Across categories, competitors and shelf sets in Shanghai vary significantly from those in Guangzhou or Beijing, or Harbin, to a far greater degree than that seen in the West for example.
These different channels place varying demands on packaging, as they link to different shopping experiences and mindsets, shelf sets and pack forms or sizes.
According to packaging research firm, Perception Research Services, Chinese packs typically feature more text than packs in other countries and marketers and agencies are best-served by grounding themselves in the common challenges that packaging faces across all markets.
“Whether in Beijing or Boston, an effective packaging system must typically; break through retail clutter to create attention and recognition, be easily shop-able to help people quickly find the right product, connect on a visceral level to engage and appeal to shoppers, and convey key information to differentiate from competition.”
The firm states that packaging with a single global design is unlikely to meet all of these objectives in Asia.
"This is due to major variations across countries in shoppers, retail environments and competitors, all of which are important to consider in a Chinese context," analysts report.
Digital technology is reported to play an important role in packaging with consumers, including online pre-planning and/or the use of mobile devices and digital content in-store.
"In cities like Shanghai, certain categories sell up to 50% of their products online on portals like Taobao."
Top cosmetics brands guilty of over-packaging
Olay, L’Oreal and Nivea have been found guilty of using too much packaging for their products in Chinese markets.
In 2013, the Shanghai Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau, a product quality watchdog, stated that the cosmetics giants have been using empty space in their makeup containers over the allowed 50% ratio.
Six sets of Olay cosmetics were found to have an overpackaging problem, along with one batch of L’Oreal products and "some" produced by Garnier and Chando.
Of 105 batches of cosmetics tested 22 were found to fail packaging checks, having either excessive layers or too much space between wrapping and product.
The supermarkets concerned, which included Carrefour, Lotus, Century Mart and Metro, were told to stop selling unnecessarily packaged products or face a slap-on-the-wrist fine of 50,000 Yuan (US $8,064).