We can imagine 2 points of view for the pharmaceutics market:
- On the one hand, we can consider that the aspect of the bottle is not very important for the customer because it is not for pleasure that he buys it. Also the producer of the meds will not privilege the aesthetics and buy probably a HDPE bottle to fill customers' attempts. Moreover the HDPE aspect looks artificial and expresses a chemical image to the customer. So the image of the bottle corresponds to the image of meds: artificial, chemical.
- On the other hand, the PET has quite the same aspect as glass and meds are usually in glass packaging. So the traditional substitute to the glass would be to PET which enables to see the product inside the packaging which is not the case with the HDPE.
Pharmaceutics products don't need to attract the customers because it is not a pleasure product but a necessity for the customer. So the packaging doesn't really have to be attractive for the customers. Moreover the bottle is usually sold into a carton packaging so it is not viewable for the customer in the pharmacy.
The problem is that the customer cannot clearly see the product with HDPE packaging and it matters for some customers who want to see before taking the meds what it looks like. It is reassuring for some of the customers not to have the impression that the manufacturer wanted to hide the product.
[...] Montpont is the only one from RPC in France which represents a quite big market and a quite rich market in terms of pharmaceutics products. In fact the Rhone Alpes region is one the greatest pools of pharmaceutics industry in France. The big advantage for the HDPE is the price which is nearly half price of the PET per metric ton. This is an average number considering the price of finish products and not the price of the polymers themselves. [...]
[...] Quantitative Analysis 3.5 billion Litres of pharmaceutical products were produced in bottles in Western Europe in blow moulded bottles. Plastic penetration is forecast to rise to 28% by 2010. Demand is forecast to grow by per annum to 2010 to reach 6 billion units, driven by increased penetration. HDPE represents 30% of the consumption of polymer for pharmaceutical bottles in tonnes in 2005. Technical constraints The medicines that are produced require an authorization that is delivered for the medicine with some precise packaging method. [...]
[...] One major issue on the packaging market is that the cost of transportation is very high. In fact when we deliver packages we transport empty bottles but they require the same space as full ones. So the site of production of the bottles has to be as near as possible from the customer or on the other point of view, the firm has to search customers not to far from the production site. About 300 km far from the plant is the limit that a packaging company can reach. [...]
[...] PET is used on the huge market of the beverages bottles as we have seen for its aesthetic. PET is the polymer chosen by substitution to the glass because of its very transparency. When it is mixed with colorants, its brilliance produces an impressive effect. But a technical constraint makes impossible to have a handle on PET bottles that's why PET is not much used for bottles with over 2 litres volume. Presentation of the Company RPC Packaging Gent RPC Gent is a plant owned by the group RPC Packaging which is the leader of rigid plastics in Europe. [...]
[...] The Pharmaceutics segment Qualitative Analysis We can imagine 2 points of view for the pharmaceutics market: - On the one hand, we can consider that the aspect of the bottle is not very important for the customer because it is not for pleasure that he buys it. Also the producer of the meds will not privilege the aesthetics and buy probably a HDPE bottle to fill customers' attempts. Moreover the HDPE aspect looks artificial and expresses a chemical image to the customer. [...]
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