Echo Brand Design founder and managing director Nick Dormon told Packaging News that designers had developed good useable solutions and easy-to-open packs but "manufacturers are not taking them up".
His comments follow a recently published survey from Which?. The consumer research specialist interviewed 2,000 consumers and said that one in five people claim their food choices are "limited" by complicated packaging when they are out shopping at the supermarket.
Money
In response to this, Dormon said: "They are not willing to invest the large sums of money and time required to change their production lines to incorporate better packaging. ?Usability is still well down the priority list – well below even sustainability.
"The problem is that there is a disconnect between users, marketing teams and production teams.
"The marketing teams are not aware of the detrimental effects of poor packaging on their brands and, even if they were aware, marketing teams are not part of the production decision making process, so will not be able to influence packaging changes.
"We find the best way forward is to show the chief executive a video of people struggling to get into his products – then things tend to get moving."
