Tesco has led the move to shelf-ready packaging (SRP) among retailers, and helped to create the Starpack award in this category.
Head of design Jeremy Lindley explains that ease of recognition, ease of opening, ease of shelf-loading and ease of disposal/recycling are key criteria.
"Our vision for retail-ready packaging is 'half the packaging, twice the efficiency'," says Lindley. "That is what I will be looking for at the Starpack awards. This may sound impossible, but it has already been achieved on several retail-ready solutions."
The IGD grocery distribution think tank puts SRP among the top three developments to impact on the supply chain this year.