All products offered for sale, rental or consumption must be packaged accordingly. The type of packaging always depends on the products to be packaged. You need different packaging for a freshly prepared burger than for cosmetics, pharmaceutical products or textiles, for example.

You have to distinguish between the three different packaging levels: primary packaging, secondary packaging and tertiary packaging. Primary packaging in particular must meet a large number of requirements. The reason for this is the direct contact between the packaging and the packaged goods. In the following article, you will find out why primary packaging must have special attributes and in which areas you can optimally use it.

Check out our blog if you want to learn more about secondary packaging!

Primary packaging compared with secondary and tertiary packaging

The choice of packaging for your goods can have an enormous impact on the sale, storage, delivery and image of the products. Retailers, online and mail order companies and businesses have a huge range of different packaging solutions to choose from. The key here is to identify the exact packaging materials that are right for your product and company.

The assortment of different types of packaging can sometimes make the choice difficult. Roughly speaking, the various packaging solutions can be divided into primary, secondary and tertiary packaging. In the following, we will show you the differences between these three types of packaging and outline the special features of primary packaging.

Primary packaging - immediate and direct protection for products

Packaging of this type is always in direct contact with the packaged goods and thus with the packaged product. They protect the goods inside, enveloping it like a protective cloak and ensuring its integrity as well as quality.

Due to this proximity to the packaging contents, primary packaging must exhibit particularly high quality characteristics and standards. For example, especially when packaging food and pharmaceutical articles, high hygienic requirements must be met.

In addition to its protective function, good quality primary packaging should also be able to meet all specific requirements with regard to transport, storage, marketing, sale and disposal.

Which packaging solution is used depends on the product to be packaged. The primary packaging for chips is bags, while wine is bottled and ravioli is canned, or chocolate bars, for example, are wrapped in packaging film.

For some products, the packaging often has to function over a longer period of time. This is the case, for example, with bottles and cans. For other products, the primary packaging must be completely removed when the packaged product is used. Typical examples are snacks packed in films, boxes or cartons for quick consumption.

These features offer you a high quality primary packaging:

• Very demanding packaging material with high product protection factor.
• Secures and protects the product inside the package.
• Promotes the packaged product, provides marketing effects and encourages purchase.
• Perceived by the consumer as a sales unit.
• Functions as an important information carrier.
• It must sometimes meet the highest requirements for hygiene and functionality.
• Offers many options for customization.
• Thanks to many different materials, versatile and usable across industries.

In the food and pharmaceutical industries in particular, primary packaging must meet high standards.

Secondary packaging - no direct contact with the packaged goods

This is outer packaging that has no direct contact with the packaged products. Secondary packaging encloses the packaged goods in the primary packaging as a second layer.

In the process, they usually perform an additional protective function, especially against environmental influences. In addition, secondary packaging also serves as a transport and storage aid and, in the context of various scenarios, as eye-catching sales packaging.

In order to draw the attention of potential customers to the packaged product and encourage them to buy it, secondary packaging is always designed to be informative, promotional and appropriately sales-promoting.

Product-specific design as a characteristic

Manufacturers then also use this type of packaging to convey brand messages and show the product's appeal. At the same time, this second level of packaging usually has a very high information content. You can communicate all the important contents and features of the packaged goods in a compact form.

In addition to product benefits, secondary packaging solutions often feature classic usage instructions, warnings or allergen labels.

Depending on the primary packaging and the packaged goods, the secondary packaging materials are usually tailored to the respective specifications. The spectrum of possibilities here ranges from cartons and folding cartons to films, cans and pouches to jars and metal crates.

The materials used for this purpose are correspondingly diverse and varied. Secondary packaging is often made of paper, cardboard and corrugated board, but plastics, glass, wood and aluminum are also used as materials for secondary packaging.

