Stora Enso OYJ : Packaging materials – what do consumers prefer?

03/23/2017

In Stora Enso's study on consumer insights on packaging, we took a look into what are consumers preferred packaging materials for certain products in China, United Kingdom or Germany.

In all three countries, the preferred packaging material when it comes to biscuits, chocolate, pastries, sweets or cereal is definitely paper or cardboard. However, overall, paper or cardboard as food packaging material is most appreciated in Germany.

We can see a difference between China and the two other countries regarding flour and sugar. In the UK and Germany, consumers by far prefer paper or cardboard, whilst in China, consumers prefer plastic over paper/cardboard. If we instead take a look at ice cream, it's the other way around, in China paper or cardboard is preferred, whereas in the UK and Germany, consumers want their ice cream in plastic.

So why do most consumers overall prefer paper or cardboard over plastic? The answer is easy - because it is recyclable. Another aspect is that it is easy to use and handle.

So what about the barriers for consumers buying food in paper or cardboard? In all three countries, consumers had similar worries: whether the packaging preserves the food well enough, expiration time and overpackaging.

Despite these concerns, consumers in all three countries still prefer paper or cardboard as their top food packaging material and say that in the future they will probably buy more food products with packaging that is made from paper or cardboard.