The new report from the Smithers Pira has revealed that global smart packaging market is expected to rise at an annual rate of 7.5% to $7.6bn during the next five years.
According to the report, smart packaging is the rapidly growing market segment, which includes both active and intelligent packaging technologies.
Active packaging is an extension of the protection function of a package that is commonly used to protect against oxygen and moisture.
Intelligent packaging is an addition of the communication function of traditional packaging, which communicates information to the consumer based on its ability to sense, detect, or record external or internal changes in the product's environment.
It also offers information about the status of the product, as well as other information useful to supply chain managers or consumers.
The global active packaging market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.9% to $5.6bn during the five-year period to 2021, while intelligent packaging is expected to grow 18% per annum to around $2bn.
Intelligent packaging is the potentially high-growth market, as the printed electronics, cloud computing and the internet of things are driving this segment, while active packaging is a relatively mature market that has several technologies.
The report author David Platt said: "The high cost of active and intelligent packaging has always been a factor restraining growth, particularly since cost-competitiveness is a key determinant of success in the retail industry."
"Smart packaging technology providers are however getting the unit cost of smart tags and labels down and raising their performance."