In order to achieve profitable production with a market appeal, a packaging supplier must understand exactly what tea manufacturers need to do–valued at about € 35 billion in 2016. Choosing a supplier who collaborated with many major tea brands is a step in the right direction.
In spite of the increasing growth of coffee-shops in every mall and high street, the UK was always a nation of tea drinkers. Tea is an attractive prospect for retailers. Since it only requires energy and occasionally milk, profit margins easily outperform coffee. There tends to be plenty of room for both drinks for the average consumer–tea is viewed as safe and a calming alternative to coffee. The increasingly optimistic marketing and the environment surrounding teas fuels consumer interest and therefore demand, and the custom tea packaging plays a huge role for consumers in Australia.
Competition is fierce for the tea packer and demand has never been higher for brown, green, herbal or fruit infusions. Not only does packaging protect and preserve the product, but it also expresses a message for the brand and ultimately helps with the sales process. It is considered almost as important as the product selection itself, which is why tea packing has become so innovative and flexible. Steel, glass, porcelain and wood are the most expensive materials that give the best feeling and often are kept as a guard–holding a product in the foreground.
Although such prestigious packaging increases the prestige of the whole tea industry, it comprises only a small part of the global tea. Cardboard, which opens up a broad range of equipment and methods for automating the custom tea packaging whole system, is the most common middle range packaging product.
Liptons, a subsidiary of Unilever, is the world's most widely available packaged tea. It is immediately recognizable with its distinctive yellow label cartons. The manufacturers of packaging devices, ranging from simple carton boards and single packs of tea board to more complicated carton types, should work closely with tea makers to ensure that their packaging sizes are accurate, realistic and yet are prominently placed on the supermarket shelf to ensure maximum appeal to customers.
For example, Twinings have invested heavily in expanding the selection of their premium teas in Europe–selecting a cardboards design that is becoming increasingly popular. In the cartooning process, hot melt glue is added to the open lid side tabs after the material is being packed to create a "caddy packing" appearance in a specific sequence.
Entyce drinks in South Africa reveal its items for the label "Five Roses" in this carton form as well. In collaboration with its packaging supplier, the company developed cardboard that automatically forms this kind of cardboard during the packaging process. The model resembles the classic retro tea caddy with a hinged lid–the sort that was common over the years with loose tea blankets. The use of this cap cover design provides eye-catching brandings and artworks with a large number of tea companies who choose to use embossed or metal printing.
With clever carton design and aesthetics of luxury at the forefront of product attractions, the prior focus on sustainability appears to have a less impact on the packaging sector in this post-recession period–the products that fuel the battle for market share are of high quality and often expensive. Yet tea packers need to look at results as efficiency and productivity gains in the actual packaging process by spending money on packaging design and styles. Brands should explore the possibility of long-term investment in adaptable and flexible packaging equipment to retain their foothold in the market to improve production and low labour costs.
The cleverer tea maker explores automation, which does much more than just putting the material in a jar. Automatic packaging machines today can deliver preventive maintenance, efficiency information and performance analysis–all via integrated touch screens–using state-of-the-art programmable technology pre-loaded recipes that can switch from package size to format with minimal production loss.
For the success of any product, the right packaging is important and food and drink are no exception. Packaging can not impact product quality within–the manufacturer, however–but the customer, who can play an equally important role as the product itself, definitely can draw attention. The investment in packaging equipment is not a small decision, so it is recommended to research options in depth. Providers should be certain to have faith in an organization and there is no substitution for expertise for it in achieving what they promise.