Easy Open, what a net bag lacked to be perfect

Henry Ford once said that if he would have asked the consumers about what they wanted, those would have replied “a faster horse”. In some cases, specially related to tech products and services, innovation prevails over consumer needs. Products and services are accepted and successful when consumer needs are fulfiled. Asking the customers, as all marketing experts know, is the best way to find out what they want; in order to design the best products and successful strategies. GIRÓ, with the aim to improve day by-day, has asked the consumers what attributes are the most important in a fruit bag. We wanted to find out the room for improvement, and so, what features are needed in the eyes of consumers. The result seems to be clear and provides specific conclusions. Giró commissioned a market research to the prestigious “The Nielsen Company”, who carried out the fieldwork in September 2017 sampling 2.000 American consumers, all of them actual fruit buyers (for citrus and apples). Nielsen’s research outcome is clear and proves that consumers prefer net bags over other packaging options (plastic bags, paper or punnets), as visibility and breathability are the most important attributes in fruit packaging. Thirdly, and for 24% of the consumers, we find how easy is to open-close the package, an attribute that was not solved on net bags before, from now on Giró’s exclusive and patented Easy Open system delivers the solution. The 4th most valued attribute is a convenient holding and carrying system. Giró has been offering for several years ergonomic solutions for holding and carrying the net bags, as handle or finger holes. Thus, with the Easy Open system, Giró sets a further milestone that delivers an unbeatable packaging system for fruits and vegetables; including all the main features requested by consumers. Thanks to Giró, the mesh packaging gives an important qualitative leap with the Easy Open. Easy opening, convenient to close and ideal for recyclingAlthough the design of an easy opening system in net packaging may look like straightforward, it is much harder and challenging than expected. The system must ensure that the net bag does not open accidentally, especially when the bags weight over 5 Kg. Giró made a thorough research, hundreds of tests were carried out till a reliable and convenient system turned out. In the Easy Open system, the bagging machine cuts the net, on a previous stage before welding it with the film. The film has a pre dye cut window integrated, on which an adhesive label with a small flap will get stuck. The consumer will pull the flap, tearing the pre dye cut part of the film off. A window will be exposed at the same level with the net cut, allowing the consumer to grab the content. The window with the adhesive label and flap is designed to be reclosed again, keeping the content inside the net bag, after the content is being removed in whole or in part. Once the net bag is opened, keeps its structure perfectly balanced. Thanks to the closing system, the bag might have a second use, for example to store one-use plastic packaging to recycle it altogether and dumping it inside the container. This is also a waste space saving solution. Another advantage is that, once the net bag has been used, you can roll it up before recycling it, using the adhesive label to make it more compact. The Easy Open system can be applied on Ultrabag formats thanks to the longitudinal welded film that enables the net aperture to be sealed. You can get it in all GirBagger UBOne of the most interesting features of Easy Open system is its ability to be installed in any GirBagger UB model, that means, UB-50, UB-60 and UB-65, both in first generation or the recently launched Speed Line range. Easy Open kit consists of a net cutting device, a registered label applicator and the software to control these devices. With these elements the GirBagger can make Ultrabag packs with the Easy Open feature, without forgetting that the Girfilm used for the packs must include the flap dye cut. The application of the Easy Open label implies an output reduction around 4 or 5 bags per minute less according to the pack style and size. Pictures1. Easy Open system allows the consumer to easily open the bag by tearing the flap. Thanks to the pre dye cut film and net a window is opened to access to the bag content. After opening the package remains in perfect conditions to keep the fruit until its full consumption. The window shown after tearing the flap is enough to introduce the hand. Finally, the adhesive label attached to the flap it’s ideal to re-close the bag2. In Nielsen’s research, the consumers chose up to 5 attributes that considered the most important on packaging. In the chart, the number next to each bar reflects the consumers’ % that consider the attribute as important. The figure illustrates the 4 attributes that have been mentioned by more than the 20% of the consumers: Fruit visibility (44% of the consumers consider this attribute as important), Package breathability (36%), Easy to open and close (24%) and Easy to hold and carry (21’5%)3. Easy Open allows a second use of the packaging to store and compact plastic shopping bags or other plastic films to be recycled. After the use, the netbag can be rolled and compacted by using the adhesive label to save space in the recycling bin