Shoppers Prefer Reusable Plastic Containers over Cardboard Boxes for Fresh Food Packaging by a Wide Margin, New Study Shows

Visual Attractiveness, Product Freshness Are Seen as Top RPC Attributes

  IFCO today announced the results of a global survey showing consumers prefer Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) over cardboard boxes for fresh food packaging by a 55% to 25% margin.

“We live in a consumer-driven world, and these results show consumers strongly prefer RPCs for fresh food packaging,” said Wolfgang Orgeldinger, CEO of IFCO. “The study clearly shows retailers and growers can enhance shopper experience and increase sales by using RPCs.”

The Global Shopper Produce Display Preferences Survey, conducted in February 2016 by Brandcheck, surveyed 2,200 consumers in 11 countries to determine grocery shopper preferences in relation to the two most prevalent types of produce packaging used for display – RPCs and cardboard boxes. RPCs outperformed cardboard boxes in every category in every country. Additional survey findings include:

• Consumers believe RPCs are more attractive than cardboard boxes by a 59% to 23% margin
• Consumers believe RPCs deliver fresher produce than cardboard boxes by a 50% to 24% margin
• Consumers believe RPCs deliver higher quality produce than cardboard boxes by a 50% to 23% margin
• 45% of consumer said they would pay more for fresh produce packed in RPCs, while just 20% said they would pay more for produce packed in cardboard boxes
• RPCs are the top produce packaging choice of men and women, as well as every age cohort

“There are a lot of good reasons to use RPCs to package, transport, store and display fresh produce. They are safer, more efficient, cost-effective, sustainable and protect food better than one-way packaging.  Now, we have confirmation that RPCs are the fresh food packaging choice of most consumers, and that is another critical factor retailers and growers should consider when making supply chain decisions,” concluded Mr. Orgeldinger.