi Thu Hang, a VPA expert, underscored several characteristics thatagricultural producers should be mindful of when they design packaging. Shesaid the bags should be unique, eco-friendly, eye-catching, recyclable andconnected with Vietnamese cultures.
Each bag of agricultural produce should contain a couple of smaller bags insidefor food safety. The smaller bags should be designed in a way that they can beeasily put into a gift box packed with items of different kinds./.
VNA
