SPI Packaging Strategy & Growth: Market Entry, Segment Priorities, Pricing and Go-to-Market Plans

The problem: choosing where to grow when demand is being reallocated

Packaging manufacturers and converters used to plan growth from end-market volume: more snacks, more e-commerce, more pharma. Those drivers still matter, but in 2026 a second force sits on top of them. Rules and buyer targets are moving demand between materials and formats on dates that are already published, and fee schedules now make some formats more expensive for your customer than others. A growth plan that ignores them can put capacity into a format that loses its market, or miss a format that is about to be required.

Rules create and remove markets on fixed dates

The SPI Regulation Tracker shows the dated shifts. In the EU, the PPWR restricts listed single-use plastic formats from 1 January 2030, including plastic packaging for pre-packed fresh fruit and vegetables under 1.5 kg and packaging for food and drink consumed on the premises in the HORECA sector (PR-EU-008). The same date brings 40% reuse for transport packaging (PR-EU-006), a 50% maximum empty-space ratio for grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging (PR-EU-009) and a recyclability requirement for all packaging (PR-EU-010). In the UK, deposit return for PET, steel and aluminium drinks containers starts on 1 October 2027 (PR-GB-004, PR-GB-005).

Fees change what your format costs the customer

Your customer’s total cost of a pack now includes its EPR fee, and fee schedules price formats very differently.

A converter offering a mono-material alternative to a laminate in Oregon can show the buyer a fee difference of several hundred to two thousand US dollars per tonne, from a published schedule. That is a pricing argument, and it changes from market to market: the same exercise in France, the UK or British Columbia gives different numbers in a different currency. SPI never adds or ranks fees across currencies; each market is shown in its own.

Buyer targets signal where volume will go

The SPI Buyers Database records what brand owners have promised, by when, and how far they have got. PepsiCo targets 40% or more recycled content in plastic packaging by 2035 and reports 18% for 2025. Procter & Gamble targets a 50% per-unit cut in virgin petroleum plastic by 2030 against 2018 and reports 24% for fiscal 2024/25. HEINEKEN targets 43% of volumes in reusable formats by 2030 and reports 39% for 2025 (SPI Buyers Database, company reports). Each gap is volume that someone will supply.

India: a large market where rules are setting demand now

India combines a large packaging market with rules that already bind. Plastic packaging EPR runs through Schedule II of the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, with producers, importers and brand owners registering on the CPCB portal (PR-IN-001). Listed single-use plastic items have been banned since 1 July 2022, and carry bags must be at least 120 microns since 31 December 2022 (PR-IN-004). Recycled-content and reuse shares rise each year to 2028-29.

Indian brand owners in the SPI Buyers Database include Dabur India, Hindustan Unilever, ITC Limited, Marico, Nestlé India and Tata Consumer Products. Dabur India’s own report shows the size of the gap: 2%, 6% and 1% recycled content in Category I, II and III plastic packaging of non-food items in FY 2025-26, against targets of 30%, 10% and 5% (SPI Buyers Database).

Where this service fits

In the SPI path from Discover to Implement, Strategy & Growth sits at the Decide stage. Readers usually arrive having used the free SPI Buyers Database to see what their customers have promised (Discover), the SPI Regulation Tracker to see which rules apply where (Understand) and the SPI EPR & Plastic Tax Calculator to see what formats cost (Evaluate). The engagement turns those inputs into a choice between options and a plan, and a retainer can then track new signals against that plan each quarter.

Who this service is for

• Owners, CEOs and strategy heads at packaging manufacturers and converters deciding where to invest next.
• Commercial directors setting prices or building a case for a new format or customer segment.
• Packaging strategy teams at brand owners deciding which formats and markets to develop with suppliers.
• Material suppliers looking for converter and end-use segments where their material has a regulatory or fee advantage.

Scope: what SPI covers

1. Market entry assessment for a new country, end use or format.
2. Growth opportunity screening across segments, scored against criteria you agree.
3. Portfolio review: which current formats are exposed to restrictions, fee penalties or buyer targets, and which gain.
4. Pricing intelligence from public and supplied data, including the fee and tax effects that change your customer’s total cost.
5. Go-to-market plan for the chosen options over 12 to 24 months.

How SPI scores growth options

Weights are set with you before any scoring, and each score carries its evidence and a confidence grade. Market sizes are shown as estimates with ranges and their method. This is the SPI rule of keeping sourced facts visibly apart from SPI judgement, applied to growth.

Deliverables

Methodology: the SPI 6-step spine, applied to growth

Sample deliverable outline (illustration only)

The outline below illustrates the format of an SPI growth review. It is not a past project. It names no commissioning company and reports no results; scores and sizes are placeholders.

Formats, timelines and pricing

Prices are quoted after a scoping call and fixed in a written proposal.

What SPI needs from you

• The growth decision, the options you are weighing and your planning horizon.
• Your capabilities: plants, technologies, formats, materials, certifications held and capacity headroom.
• Customer and segment data you are willing to share, and any price data for the engagement.
• Your criteria for a good option and how you would weight them.
• The person who owns the decision, and the date it must be made.

Limitations: what SPI does not do

• Market sizes are estimates shown with ranges and methods, not precise figures, and scenario results depend on the assumptions stated with them.
• Pricing intelligence uses public and supplied data only. SPI does not seek competitors’ non-public prices.
• SPI does not invent contacts, purchase volumes, supplier relationships or packaging specifications; gaps are reported as gaps.
• SPI does not give financial, tax or legal advice, and its plans are not investment recommendations.

SPI Trackers this service draws on

• SPI Regulation Tracker: the rules and dates that open or close segments, including 13 adopted rules with obligations still to start.
• SPI Buyers Database: 179 public packaging targets from 42 brand owners and retailers, as demand signals.
• SPI EPR & Plastic Tax Calculator: 216 published rate rows in 14 markets, for the fee side of pricing.

Related services: SPI Packaging Market & Competitive Intelligence for a deeper competitor view, SPI Packaging Regulatory Intelligence for full rule mapping, and SPI Sustainable Packaging Strategy for material alternatives. Readers can start from SPI Intelligence for Packaging manufacturers or SPI Intelligence for Converters, and read what EPR fees cost per tonne in 2026.

How to enquire

Send the enquiry form or write to sales@strategicpackaginginsights.com with the growth decision, the options you are weighing and your deadline. The SPI team aims to reply within two business days, then holds a scoping call and sends a written proposal with a fixed price.