The debate will take place on 1 October. As internet shopping becomes set to change the way consumers shop for a long time to come, the debate tackles how packaging design is going to have to adapt to meet the consumers' and retailers' needs.
It will question if packaging design as we know it is dead, and what role packaging designers will need to take on in the future. With a panel of packaging experts debating and answering questions from the audience, each side of the subject will be represented and discussed as they thrash out the controversial topic.
Always a popular show feature, this year's panel includes: Clover Abbott,??packaging technologist at Innocent Drinks;?Simon Oxley, packaging technologist – Food?at Marks & Spencer; Andrew Revel, commercial manager?at?Faraday Centre for Retail Excellence;?? Pat Starke, creative director at Design Activity; and?chairing the debate will be?Kevin?Vyse, managing director at?The Institute of Packaging Professionals UK?(IoPP).
IoPP UK managing director Kevin Vyse said: "Undoubtedly, the growth of online sales will impact?on?an essential?need for packaging and, as always, the industry will evolve?to effectively support?the?branding initiatives that have worked so well on the retail shelf."
Innocent Drinks packaging technologist Clover Abbott added: "Online sales will continue to enhance packaging design, particularly in the areas of packaging being fit for purpose, reducing product damage, and delighting /?surprising customers.
"Just because the packaging won't sit on a shelf selling itself, it still has a job to do and a real opportunity to engage the consumer (uniquely – in their own home, tied in to the delight of receiving a delivery), so I see no threat from online sales to packaging design. In fact,?I see it as an opportunity for packaging designers to step up and create something wonderful, which complements any online activity being used to sell it."
'Twofold development'?
Vyse added: "There may well be a twofold development.??Firstly, the visual element of packaging being exploited as consumers go to the stores less frequently?and?stores creating more theatre and purpose,?refreshing their lines more often,?to keep the visual impact high. Online,?the importance of packaging functionality will become?more?of the focus with the need to?protect the product during the delivery process."
Andrew Revel,?commercial manager?at?Faraday Centre for Retail Excellence, added: "By removing the retail design constraints you can focus on pack designs that truly add value to the consumer and brand experience.? If packaging designers designed packaging for use in the consumers' home, just think how different packs would look and function, for instance what shape would a cereal pack be?"
Alison Church, packaging innovations' event director, who looks forward to hearing the different viewpoints, remarked: "It's vital that packaging design adapts to embrace the growing trend of more and more retail being online.
"It's simply not enough to replicate your strategy for in-store, as packaging's role is so different in the online environment. Does this mean packaging design is dead? I'm sure it doesn't, but it will be interesting to hear the different viewpoints of the panel and the audience; I anticipate this being quite a contentious and lively debate!"
