Eco Pearls : the Future of Packaging

Operational and Strategic MarketingOn average, a Western European person consumed 136 kg of plastic material in 2015 and most of it is thrown away.1 In fact, enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times. Synthetic plastic is not biodegradable - it is estimated to take 500-1000 years to degrade. The production of plastic involves the use of toxic chemicals that harm our environment. Plastic pollutes the air and the oceans, it injures or poisons marine animals and also has negative health impacts on human bodies.2 Despite all those facts, plastic is the # 1 packaging material in the personal care industry. The trend and the need of a new sustainable and convenient alternative to replace plastic bottles created the concept of Eco Pearls: Formed by a biodegradable membrane applicable to personal care product, like shampoo and shower gel. This business model is carefully designed along both the assessment of internal resources and external data on opportunities and threats within the target market, buyers’ needs and requirements as well as the nature of competing products and possible risks. In particular, as a result of our market analysis and the data collected by our online survey, we have identified a huge potential in being pioneers in offering the solution that combines the interests of both end consumers and manufacturers, interests that are more and more converging under the trend towards ethical and responsible behaviour in respect of the environment, as well as under cost effectiveness and functionality. People are becoming increasingly aware of the emergency situation that planet Earth is going through and this is having an impact on both buying behaviours of private customers and on companies’ decision making processes. People want to be advocates for change, leaving a print for the future generations and Eco Pearls can serve as the everyday instrument to make this real, combining sustainability with convenience, giving the means to exploit a new market opportunity. Starting from the European market, our vision is to make showers plastic-free within 2050