Packages and closures for packaging

Silver tsunami – become their silent hero!

Trend research focuses not only on the preferences of younger age groups who are growing up to enter the market as consumers, but also analyzes the behavior of those already present on it.
The ‘Silver tsunami’ is the beautiful name for the 55+ age group, which for some time now has been a colorful sociological and market phenomenon.
Grandmas and grandpas less and less often tell their grandchildren “but I have no idea about it”, and are more and more willing to ask how something works. They are present in social media, play online games, and do the shopping on the internet. They do sports, travel and fulfill themselves, pursuing activities they had no time for when they were active professionally.
Instagram profiles of persons over seventy or even ninety who present their daily life as a series of challenges and successes are very popular. We can learn from them that sports, traveling or going out for a dance with friends are great ideas for spending time after retirement and for maintaining longevity.
Representatives of the “Silver tsunami” have become important clients for various industries’ products and services.
Market analyses clearly show that the communication aimed at that target group has to be wise, amusing and balanced. Today's pensioners above all hate to be treated as clumsy or old-fashioned persons. They consider it unfair and unjust when they are reduced to the role of grandmas or grandpas, in the pejorative meaning of these words, who have no idea about the contemporary world.

When targeting ads and products at this group, we should have great sensitivity so as not to offend anyone and thus lose many important clients.

Analyzing each generation in strategic terms, we should take into account both its potential and limitations. While usually the barriers are due to financial constraints, in the case of the 'Silver tsunami' physical limitations must also be kept in mind. However, few admit that their bodies aren’t as fit as they used to be. The marketer's role is to respect that taboo.
The designation of the 55+ group is a significant overgeneralization itself. The group includes both a marathon runner with huge sports achievements, and people whose health allows only a short walk. We can find there active office or manual workers, but also pensioners who spend time worrying about everyday life. Finally, some of them may be surrounded by family and its young members who are eager to explain technical innovations, whereas others spend their time among peers, and see no need to be up to date with everything.

Product packaging can be more or less handy, how to choose the ones that the 'Silver tsunami' will take and not give back?
If the target for our product is the 55+ group, it's worth doing research even on a very small group - our loved ones. To what extent the packaging is friendly, easy to open and handle.
What’s appealing and irritating about it.
While we can recall being younger, it’s hard to imagine ourselves in ten years from now. For this reason, we shouldn’t rely on imagination, but rather on “experts”.s

Jar vs airless
Jars, airlesses or small bottles with a cosmetic lotion pump similar to them are the most common and popular types of packaging for face creams. Planning our cosmetic for the 55+ group, we should develop its ingredients and packaging with equal care. While formulation and biotechnology experts speak on the topic of ingredients, we are happy to share our knowledge about packaging.
It's worth paying attention to details!
An airless with a twist off head requires an efficient grip on the collar and a precise movement when opening. A popular airless protected with a cap can also be an unpleasant barrier, in particular, if it’s, for example, tall and slender, and the cap is small. We can save our customers the trouble, and offer them an airless with a cap large enough so that its removal will not require too precise movements or force.
The same is the case with cosmetic lotion pumps, which may but don’t have to have caps at all.
Removing such a barrier won’t offend anyone, and the packaging will be normal, but the ease with which it can be handled will be a compliment to the client.
In jars, it's hard to eliminate the lid, but if it was, for example, an aluminum jar whose diameter would fit almost the whole hand, and it didn't require too many rotation movements or force to open, it's a very good solution.
The situation will be different in the case of small jars…

A free cream sample which may lead to brand aversion …
Attaching samples to products bought at drugstores is a very popular form of encouraging clients to new products. It’s been widely known that giving presents is a real art. Their content is one thing, but the packaging and form in which it’s presented can truly make the recipient happy or fill them with disgust.
Packing a sample in a sachet or in a miniature plastic jar that requires surgical precision and dexterity to open can put the recipient in a state of considerable embarrassment.
In this case, we should ask ourselves if we want to invest more in promotion and openly address the needs and limitations of the selected group, or whether we will target only the able-bodied of the 55+ group, and may put off the rest.
If the first statement seems to be closer to the company's philosophy, then we may be tempted to use a 3 ml airless, with a sufficiently elaborate construction to make sure its operation doesn’t cause difficulty.

Disc top vs lotion pump
It's widely believed that there are 'typical' closures for specific types of cosmetics. Until recently, body balms, shower gels, shampoos and hair conditioners have been closed almost only with disc top or flip top caps. It started to change a few years ago. The world has accelerated and every minute is precious, but also everybody tries to make things more comfortable.
Technology makes our lives easier at every step, as even the temperature in the apartment is set from a smartphone, so why should we have trouble opening our favorite cosmetic.
Universal lotion pumps are dedicated to white cosmetics with low or medium density. Their handiness and ease of use are appreciated by all age groups. A cosmetics manufacturer using this type of closure can make its product more accessible to customers in the 55+ group in a non-intrusive way. When selecting a product on the shelf, a customer with limited fine motor skills is more likely to choose a cosmetic whose handling won’t expose these difficulties.

Push pull vs foam lotion pump
The situation is similar with washing-up liquids which until recently have been traditionally closed with push pull caps. Today, more and more detergent manufacturers, following the example of the cosmetics industry, offer lotion pumps as closures of their products.
Again, the reasons for it include comfort and ease of use, as well as savings and environment protection. A new solution used recently has been to close washing-up liquids with foam lotion pumps. Such a method of application offers significant savings. One dose makes an impression of a big amount of foam on a sponge, which discourages us from another application. In the case of liquid in the classic form, always a bigger amount of it flows out than we wanted or was needed.  
The lotion pump has a specific dose, and a mistake is out of question here.

The above-mentioned examples are just a few inspirations for how you can become a hero without putting on a cloak. When we plan a product, each of its elements needs to have a purpose and sense. Sometimes simple changes of the entire product may become the key to success.
Following trends, we should look at what we will deal with in five or ten years; in which direction the virtual world will go, and what revolutions will be undertaken by “Meta”. What’s equally important is what already exists, what is the basis of our sales, as well as taking care of flexibility and response time. Responding to small changes and introducing improvements “here and now” is a perfect method to ride the wave of new trends, but also to follow the tradition.

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