What is Retail Ready Packaging? | Diagraph's Blog
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What is Retail Ready Packaging?
Retail-ready packaging, warehouse with cases and pallets, product identification

Increasing in popularity among big box chains is retail ready packaging (RRP). A retail ready package refers to secondary packaging that is branded appropriately to be able to move to retail shelves in a quick, “one touch” movement. RRP should be intentionally designed to self-contain individually packaged products, this eliminates the need for stock workers to unpack and individually display each product. This comes as a huge advantage to the big box retailers like Walmart or Kroger, because it reduces labor by cutting out the need for workers to unpack or hang individually packaged items. Effort is reduced to five simple phases: pack, ship, stock, display, shop.

For the manufacturers or co-packers packaging the product, the challenge of retail ready packaging is having the corrugate case function as both a shipping case and display piece. Considerations here would be having product flavor and count information, SKUs, barcodes, lot codes and expiration dates visible while creating a package that is appealing to consumers on a marketing level. Making the switch to RRP may be an investment, but it has been proven to pay off in terms of keeping good relationships with big box retailers like Walmart. Simply put: If you make your product easy to stock, retailers will continue to stock it again and again.

The key characteristics of retail ready packaging are:

  • Clear identification of brand and product information (variety, count, size, etc.)
  • Openings that can tear-away for a smooth edge and don't require extra cutting/slicing
  • Eliminates the need to unpack individual items
  • Easy to replenish - built for stocking cases on shelves two-deep
  • Designed for a quick, “one touch” movement onto shelves
  • Effortless to disassemble and dispose of after use

 

Changes in the market are directly influencing the rise manufacturers are seeing in the demand for RRP. As larger chains begin to open smaller, neighborhood stores with fewer employees, the speed in which products can get to shelves grows in importance. The Millennial generation is also waiting until later in life to begin having a family, so smaller portioned packaging continues to be purchased far more often. Millennials are also drivers of online grocery shopping fulfillment. Well-implemented retail ready packaging makes it easier for the warehouse staff fulfilling the online orders to quickly identify and select the correct items to ship out.

For these reasons and many others, retail ready packaging is a strategy for retailers to boost sales. In order to move more product, this means your packaging production will have to appease retail distributors while still meeting coding and labeling requirements for consumers and traceability. Our experts can help you strategize your operations around this RRP trend. Reach out to us today to discuss what we’re seeing in the retail market and how we can partner with you to make a retail ready packaging strategy a profitable endeavor for your company.




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