NOTABLE 2024 HIGHLIGHTS
2024 is in the bag; the packaging industry has remained steady despite the volatility experienced by many sectors. We identified several noteworthy trends in 2024: Economic Factors: Although the Fed cut interest rates in September and November, rates remained elevated for most of 2024, suppressing capital investments needed for growth. Despite continued labor cost inflation and an aging blue-collar workforce, 2024 ended strong with 256,000 jobs added in December and a lowered unemployment rate to 4.1%, feeding competition for qualified workers, which remained one of the top concerns for industry CEOs. Pressure from proposed tariffs drove increased demand for domestically-sourced raw materials and finished packaging products, keeping raw material and input costs high, particularly for corrugated cardboard and aluminum foil.
Market & Consumer Trends:
The ongoing growth of e-commerce continues to drive demand for shipping boxes and protective packaging. This has also led to a trend towards right-sized or Fit-to-Product (FTP) packaging designs, which reduce waste and shipping costs to make them an ideal fit for e-commerce.
Squared-off packaging designs, such as corrugated boxes, still rule e-commerce due to their efficiency across supply chain movement and automation. Per Packaging Dive, this trend toward squared-off packaging aligns brand/manufacturer priorities for performance/compatibility with consumer demand for sustainable solutions. As a result, many brands still prefer rigid over flexible packaging, as robots typically handle box-like shapes more effectively. Increased packaging customization needs propelled the demand for digital printing capabilities to differentiate and to drive brand-audience engagement.
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