United States Smart Packaging Market - Forecast(2023 - 2028)

United States Smart Packaging Market Overview

United States smart packaging market size is forecast to reach US$13.2 billion by 2026, after growing at a CAGR of 6.5% during 2021-2026. Smart packaging is defined as packaging that incorporates various technologies such as biosensors and radio frequency identification technology. Smart packaging such as modified atmosphere packaging, intelligent packaging, and active packaging offers expanded functions, beyond the traditional need to protect and transport consumer goods. The various advantages offered by smart packaging over their conventional counterparts include increased shelf life, reduced counterfeiting, improved safety coupled with low cost, and easy implementation is the major factor driving its demand. Government regulations in various regions on wastage of food are also a driver for the Smart Packaging Market. The United States smart packaging market is primarily driven by an increase in demand for smart packaging from the food & beverage sector. Furthermore, the rapid growth of the healthcare and personal care industry has also increased its demand; thereby, fueling the United States smart packaging industry growth during the forecast period.

United States Smart Packaging Market COVID-19 Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased not only smart packaging demand but its prominence also in the USA as the consumers greatly value packaging’s preservation properties, the hygiene and safety offered by smart packaging against viral contamination risks, and the convenience of packaged goods delivered through e-commerce as a safer alternative to in-store shopping during this epidemic. COVID-19 has accelerated the shift toward digital living and e-commerce. As e-commerce continues to gain prominence, more emphasis is being placed on smart packaging’s role in this new era. With this transition came the demand for smart packaging innovations that enable faster delivery and better content protection from shock or temperature variations. There is an increasing demand for healthcare products, such as syringes, vials, and cartridges during the epidemic. And food & beverages, are required on a large scale amidst this pandemic to fulfill the increasing global demand. And the increasing demand for packaging materials during the pandemic accelerated the smart packaging market growth in 2020 amid coronavirus.

Report Coverage

The report: “United States Smart Packaging Market – Forecast (2021-2026)”, by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the United States smart packaging market.

Key Takeaways

• Smart packaging such as modified atmosphere packaging, intelligent packaging, and active packaging is about clever ways to package a product, providing quick, cheap, and efficient ways to monitor the environmental conditions of food in the supply chain. 
• The smart packaging market is growing due to customers' changing lifestyles as a result of rapid urbanization and increased use of unique personal items combined with enhanced integrated innovation. Furthermore, untapped geographic regions with massive open doors for market competitors are relying on to fuel the global packaging market industry.
• The research of nanotechnology into various F&B applications, desire for shelf-stable and sustainable packaging solutions among food and beverage merchants and producers, and increased packaged food product usage are all contributing to the market's growth.
• This industry has also been fueled by advancements in printing techniques in many industries. Printed technologies have demonstrated their usefulness in the processing and presentation of data on paper and other substrates.
• However, excessive price of capital for installment, security issues, new techniques for fabricating such sensors and indicators that are compatible with current packaging standards, and awareness among consumers are major roadblocks and difficulties to the market's expansion.

Figure: United States Smart Packaging Market Revenue, By End-Use Industry, 2020 (%)

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United States Smart Packaging Market Segment Analysis – By Type

The intelligent packaging segment held the largest share in the United States smart packaging market in 2020 and is growing at a CAGR of 7.8% during 2021-2026. The additional benefit can include diagnostic and indicator functions that use indicators or sensors to monitor the condition of the product and provide information on e.g. tightness, storage time, temperature, or freshness. Alternatively, the indicators or sensors can be integrated with the packaging, placed on the outside or inside the packaging. Owing to this integrated freshness and/or time/temperature indicators, retailers and consumers can see whether a critical limit value has been exceeded. In addition, intelligent packaging also fulfills information, automation, marketing, or protective functions through barcodes, LEDs, augmented reality, NFC, loudspeakers, radio chips, or displays. All these advantages associated with intelligent packaging are driving its demand for the applications of smart packaging.

United States Smart Packaging Market Segment Analysis – By Substrate

The plastic segment held the largest share of more than 35% in the United States smart packaging market in 2020. Plastics such as polystyrene, polyethylene, are often a more efficient material to choose from than other alternatives such as metals and glass. This is due to the fact that plastics are extremely energy efficient to produce and are much lighter than alternative materials such as metals and glasses. Plastics packaging is ideal for the packaging of foodstuffs, medicines, and pharmaceuticals owing to advantages associated with it such as durability, hygiene, lightweight, and more. Thus, since plastics possess such extensive characteristics it is often preferred over metals and glass as a substrate for smart packaging materials.

