Poland is relatively new to the international market which means they are now competing with countries such as Holland and Belgium who have at least 50 years of experience and have a broader knowledge of demand in the local markets. A lot is new for the Polish companies, so Marek Marzec, founder of Polish company Ewa-Bis, finds big events such as Fruit Logisitica in Berlin, a great opportunity to discuss the regional markets and to continue to learn more about them to improve business.
“I dedicate half of my time to meeting existing customers, and half of my time to exploring and looking at the various halls to discover new packaging technologies and materials," shares Marek.
For example, “Europe is very traditional in terms of packaging, I visited Toronto last week for work and while the visiting the shops there, I noticed that convenience packaging is really a trend. Especially the one or two kilo bag of pre-packaged fruit in a net with a plastic label. Shoppers there, especially those who are single, don’t have much time to do their shopping so they like to make the shopping quick, they can just grab what they need and go, able to check out in a couple of minutes.”
This preference varies from those in Central and Eastern Europe. Pre-packaged trays are not popular, with 95% of fruit and vegetables sold loosely so consumers can select their own. This method is not very good for growers because it means that they will never be able to sell 100% of their product. The fruit has been handled by so many customers by the end of one week, that this additional handling causes further damage and losses due to high shrinkage.
Out of the 30 countries that Ewa-Bis supplies to, 60% of their customers visit the event and Marek finds it the perfect occasion to meet their customers, make further contact and to evaluate relationships and talk about future plans.
"Creating new contacts, from the event itself is very rare. Many visitors are gathering information and leaflets from various companies and sometimes they do make their way back.” concludes Marek.
