Friday 3 June 2016

Trends-driven Global Cosmetics Packaging Market Dominated by Plastic Packaging Materials

In response to the drive towards sustainability and health and awareness from the emerging economies, the cosmetics and personal care market is witnessing growth at a robust pace. This in turn boosts opportunities for sustainable ingredients, high barrier films, packaging coatings, and smart packaging for cosmetics. Packaging is considered indispensable for branding cosmetics products. The overall aesthetic appeal of product packaging acts as an extension of the product itself.

In the beauty and personal care industry, the experience at point-of-sale is considered the most important. The latest trends in fashion and market innovations render the cosmetics market vulnerable to change in consumer preferences. This poses a major challenge for the enterprises operating in the cosmetic packaging market, as the demand for product innovations is high, while resource availability remains constant. While plastics have remained the most commonly used packaging materials for cosmetics, accounting for over 50% of the overall demand for cosmetic packaging, paper, metal, and glass packaging materials have also successfully carved a niche for themselves in the cosmetics industry.

What are the Primary Benefits offered by Plastic Packaging Materials?

Plastics have proven useful for the cosmetics industry for several reasons, including the ease with which they can be derived, their quality, and flexibility of design they offer. Plastic containers are often preferred by cosmetic manufacturers because they are exceptionally resilient to breakage and thus ensure better safety to customers, apart from reducing the chances of loss due to breakage. The most commonly used plastic materials for pharmaceutical packaging include polymers such as polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, poly methyl methacrylate, amino formaldehydes, and polyamides. The benefits offered by plastic containers are as follows:

> Lightweight
> Low cost
> Better durability
> Unbreakable
> Odorless
> Inert to most chemicals

Due to the aforementioned advantages, plastics have emerged as the most preferred choice for cosmetics packaging.

On the flip side, plastics have poor physical stability, are prone to stress cracking, and have poor impact resistance. The rising awareness about these advantages are prompting manufacturers to explore alternative packaging materials such as glass.

Why do Several Cosmetics Manufacturers Prefer Glass Materials over Plastic for Packaging their Products?

Glass is one of the oldest materials used in cosmetics packaging. It is impermeable, nonporous, and chemically inert. Hence, glass packaging is preferred for cosmetics because it does not react with chemical composition of the personal care product. Also glass packaging protects the content from moisture and oxygen and keeps it in good shape. This is one of the primary factors encouraging the use of glass materials for packaging cosmetic products such as nail varnishes, fragrances, and others. Also glass packaging materials are considered highly sustainable since they can be recycled infinitely without any loss in quality.

Owing to the aforementioned reasons, glass packaging is preferred by high-end cosmetic manufacturers who aim at ensuring maximum customer satisfaction. The most common types of glass materials used for packaging cosmetics include borosilicate glass, treated soda-lime glass, regular soda-lime glass, and others.

What Other Packaging Materials will emerge at the Fore of Cosmetics Industry?

Apart from glass and plastic containers, metals have also come to the fore as a preferred choice of packaging material in the cosmetics industry. Metal containers such as collapsible metal tubes make for an attractive packaging solution for cosmetics that allows controlled amount of products to be dispensed with adequate environmental protection and good closure. The risk of contamination in metal containers is also minimal. Hence, in the next few years the use of metal containers for cosmetics packaging is projected to increase.

What are the Latest Trends in Cosmetics Packaging?

As consumers have started shifting towards a greener lifestyle, a trend has slowly picked up within the beauty industry, influencing the product and its packaging alike. With the advent of 3D printing manufacturers are looking to print cosmetic packaging using biodegradable materials, in order to reduce waste. For instance, high end beauty brands like Caudalie have begun printing information on inside of cartons, thereby drastically reducing waste by using either sides of packaging.

Product innovation is the key to success for the cosmetics industry as it is trends-driven and fast paced. Thus, leading enterprises in the global cosmetics packaging market will continue struggling to tap into suitable resources for meeting consumer preferences. Some of the most prominent vendors operating in the market include The Packaging Company (US), Brimar Packaging Inc, (US), Libo Cosmetics (Taiwan), and others.

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