Exemplary examples of secondary packaging:

• Shipping and gift packaging from corrugated board or cardboard
• Folding boxes for frozen products packed in foils
• Outer packaging for cosmetic products, such as cream tubes or perfume bottles
• Stand-up pouch for candy already primary packed in wrappers
• Sturdy cartons with inlays for spirits

Sturdy cartons with inlays for spirits

 

The third packaging level includes the so-called tertiary packaging. You can use these whenever you want to combine several primary or secondary packages into one loading unit. In practice, a larger number of smaller packages are usually stacked on pallets or in containers for transport or warehousing purposes.

This enables space-saving delivery and efficient storage. You then wrap the stacked cartons or boxes together with the pallet in shrink film, for example. This ensures well-protected individual packaging and safe transport even over long distances. In contrast to primary and secondary packaging, the focus here is exclusively on functionality.

This is because tertiary packaging does not come into contact with the product itself or with the customers or buyers. On the other hand, it is a crucial aspect of transport and storage and influences the costs incurred in these areas.

For companies, the choice of the right tertiary packaging is therefore definitely of strategic importance. It is not for nothing that tertiary packaging is alternatively referred to as transport packaging.

These requirements must be met by a tertiary packaging:

• Consists of resistant and durable material
• Provides a protective function against external influences, such as dust, solar radiation, precipitation as well as mechanical force impact
• Allows the compression of the goods
• Ensures the creation of a space-saving delivery or loading unit
• Simplifies the logistical process
• Suitable for specific markings

The wide range of applications for primary packaging

Primary packaging is basically used in all areas in which products are to be safely protected, labeled informatively and offered in a sales-promoting manner. The most important criterion for selecting the right primary packaging material for a product is the aspect of product stability.

To ensure this, the packaging must have stability and strength as well as properties that protect against light and moisture sensitivity, for example, or prevent incompatibilities and interactions.

The packaging process must also always be taken into account when choosing the right primary packaging. Here, the focus is primarily on handiness and simple, fast packaging of the products.

For marketers (marketing specialists), aspects such as shapes, colors, environmental friendliness and sustainability of the packaging material as well as convenient removal of the respective product also play a major role. Of course, price is also always one of the most important parameters when deciding for or against primary packaging.

Depending on the goods to be packaged, you can use primary packaging in any industry. In the industrial and craft sector, for example, they are an optimal solution for small parts such as screws and nails, construction and spare parts, tools, equipment of various kinds and many other products.

This also applies to the retail trade, especially since you can align your primary packaging even more precisely to the respective packaged goods by using inlays.

The specific use in the food sector as an example of versatility

In the food sector in particular, hygiene and safety play an important role alongside quality. Primary packaging that predictably comes into direct contact with food must therefore offer performance that ensures precisely these attributes.

Corrugated board as a base material for packaging solutions is predestined for this. The paper, adhesives, varnishes, printing inks and other components used in the manufacture of corrugated board must be precisely tailored to the legal requirements.

The most important regulations are firmly anchored in various laws and ordinances. Particularly significant, for example, are the German Packaging Act, the Foodstuffs and Feedstuffs Code, which came into force in 2005, or the European Packaging Directive 94/62/EC and Regulations 1935/2004/EC and 2023/2006/EC.

Accordingly, for optimum product protection, primary packaging must, for example, have high puncture resistance and likewise high tear resistance.

In addition, depending on the packaged goods, the legislator requires product properties such as an aroma and moisture barrier. In addition, the packaging must ensure that the contents can be labeled at any time. Primary packaging made of corrugated board is used very frequently, especially in the fruit and vegetable sector.

Palamo's primary packaging made of corrugated board offers you clear advantages:

• Material-optimized design with varying load-bearing capacity for targeted adaptation to the respective loads.
• Good printability and excellent print image for the best merchandise presentation and product marketing.
• Hygienic use through the use of specific materials and equipment elements.
• Can also be used as a practical shopping aid in the grocery store.
• Can be specifically customized with regard to application areas and loads.
• 100 percent recyclable.

The range of possible packaged goods here extends from fruit and vegetables to sweets, nuts, pizza and finger food, as well as freshly prepared fish delicacies and fast food, such as burgers.

 

Do you have any questions about this topic? Feel free to contact our expertswho will be happy to support you or write to us via hello@palamo.com.