The launch of Sidel’s new variety pack solutions whitepaper will aid brewers and other beverage manufacturers looking to capitalise on this surge in popularity of variety packs. The comprehensive and objective whitepaper has been designed to explore and address the pertinent issues faced by decision-makers when designing their variety pack packing strategy, from market value and industrial challenges to the transition to an inhouse solution.
Growing demand for Variety Packs
Variety packs of flavored alcoholic beverages increased by 833 percent from 2016 to 20201, demonstrating consumers’ increasing search for variety, novelty and customisation, a trend mirrored by the huge increase in popularity of hard seltzers amongst young adults. First appearing in 2013 in the US, the demand for hard seltzers grew into a market worth more than $2 billion by 2021, with more than sixty brands2.
Variety packs offer consumers a way to sample new products, cater to different tastes within a social group, present potential value for your money and are convenient to carry and store. With increasing promotion, interaction and now online sales, they also allow breweries the potential to offer on-demand Variety Packs, allowing consumers to create their own packages according to their personal tastes.
Transitioning to in-house solutions
Approaches to packing solutions for variety packs can vary significantly depending on the beverage company’s production need and technical choices, from manual to automated repacking lines with WIP storage or even a ‘mega accumulation’ on-the-line production model.
When the variety pack trend first started, beverage producers relied on contract packagers to avoid large and potentially risky investments. However, in-house manufacturing now represents a viable option and industrial opportunity for major players in the beverage market with dynamic product marketing, broad product ranges and high sales volumes.
Stan Hume, Director Can & Glass Business Development Americas at Sidel, expands, “Beverage producers looking to capitalise on the surge in popularity of variety packs are considering internalising the means of packaging them, striving for the best compromise between the capacities of the chosen packaging solution and the corresponding investment.
“In highly developed markets such as North America, producers can save co-packing costs and deal with the increased complexity thanks to the deployment of advanced production tools and processes.”
