Dispensing Systems: Form Follows Function
Airspray International's foam dispensers, recently used on a Noxzema cleanser package, continue to be popular. Today's dispensing systems meet demands for portability and ease of use—and look better than ever.
By Christina Elston
Dispensing systems for cosmetics and personal care products must do more than efficiently get products from bottle to consumer. They have to meet consumer demands for functionality such as portability, ease of use, and a high-end look, while meeting the aesthetic goals of product manufacturers eager to differentiate their products on the shelf.
Meeting this dual challenge often involves innovation by suppliers. "We try to figure out what our clients want before they know they want it," says Nancy Kane, marketing coordinator for dispenser supplier Crown Zeller U.S.A. (Libertyville, IL). For suppliers, this means following consumer trends.
Make It Easy
A key consumer demand driving dispensing innovation is ease of use. Crown pays special attention to creating the right proportions of cap to bottle to prevent the bottle from tipping too easily. It also focuses on the right contour between closure and bottle to make bottles easier to handle. "We work with our clients to create a complete package that will adhere to the demands of the consumer," Kane says.
Pfeiffer GmbH (San Diego) added ergonomic features to its dispensing line with its side actuation system. The system replaces standard top- or downward-depressing action with a side-actuation motion that Pfeiffer says is ergonomic. "The technical concept is based on a lever mechanism where the horizontal movement is being transformed into a vertical movement, which actuates the pump," says Andrea Vollmer, marketing manager for Pfeiffer. "The concept offers a state-of-the-art design flexibility which can be used for sprays and gels."
Improved ergonomics can also encourage increased product use, according to Des McEttrick, global marketing director for supplier Emsar (Stratford, CT). "For example, a 360-degree spray makes application of body spray products much easier, and in some cases, has increased the amount of product used because it was easier to spray all over," McEttrick says. "Anything that makes the product easier to use or easier to dispense is valuable because it enhances the consumer's experience with the product."
Take It Easy
Emsar's Minis are small-sized bottle/pump combinations designed with travel-friendliness in mind. Consumers want their products to be easy to take with them, as well as easy to use. "Portability is certainly a trend that we've seen for a long time," says McEttrick. "It doesn't show any signs of abating." In response, Emsar offers a line of Minis—small-sized bottle/pump combinations designed for travel—and a portable pump, which easily relocks and adds convenience to full-sized packages.
Another consumer demand in travel-size products is reusability, according to Kane. Crown offers a new line of flip-top dispensing closures for travel-size products used as hotel amenities. "It was just a marketplace need that we saw," Kane says. "It doesn't make sense for a nondispensing cap to be on a tube." The Crown 1-in. M8 tube closure is the same height as nondispensing closures, so manufacturers can change closures without changing their carton sizes.
Super Samples
Consumers also want convenience when sampling products, says Dennis Desrochers, vice president of sales and marketing for supplier Rexam Dispensing Systems (Purchase, NY). For instance, traditionally packaged fragrance samples are difficult to use, cannot be sprayed on as they normally would, and can be used only one time.
Rexam offers a fragrance sample pump that allows consumers to spray on the fragrance, and reuse the sample over several days. In focus groups, user satisfaction was doubled when using the sample with the pump. "It's a much more meaningful experience that translates to converting these sampling consumers into customers," Desrochers says. Rexam also offers a 4-ml Sof'Push lotion sampler, a low-cost pump system for personal care products.
For sample sprayers, brand identity is important. The sample package that Rexam Dispensing Systems created for Calvin Klein's Crave fragrance puts the fragrance's logo and image at center stage. Got Foam?
Foaming dispensers offer another way to build convenience into packages. With systems such as the F2 instant foamer or new G3 foamer, "the product is already activated," says David Stob, director of business development for Airspray International Inc. (Pompano Beach, FL). "There is no need for customers to rub their hands together to produce foam."
Foaming products don't drip or splash, and they allow sunless tanning products to be applied without streaking, Stob says. Airspray's Water Guard foamers can even be taken into the shower or bath. Instant-foaming dispensers may soon be found containing products such as hair color, perfume, cosmetic foundation, shaving cream, and aftershave, according to Stob.
