At the end of December 2020, CITEO, the French eco-organisation in charge of the management and recycling of packaging waste, published its Shopper 2020 study, which aimed to assess the environmental perception of packaging by consumers in times of health crisis. During the “Consumer Safety & Cosmetics” conference day, organised by Cosmetic Valley on 10 June 2021, Catherine Barucq, Head of CITEO’s Studies and Prospective Division, presented the main results for the hygiene-beauty categories, which include shower gels, skin creams and deodorants.
Following a similar study in 2018, CITEO sought to understand whether, in 2020, in the context of the health crisis, consumer perception of packaging had changed.
“We were hearing quite a lot of things, that plastic had come back into the good graces of consumers, or that we should resort to all-packaging from now on. So we really wanted to explore these issues,” explained Catherine Barucq.
The consumer’s overall perception of the packaging
To the question: “If we focus on the packaging of the product you have just bought, overall, how do you find the packaging? Would you say you like it…?”, consumers answered:
• Yes, definitely: 28%
• Yes, somewhat: 64%
• No, not so much: 7%
• No, not at all: 1%
“Behind the notion of pleasure, the consumer puts a little bit of everything: the look of the packaging, the product-packaging pairing that always predominates, environmental concerns, functionalities…,” Catherine Barucq commented. “And at the end of the day, we have an overwhelmingly positive perception from the consumer.”
But in terms of changes compared to 2018, there has been a clear drop in the attractiveness of packaging, with 20 points less in the “Yes, absolutely” responses and only …
