The impact of COVID-19 on packaging

Covid-19 impacted the lives and livelihoods of billions of people in a short time and required industries to reevaluate their assumptions and practices. The beauty industry is no exception, nor is its approach to packaging.
The core of this thought redefinition is security. For the consumer, this focuses more and more on hygiene. "The speed of the spread of the virus has highlighted the degree of connection in society – and the associated risk," noted a recent analysis by McKinsey & Company. "Brands should consider the implications for their strategy and communication," including "reevaluating manufacturing and packaging processes."
But how can this crisis reshape brand strategies, designs and processes around beauty and personal care packaging? We have some initial ideas.
- Single Use / Disposable
No one is saying that sustainability doesn't matter anymore. In fact, the opposite is true. That said, by McKinsey & Company, "consumers who have become more price-sensitive or more concerned about hygiene may favor single-use packaging."
Before the pandemic, single-use products ?? and disposables, including wet wipes (non-biodegradable) and other small-format products, have gained negative pressure for their impact on the environment.
Now, however, these formats can suddenly be attractive to a population eager to maintain hygiene and avoid the contamination associated with multipurpose products. How widespread this feeling is or how long it can last is open to interpretation. In the short term, however, buyers can temporarily revise their values.
• Solutions: wet wipes, single doses, sample-shaped products
- Hands-free
Touching strange surfaces is an increasingly unpleasant proposition for most consumers. Packaging trends such as rechargeable formats ?? or without packaging, may therefore face some challenges, unless they can somehow address hygiene issues. It can also be an advantage for all types of protective packaging to keep the products intact until the time they are opened by the user.
Just as important, many beauty buyers can look for solutions that allow them to avoid touching the face. Solutions that prevent contact to pick up or apply products can therefore increase interest.
• Solutions: sticks, pads, easy-to-clean accessories (e.g. antibacterial makeup sponges)
- No contact
A level up to hands-free formats, the contactless trend allows consumers to apply the product without touching the face or formulation. This is where sprays and similar formats can offer direct application of the packaging to the face/body.
• Solutions: sprays, mists
- Formula protection
A recent hatchbeauty analysis has argued that consumers looking for value and safety increasingly seek solutions that offer prolonged shellf-life and formula integrity (this may also prove to be a benefit to some "safe synthetics" and conservation systems that support these goals). Consumers looking for durable products and protection from bacterial contamination therefore come together in formats that provide peace of mind.
• Solutions: airless packaging, waterless formulations
- Rethink the supply chain
Packaging, like the rest of the supply chain, has been disrupted since the pandemic began, with several regions closing or restricting manufacturers and international shipments being reduced or disrupted.
The demand for hand sanitizers occupied part of the production lines, extending the delivery time of the packages to up to 20 weeks. There were also reports of an increase in the purchase of inventory items.
In the long run, however, brands and their supplier partners are likely to review strategic redundancies, employee security practices, automation, production and storage opportunities, and other strategies that can withstand disruption.