Retail-Ready Packaging in the US

Report Overview

Featuring 25 tables and 34 figures – now available in Excel and Powerpoint! Learn More

Demand for retail-ready packaging is projected to climb through 2023 due to increased penetration in a multitude of store formats. Corrugated boxes will remain the dominant type due to their versatility. Other retail-ready packaging types such as reusable plastic containers compete with corrugated boxes due to advantages such as better aesthetics. Displays will remain the second most used type of retail-ready packaging, with growth driven by value-added features such as high-quality graphics.

This report encompasses retail-ready packaging that is used by a number of markets in a variety of applications and retail stores. Retail-ready packaging – also known as shelf-ready packaging, display-ready packaging, and pallet-ready packaging – refers to secondary packaging for retail products that arrives in a manner enabling items to go directly from their secondary packaging to the shelf or selling floor without the need for unpacking the inner contents.

Product segments discussed include:

• corrugated boxes
• corrugated displays
• folding cartons
• reusable plastic containers
• pad and shrink film packaging

Excluded from this study are:

• pallets
• permanent retail displays
• corrugated displays requiring more than minimal assembly
• folding cartons for beverage multipacks
• transport containers such as milk crates and bakery trays
• case-ready meat packaging
• shrink film overwraps for multipacks that customers take home
• regular slotted containers that are cut open with sloped side panels
• previously purchased reusable plastic containers
• packaging and transportation services, such as pallet tracking

Market segments discussed in this study include:

• food, which is further segmented by application
• beverage
• nonfood