The history of packaging

Packaging has undergone many changes over the years, adapting to market needs and new consumer trends. Today, with the rise of e-commerce and digital transformation, packaging requirements have changed radically.

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Beyond its initial role of protection and transport, packaging has become a genuine strategic lever for companies. Between durability, practicality and technological innovation, it must meet a host of challenges.

What is packaging?

According to the French Environment Code, packaging is defined as “any object, whatever the nature of the materials of which it is made, intended to contain and protect goods, to enable their handling and transportation from the producer to the consumer or user, and to ensure their presentation”.

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This means that packaging is more than just a container; it plays an essential role in logistics, marketing and the customer experience.

Packaging serves several purposes:

• Protection: it ensures product protection throughout the supply chain
• Transport: it facilitates handling and optimizes storage in warehouses.
• Communication: it informs the consumer about the product, its composition and instructions for use.
• Marketing: it also plays a key role in buyers' decision-making. Attractive packaging can arouse interest and reinforce a product's perceived value.

The beginnings of packaging:

The first traces of packaging date back to antiquity, when goods were stored and transported in clay amphorae, cloth bags or wooden crates. These rudimentary solutions primarily met the need for preservation and transportation.
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With industrialization and the growth of international trade, packaging evolved towards lighter, stronger materials better suited to modern distribution chains. The appearance of corrugated cardboard in the 19th century, followed by plastic in the 20th, marked a turning point in the sector.

Today, connected and eco-responsible packaging is the new standard. Packaging has undergone its share of evolution, adapting to market trends and needs.

With the explosion of e-commerce, the number of parcels shipped has increased considerably. This poses several major challenges:

• Reducing loss and theft: packaging must be more resistant and secure.
• Environmental impact: excess plastic and non-recyclable packaging is a major problem.
• Optimized customer experience: easy-to-open, reusable packaging improves consumer satisfaction.

Packaging has had to reinvent itself, and new innovations have emerged. The customer experience is now at the heart of companies' concerns. They are looking for packaging that not only protects, but also respects the environment.

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As a result, tertiary packaging has had to develop and adapt to market constraints.
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Tertiary packaging is used to group several product units together to facilitate transport and storage. Unlike primary packaging (directly in contact with the product) and secondary packaging (grouping together several sales units), tertiary packaging is mainly used for logistics.

While tertiary packaging facilitates logistics, it also poses a number of challenges:

• High cost of single-use packaging.
• High environmental impact of non-recyclable materials.
• Storage space required for bulky packaging.

To meet today's ecological challenges, optimizing tertiary packaging has become a priority, with a reduction in waste and a transition to recyclable and reusable materials.

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Numerous innovations are emerging in this field, highlighting the reusability and circularity of packaging. Some solutions enable packaging to be used more than once, helping to reduce carbon footprints and improve resource management throughout the supply chain.