Food & Drink Packaging Forecast Spring 2023
Our Packaging Forecast for Spring 2023 and beyond outlines the values and drivers that will impact packaging design, and the areas of most opportunity for product development. Sustainability, value, technology and eye-catching aesthetics will all have a major impact on colour, material and surface design directions in the coming years. Our key forecast themes are:
- Design-Wise: smarter and simpler is the mantra for Design-Wise, which champions environmentally conscious, better basics and durable and versatile packaging designs with long-term appeal.
- Soul Space: this direction explores how a need for sanctuary and self-care will inform packaging design inspired by the natural world and the need for connection with ourselves and the planet.
- Full Spectrum: embracing life with full colour, full styling, full creativity and full fun, this bold and bright direction champions optimistic and playful designs.
WGSN Food & Drink identifies and tracks trends to help you create the right products at the right time. Our Packaging Forecast Spring 2023 is one of six forecasts we produce each year, looking two years ahead. The others cover Food, Drink, Cuisine & Flavour, Ingredients and Health & Wellness.
These forecasts are derived from our two annual macro reports: Food & Drink Personas 2023, which presents the emerging consumer value sets poised to influence new product development, and Big Ideas 2023, which outlines the five ideas you should start prioritising now to stay ahead in two years’ time.
Our macro reports are drawn from WGSN’s three annual flagship forecasts: Future Drivers highlights seven changes that will redefine how we do business in 2023; Future Innovations outlines 12 trends that will reshape the way we create and innovate; and Future Consumer identifies the consumer profiles and expectations that will drive the market.
WGSN’s macro forecasts are produced by our global team of experts, ensuring they have broad relevance across all regional markets. Our trends are validated by data, best-practice examples and our unique STEPIC methodology (encompassing developments in society, technology, environment, politics, industry and creativity), so you can apply them with confidence to your business and product strategies.
The four consumer profiles outlined in our Food & Drink Personas 2023 report will drive packaging design and development, from the rise of more sustainable, circular packaging solutions, to a celebration of optimistic and uplifting aesthetics after a long period of global constraint.
In spring 2023 and ahead, the push for less but better packaging solutions will drive design innovation.
As outlined in our Personas 2023 report, the Everyday Optimisers, a cohort focused on maximising the benefits in everything they purchase and consume, will push for thoughtful designs that contribute to a more circular and less wasteful packaging system.
Rooted Transcendents, a group looking to natural ingredients and materials as a solution for personal and planetary wellness, and the change-making Collective Visionaries, will turn to brands embracing naturally nourishing, from-the-Earth solutions that replenish and restore.
And Sensory Seekers, who crave the experimental and want to expand their world through food and drink, will ring in the new season with full-spectrum rainbow brights that signal the long-awaited restoration of anything-goes, carefree living.
What does this mean for you? Emerging consumer needs and attitudes will drive brands to create packaging that’s been given the same level of consideration as the ingredients and formulations of the products inside. Act now to identify which of these drivers is most relevant to you and your audience, and create solutions to meet those needs, from aesthetic inspiration to material choice.