Deloitte Insight presents an overview of trends and challenges in smart packaging. The good news is that the cost of these sensors is declining and will likely at some point be low enough to place on everyday consumer goods and parcels.
The upside potential is large, as smart packaging is poised to solve numerous weighty business issues from stock-outs to counterfeiting to product spoilage to customer satisfaction and retention. Smart packaging is organizing around a set of nine broad applications, which are arriving in waves. Supply chain efficiency is leading the charge, followed closely by product integrity and customer engagement.
Participants in the traditional packaging space ignore smart packaging at their peril since the downside of missing out could be disruption of their existing business model and irrelevance. To capture the rewards and avoid irrelevance, participants should be bold and creative. Bold plays and new business models are a virtual certainty in the data-enabled world of smart packaging. However, as the Deloitte publication shows, some legal, technological and organizational challenges have to be dealt with.
For city logistics applications might be found in better security, last minute checks at the door (before delivering), less fraud, temperature sensoring, and improved track and trace capabilities.
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