United States Smart Packaging Market Segment Analysis – By End-Use Industry

The food & beverages segment held the largest share in the United States smart packaging market in 2020 and is growing at a CAGR of 9.3% during 2021-2026. Smart packaging such as modified atmosphere packaging, intelligent packaging, and active packaging is often used in the food & beverages industry to extend shelf life, monitor freshness, display information on quality, and improve product and customer safety. It has a good potential for use in food and beverage products because of increased demand for diagnostic packaging in response to consumer desire for more information about the freshness of foods, and also because of the need for track and trace systems. Thus, owing to this extensive utilization and need of smart packaging in the food & beverages logistic and sales services, they are being extensively utilized in the food & beverage sector. Furthermore, growing demand for self-healing and cooling packaged products in the beverage industry that can heat beverages including tea, coffee, and chocolate to a temperature suitable for consumption is expected to fuel demand for smart packaging from the food & beverages industry.

United States Smart Packaging Market Drivers

Increasing Demand from the Medical & Healthcare Sector

There is an increasing demand for smart packaging such as modified atmosphere packaging, intelligent packaging, and active packaging from the medical & healthcare sector due to growing need to improve supply chain visibility in these industries. Smart packaging solutions (such as RFID-enabled packaging, Wi-Fi-enabled devices, and smart automatic dispensers) could help companies better detect potential theft, counterfeiting, or contamination of medications and medical devices. Companies must be able to trace individual products back to the originating manufacturer and track and monitor them as they leave and arrive at various nodes across the supply chain to ensure that patients receive authentic, high-quality pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Smart packaging might help businesses comply with government rules and healthcare reforms by giving this level of visibility and traceability. Thus, there is an increasing demand for smart packaging from the medical & healthcare sector. In the USA the production of medical devices is increasing. For instance, according to the International Trade Administration (ITA), in 2017 the United States was the largest medical device market in the world with revenue reaching US$156 billion, and medical devices accounted for 40% of the global market). It is estimated to reach US$208 billion by 2023. Also, U.S. generic drug sales reached an estimated $70 billion in 2018, representing a quarter of the global market. With the rise in medical device production, demand for smart packaging is expected to rise significantly, propelling the industry growth in the USA. 

Rising Demand for Advancement in Packaging

There are many potential applications for smart packaging such as modified atmosphere packaging, intelligent packaging, and active packaging in areas where traditional packaging has not been able to adequately handle heightened customer expectations and increased product complexity. Consumers demand packaging that is cost-effective, easy-to-transport, and visually beautiful, and that not only ensures the product's freshness and integrity but also informs them about the product's history and/or condition. Smart packaging is a viable technique for accomplishing this. Packaging trends are driven by cost-effectiveness and consumer preferences, therefore smart packaging choices are changing the game for forward-thinking contract packagers. Consumers tend to be willing to spend more on the packaging that reflects their lifestyle ideals in quest of supply chain integrity and transparency. So as high-volume smart packaging solutions have become more affordable, use of the intelligent designs has taken hold in medical & healthcare, automotive, personal care, and other application segments. Cost-effective interactive packages are replacing standard solutions across the whole food supply chain as innovation tests new horizons. 

United States Smart Packaging Market Challenges

Unsustainable for Recycling

Waste generated from smart packaging is mostly unsustainable for recycling and as such poses a major challenge to the smart packaging industry. Although government policies for the recycling and treatment of packaging waste have been in place for quite some time in the United States, practical experience shows that the recycling of some types of packaging waste proofs difficult. As a result, one of the primary problems in the design and manufacture of smart packaging is to develop research on the treatment and recycling of packaging waste or to find more suitable materials that could allow for the installation of bio-degradable sensors and communication features. 

United States Smart Packaging Market Landscape

Technology launches, acquisitions and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the United States smart packaging market. United States smart packaging market top companies are:

1. 3M
2. TempTime Corporation
3. PakSense
4.  American Thermal Instruments
5. Avery Dennison
6. R.R. Donnelly Sons & Company
7. Sealed Air
8. Sonoco
9. International Paper

Acquisitions/Technology Launches

• In November 2020, Sonoco ThermoSafe, a unit of Sonoco and the leading global provider of temperature assurance packaging for life sciences and healthcare, announced the launch of its new EOS™ line of fully curbside recyclable temperature-controlled packaging in USA.

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