The COVID-19 pandemic is pushing the world economy towards a recession. Like other industries, the US packaging industry is at a standstill with government-mandated lockdowns. While there is a spike in demand for packaging for groceries and healthcare devices, demand for luxury goods and industrial packaging is declining. As such, companies in the US packaging industry must take actions to flatten the expected recession and prepare for the post-COVID-19 era. Besides, companies in the US packaging industry must protect employees’ health, build recovery strategies, and prepare to tackle the challenges coming their way.
This success story highlights how we helped a packaging company based out of the United States to rethink their operational plans, adopt strategic customer-focused moves, and plan for the comeback post-COVID-19 crisis.
At Infiniti, we understand the impact of COVID-19 on your business operations. We can help you to devise business continuity plans to navigate the crisis and prepare for the latter half of 2020. RFP here.
Business Challenge
The client, a consumer packaging firm in the United States, witnessed a steady decline in packaging demand owing to the COVID-19 crisis. Also, the US packaging industry client noted a drastic shift in packaging demand in food companies as the COVID-19 pandemic compelled the food service companies to shut down food service outlets. Also, the demand for non-food and premium-good packaging was being hit as consumers started to cut back on their spending. As the period of crisis was uncertain, the client wanted to take initiatives to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for the post-COVID-19 era. However, this required a thorough understanding of the potential business opportunities and COVID-19’s impact on the company’s business operation. The US packaging industry client, therefore, approached the experts at Infiniti Research to leverage their expertise in offering market opportunity analysis.
Other key objectives for the US packaging market client were:
- To monitor health risks and protect employees’ health
- To review production footprint and create country-specific plans for enhancing business continuity
- To evaluate packaging-production flexibility
- To shift production to fulfill new demand patterns
- To ensure the company’s financial health post-COVID-19 crisis
- To identify packaging categories that are likely to return to strong levels of demand post-covid-19 crisis
- To evaluate new growth opportunities and manage new trends in packaging
To know how we can help your brand to navigate the COVID-10 crisis, contact us here.
Our Integrated Approach
The initial phase of the market opportunity assessment involved qualitative and quantitative research. The experts worked closely with the US packaging industry client’s financial and marketing team to develop a blueprint of an optimized process. This phase of the engagement also involved the creation and mapping of the client’s potential opportunity from an R&D, market, and competitive perspective. Also, this phase involved the development of a growth pipeline.
The next phase involved an in-depth analysis of qualified opportunities in order to deduce the optimal set of opportunities that are most attractive and best fit to the client’s strategic imperative. This phase also involved creating a subset list of opportunities based on US packaging industry client’s defined criteria.
The third phase involved best-fit opportunity identification and acquisition assessment. Besides, the experts prioritized and selected the best-fit opportunities and formalized technology acquisition strategy for the US packaging industry client.
The fourth phase involved competitive landscape analysis where the experts conducted a detailed addressable market analysis of each down-selected best-fit opportunity in terms of market attractiveness, competitive factors, and end-user preferences.
The final phase involved target market prioritization, where the experts prioritized and selected the most attractive market segments and developed a go-to-market and target company acquisition action plan.
Business Outcome
With Infiniti’s market opportunity assessment, the US packaging industry client was able to create a crisis-response nerve center that served as their core information source. The experts reviewed the client’s production footprint and helped them to understand the risk of disruptions and take actions to address anticipated disruptions and shortages.
In addition, by analyzing evolving needs and demands of customers, the experts helped the US packaging industry client to make necessary shifts in its portfolio of packaging offerings. Also, the experts analyzed the areas where the demand will be temporarily high and assessed the client’s ability to shift production to fulfill new demand patterns.
With market opportunity assessment, the client was able to identify packaging categories that are likely to return to strong levels of demand post-COVID-19 crisis, identify growth potential, and manage new trends in consumer sentiment and requirements, such as safety, health concerns, and e-commerce. Also, the client was able to adapt packaging designs to suit the needs of e-commerce while adhering to consumer preferences. As recommended by the experts at Infiniti, the US packaging industry client also considered rethinking their business portfolios to ensure stable cash flows and healthy balance sheets.
Request more info to gain insights on how organizations can respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
