Local agro-processors may have come a long way from the days of recycled jam jars and label-related information typed on bits of paper and attached with cheap, frequently unsightly paste, but while we have been seeking to play catch up, the rest of the world has not been standing still. So that these days, as packaging and labelling increasingly become marketing tools, we still find ourselves running at breakneck speed to stand still. More than ever before, customer appeal and by extension sales volumes have become inextricably linked to the manner in which the product is presented.
Our own frequent encounters with local manufacturers, particularly those in the agro-processing sector, have revealed that in many instances as much as forty per cent of the cost associated with putting a product on the market is associated with packaging and labelling, a circumstance that reflects producers’ increasing awareness of the nexus between product presentation and marketability.