Emsar also noted the dramatic expansion of foaming-pump technology in the marketplace, according to McEttrick. "Because we saw foam as an important growth area, we developed our EcoFoam Squeeze Foamer, which offers a different and new way to foam product," she says. "Unlike a traditional tabletop foamer, the EcoFoam produces a light, airy foam with just a squeeze of the bottle, which makes it easy to apply directly onto skin, hair, or a surface using just one hand."
Boomers or Bust
Today's consumers aren't just demanding convenience and nifty foam. The aging baby boomer generation has ushered an influx of delicate antiaging products into the market, which have placed new demands on dispensing systems.
"Today's formulations are much more complex," says Desrochers. "Marketers and formulators are pushing the envelope with cosmeceutical formulations." The viscosity of these products might be less stable, and the products are more reactive and more likely to be light or oxygen sensitive than simpler formulations used in the past.
To protect such products, Rexam has developed dual-chamber pumps that can dispense two separate products that are mixed at the time of application, solving the problem of ingredients with a very short shelf life when they are premixed. Rexam and other companies also offer airless pump systems, which are airtight and often feature pistons to aid in moving more-viscous products.
"We have quite a few marketers requesting airless-pump packages," says Jenifer Brady, vice president of sales and marketing for supplier Brad-Pak Enterprises Inc. (Garwood, NJ). "Since the airless pump finally exists, there are a lot of combinations of ingredients that can be used in formulations to develop new antiaging products."
Supplier Brad-Pak says that gold and silver finishes continue to be popular for pumps and sprayers. Brand marketers can rest assured that dispenser suppliers are continually innovating their designs to ensure that their components can distribute the most advanced formulations. "Airless and standard pumps, sprayers, and foamers are contributing to dispensing these new viscosities and formulations," says Bob McCall, vice president of the cosmetic, personal, and healthcare container division of supplier Forte Design Group (Irvine, CA). "We work daily to provide pump stroke, orifice, and viscosity formula answers to processors' product-dispensing questions."
These more-sophisticated products have increased demand for tamper protection as well. "Tamper evidence is something that several of our clients have been looking for," says Kane. Crown offers a line of tamper-evident tube closures that cannot be unscrewed from the bottle or tube, allowing brands to cut costs by eliminating the traditional foil liner used under the closure. The closures also feature a tab in front of the flip-up area that must be removed before the product is used for the first time.
You've Got the Look
Consumers expect their personal care packaging to function well and protect the product. They also expect "packaging that reflects the value of what they're buying," says Desrochers. Rexam is providing decorating solutions such as metallizing and hot-foil stamping to give packages a different look, and adding multipass decorations for customers. "These enhancements need to convince the consumer that the product is worth it," Desrochers says.
Forte's McCall agrees. "A half- ounce of wrinkle-reducing product may sell for $40, and if it just pours out of a tube [instead of being dispensed from a pump], the customer may question whether it's worth $40. Whereas, a high-end pump, such as a metallized pump with a metallized collar, adds glamour. It's costly packaging, but it also promotes a high price for retail."
Kane says that aesthetics is also a number one concern for Crown. She says that Crown can use bi-injection molding to create closures that use two different materials, or the same material in two different colors. It can also create components in translucent, pearlescent, or metallic finishes to help brands differentiate their products.
Demand for airless dispensers, like those by Forte Design Group, is growing as brands launch more sensitive-ingredient products. "Different aesthetics can reinforce a brand promise," says McEttrick. She points out that many new suncare launches this year used cosmetic lotion pumps to reinforce the skincarelike nature of the products. Aesthetics can also help differentiate the product on the shelf by highlighting a package's graphics. "Our Portable Pump was used for a teen line because it made the package look young, fun, and different," McEttrick says.
Brad-Pak's Brady says brands are asking for components with a slightly edgy look. "They do not want to use packaging that everyone else is using," she says. "A majority of our clients do not like the look of the old-fashioned saddle-head pumps. They prefer more of the European-looking type of pump." Popular color options include matte-silver and gold-metal pumps and caps, or darker pumps with an old-fashioned apothecary look.
No matter how dispensing systems look, operate, and meet consumer needs, it is clear that the demand for innovation is something packagers must continue to take seriously. "Our experience is that key decision makers are increasingly turning to innovative packaging and value-added dispensers," says Stob. "Innovation is the lifeblood of the personal care product industry."