Cosmetics packaging supplier Quadpack is targeting €400m in sales for 2025, up from €131m in 2019, and a global market share of 2%, up from 0.6% currently, making it one of the world’s top-five suppliers in its sector. To get there, the company is banking on collaborative innovation, such as its partnerships with Sulapac and Inotech, more sustainable solutions and global expansion.
In a press conference last week, Quadpack laid out a number of initiatives in line with its “positive impact packaging” strategy. First off, its partnership with Finnish micro-plastic free material supplier Sulapac, which is entering its second year in 2021. Following the launch this summer of the Nordic jar collection, a first collaboration, Quadpack envisages using the material for caps, bottles or as the inner container for refill solutions.
In addition to Sulapac, Quadpack is also exploring the use of wood; notably for closures and refill systems. It extended its YouWood range, part of the Q-Line family of products, with a new refillable lipstick, whose outer base and cap are in ash and the inner base, cap and shell mechanism in ABS.
Cork is another focus. Quadpack developed the Eco-warrior reusable and recyclable fragrance pack, comprised of a one-piece cork cap free of a plastic inner and lightweight glass bottle. New French luxury fragrance brand Obvious is one company that has opted for Quadpack's mono-material cork caps for its fragrances. “Cork is particularly suitable for caps as it has good friction and adheres well to other materials,” says Sustainability Champion Lyne Helen Bouchard.
Quadpack has also expanded Louvrette’s Regula range with Regula Light, an RPET jar said to use 40% less material, while offering a comparable price point to the previous generation.
The supplier is soon to launch its refillable Regula airless range whose recyclable PP inner component can be removed and replaced. In making it refillable, Quadpack did not increase the number of parts. The five-part airless system with PET outer shell is assembled into two parts for the conventional format and the refill system. The difference between the two systems is the patented ring, which enables a click-on assembly and a twist-off for the refill or for dismantling.
Covid impact & cost cutting
“Quadpack, like all players on the market, has been impacted by the health crisis,” comments Head of Category Pierre-Antoine Henry, noting that the company has cut costs by €5m in a bid to stem the loss. Quadpack says it has limited the impact to a 15%-20% sales decline for 2020 a result of its hybrid business model of sourcing and in-house manufacturing across skincare, makeup and fragrance.
Indeed, with the acquisition of German injection molding specialist Louvrette in 2019, some 30% of Quadpack’s sales now come from its own manufacturing, up from 15% previously. The supplier continues to open offices worldwide—most recently in Japan this June—as it looks to get closer to local trends.
The company revealed that it aims to launch a “disruptive innovation” with Inotech; Quadpack acquired the exclusive license to the German technology company’s bi-injection blow molding technology last year. This would enable it to do in one mold what traditionally calls for two- or four-step processes, and offer greater versatility in packaging shape and function, Henry says.
