Introduction to Innovative Packaging in India

Abstract

This contextual paper explains the Indian scenario with respect to innovation in packaging. Packaging is a trump card of the marketer which can either make his product a best seller or ruin the image of the product. Hence Packaging has been added to the 7P's of marketing. Packaging is ultimately a marketing function, it is the final marketing message your customers will see before purchasing the product. It was Peter Drucker, the famous Author of the business corporations of the 20th century, who said that Business has two functions-marketing and innovation. When I have thousands of products in the market shelf I need a differentiation on the window of opportunity. Here packaging plays a crucial role by creating identification for the product and a differentiated brand. 'Jo Dikhta Hai Vo Bikta hai' (What is Visible, Sells) as per the Brand Mantra 7 in Twenty Four Brand Mantras: Finding a Place in the Minds and Hearts of Consumers (Kapoor, 2009). The visibility or the nutshell of the product creates uniqueness of the product. Moreover when we add a pinch of Innovation to Packaging, it transforms the product from, just a product to, this is the product. Innovation involves deliberate application of information, imagination and initiative in deriving greater or different values from resources, and includes all processes by which new ideas are generated and converted into useful products. Innovative packaging may actually add value to the product by • Easy to store • Good to look • Recyclability • Non Breakability • Tamper-proofing • Convenience handling Indian Packaging Industry is likely to touch $44 bn by 2016 (Source Press Trust of India, Jan 22, 2013). India, with immense market opportunity, needs to utilize the packaging concept with innovation. In retailing, packaging has an extreme importance with respect to the storage, handling, protecting and information about the product.