PACKAGING UNDERESTIMATED BY FARMERS

South African wholesalers are missing the boat when it comes to marketing by neglecting their packaging, according to Christo Pienaar, MD of CoolSeal SA.
“Some fruit, vegetable and meat wholesalers are blasé about packaging because they rely heavily on direct sales and not traditional advertising,” Pienaar says. “But when you are selling your product at the market, your packaging becomes a billboard for your brand…it needs to be treated with the same careful consideration as a magazine ad or TV spot.”
All too often, companies will consider the initial appearance of their packaging and forget about the “enduring” presence a simple fruit or meat box will have during its lifetime. “A farmer will wet-pack his export quality bananas in a thick cardboard box with a good design and ship it off to Europe, not considering that the boxes will degrade, peel and sag because of the moisture,” Pienaar says. “He’ll use the cheapest option in terms of print and design, instead of considering the impact that a more durable and attractive box could have in the lucrative export market. In the end the packaging does not reflect the quality of the product inside.”
Michael Cordes, of IMASA, agrees.  He writes: “I saw recently on the Tshwane Market where a tomato farmer had a very good product but the packaging was not up to standard. The result? That farmer was fetching prices up to R5 per unit lower than the best, yet he had a comparable quality product. His packaging was not strong enough so cartons were bending and damaging the tomatoes; while the colour scheme and design on the outside was insipid and ineffective. Assuming he sent 1000 boxes of tomatoes then he effectively would have thrown away R5000.00! Pity he was too busy saving money on packaging!”
South African growers are also heavily dependent on export markets where quality packaging is the norm. The CoolSeal brand operated successfully in Europe for a number of years because the material, polypropylene, can be modified in terms of colour, print, size, shape and functionality. Because the packaging is 100% moisture- and bacteria-resistant, it maintains its attractive appearance as well as its functionality throughout the entire supply chain before being recycled or reused.
“If an abattoir or grower has the benefit of very large production, they have the continuity and capacity to invest in quality packaging,” Pienaar goes on to say. “In Europe, we dealt with a flower exporter shipping all his goods in pink cardboard…every single packaging company delivered a box in a different shade of pink and he lost all brand continuity. We ended up making a box out of pink polypropylene – problem solved. Likewise, companies modify their brands and graphics to accommodate their packaging when it should be the other way around. Like anything in marketing – start with what you want to say and how you want people to perceive your product, then make sure your packaging matches your message.”

Noted:

• CoolSeal SA is part of  Ampaglas - Ampaglas presently employs in excess of 400 within SA.
• Geographic: Head Office is based in Elandsfontein, Johannesburg; regional offices in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth.
• Coolseal technology was previously only available in the UK
• CoolSeal-SA launched at the Propak Exhibition in Cape Town in October 2011

Interested companies can also contact Christo Pienaar at Ampaglas Plastics Group by phoning 021 511 6081 or sending an email to Tanja de Klerk