The Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP), in conjunction with IGD in the United Kingdom, ran their inaugural in-store excellence training session at Woolworths Newington store on the 16th of June this year. Fourteen packaging technologists from across food, beverage and manufacturing attended the full-day training session which was designed to give delegates exclusive access to Woolworths Newington store and staff, as well as offer three fully-planned, focused and reviewed hands-on experiences in-store. Attendees had the opportunity to have a go at range changing, promotion building and shelf-stacking, and the training was led by James Tupper, ECR learning & Change Manager, IGD.
Packaging technologists don't often get the chance to see how their designs work in practice, so our unique session gave them the opportunity to get stuck in to the daily work of replenishing shelves, promotion points and range changing. During this session, the technologists were able to appreciate:
- The practicalities of their product designs
- What makes some packaging designs more intuitive than others
- What shelf-ready designs work first time
- Why some designs don't actually get used.
Delegates were then able to sit down with Woolworths head office and store staff and ask them plenty of questions about shelf-ready packaging and its true functionality in-store. Many lessons were learnt during the day and the attendees walked away inspired, with fresh ideas on how to improve and even re-design their packaging to ensure that it meets the needs of the retail outlets as well as the customers.
The in-store training would not have been possible without the support of Woolworths and IGD in the United Kingdom. The AIP would like to extend their sincerest gratitude to Woolworths for opening their store during trading hours for the 14 packaging technologists.