Attitudes and expectations of retailers towards intelligent packaging systems

Finnish retailers' views on potential application of intelligent packaging systems were studied in 2003 by VTT Biotechnology. The background for the research was the fact that even if some intelligent concepts are already commercially available, the concepts are not yet widely adapted. In order to direct the development of intelligent systems towards concepts which are widely accepted by the whole distribution chain, knowledge about the attitudes and expectations of retailers is needed. The aim of the study was to explore factors the retailers perceive as benefits or drawbacks in the application of intelligent packaging. The main part of the data consisted of 33 personal interviews producing qualitative information on the application of three types of intelligent packaging systems (time-temperature indicators, leak indicators and freshness indicators) applied either to consumer packages or to packages for retail or institutional kitchens. Retailers' attitudes towards the implementation of intelligent packaging concepts were predominantly positive. These concepts were expected to have a positive effect on the quality and safety of packaged food products. Intelligent packaging concepts were perceived to be most beneficial as additional and complementing aids in the safety management of the retailers. Consumers were also believed to value the information provided by the intelligent systems and these systems were perceived to improve consumer service. Even if potential problems related to confusion, interpretation problems and wastage were also identified, most of the respondents did not consider these as major obstacles for implementation. In the mutual comparison of time-temperature indicators, leak indicators and freshness indicators, none of the indicator types was clearly preferred to the others. Instead, the different types were clearly seen to have different benefits in particular application areas whereas also some drawbacks and doubts were related to certain indicator types