It's uncanny how consumers take to new packaging. (Brief Article) 

Author/s: Kevin O'Rourke
Issue: Drug Store News, March 20, 2000

Almost 20 years ago, Procter & Gamble made consumers aware of an innovative design in snack packaging when it launched Pringles potato crisps in rounded canisters. Now, a number of other snack food marketers are seeing the wisdom of the Pringles canister concept, one that is especially advantageous for the chain drug channel.

According to one buyer for a national chain, Pringles has a major merchandising advantage for drug stores over Frito-Lay, because drug stores don't have the floor space to display towers of potato chips. "But when we put Pringles on sale in the nice canister, we can place them on the end cap and they go deep and long, and we sell a ton of them," the buyer said. Another reason the drug channel is so enthusiastic about canisters is that they are reseal-able. As one buyer described it, the shoppers who may want a little bit more than a single serving or candy bar, but still want to take the package with them is the ideal customer for canister snacks.

Keebler currently is offering drug-channel-specific, 5-ounce resealable canisters for its Pecan Sandies and Chips Deluxe cookies. The company will begin packaging its Vienna Cream cookies in canisters in April, according to Charles Turnbull, sales director for Keebler's club and drug division.
"Our main reasons for going to the canisters were convenience and the uniqueness," Turnbull explained. "It was to do something unique, predominately for the drug channel." He said Keebler doesn't plan to expand the canister packaging much further because drug stores' lack of shelf space limits their product mix. Austin Quality Foods also has made a move to canisters with its Dolphins and Friends line of cheese snacks. Austin developed an oblong canister, explained Michael Ritchey, vice president of marketing, because children's small hands could handle the package easier. "We get a better shelf presence with the oblong canister and can fit more canisters in the same amount of shelf space," Ritchey said. Indeed, canisters give retailers more merchandising freedom. Buyers pointed out the ease of stacking canisters compared with bags. "A lot of companies have been coming out with standup bags that are re-sealable, but they are difficult to merchandise because they don't pack well on display," said one buyer. The Kellogg Co. is hoping to leverage its brand strength in cereal with a snacking version of Snack 'Ums. These would be packaged in resealable canisters, in single-serve, 1-ounce size and 4.2-ounce sizes.

For drug chains, perhaps the most lasting benefit of the move to canisters will be the point of differentiation from the food and mass retail classes. As one buyer put it, "Food stores aren't going to go for canisters because they sell so much more volume, and they have the floor space to stack up family-size packages."