Shrink and Stretch Sleeve Labels Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

The shrink and stretch sleeve labels market was valued at USD 10.37 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 15.55 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 6.52% over the forecast period 2021 - 2026. In the last couple of decades, the labeling and packaging industry has experienced extensive product innovation. Sleeve label is one of those innovative products that has continually gained traction in the packaging landscape. Sleeve labels are colorful wraparounds around containers creating a greater aesthetic appeal.

• These are basically of two types - Shrink Sleeve Labels and Stretch Sleeve Labels. Shrink Sleeve Labels Market are extremely popular in the market and has been readily accepted by the packaging industry. Shrink Sleeve Labels Market easily adapt to the shape of the container giving it higher product visibility and consumer appeal.
• Stretch sleeve labeling is ready-to-use and can easily conform to containers of different shapes. In addition to the characteristics of providing a greater aesthetic appeal, it is eco-friendly. Stretch labels come with zero adhesiveness or heat and rely only on their elasticity to hold the container's shape. As compared to the standard shrink sleeve technology, stretch Sleeve Labels are more cost-effective, and this is expected to positively impact its demand in the future.
• The downside to stretch sleeve labeling is that the application rate is much slower than shrink sleeve labeling, typically less than 150 containers per minute. Shrink sleeve labels are an ideal fit for container package labeling, where the product is generally packed at higher throughput rates of up to 800 containers per minute.
• Manufacturers in the process of prioritizing consumer expectations and constructing better end-user engagement focus on the advanced labeling of their products to maintain a competitive advantage. For instance, recently, Overnight Labels. Inc., a well-known label manufacturing company, introduced a range of craft beer labels comprising of shrink sleeves offering enhanced substrates, varnish, and graphics.
• Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the supply chain is disrupted in packaging and labeling industry and has impacted the demand and supply of the products. However, governments across the globe have deemed food-related businesses essential, owing to which the demand for shrink and stretch sleeve labels market is expected to be steady during the period.

Key Market Trends

Demand to Increase On-Shelf Appeal of Various Products is Expected to Drive Growth

• Sleeve labels have the advantage over conventional label types in making a product stand out to consumers. Stretch and shrink sleeve labels have enhanced the versatility of conveying brand and safety messaging for packaging designers and brand owners. A sleeve label is applied to a package in multiple ways, from covering just the shoulders or the cap of a container to full-body, 360-degree coverage.
• Extra coverage provided by full-body shrink sleeves ensures space for colorful and eye-catching designs. Full-body sleeves equip product and brand owners with more space to communicate with both current and prospective customers. With tight labeling regulations for both food and pharmaceutical products in place or on the way, having extra space to conform to regulatory standards while maintaining a product’s ability to reach out to consumers is expected to heighten the importance of sleeve labels.
• Further, Shrink Sleeves provide better flexibility to manufacturers to use their shape to enhance marketing appeal. For instance, a twisted shape bottle may be named ‘Twister,’ or orange can be molded in the neck for orange juice. All this can be done while shrink sleeves allow the flexibility for the graphics to enhance bottle design for whatever the purpose the brand is trying to accomplish.
• They allow product-makers to utilize a single colorless container and differentiate products and lines with their labels. The movement to single-serve, smaller doses, and smaller containers is expected to drive the use of shrink sleeve as convenient as a way to get more content across smaller surface areas.

Asia Pacific is Expected to be the Fastest Growing Market

• The Asia-Pacific region has emerged as a significant shrink sleeve & stretch sleeve labels market, primarily driven by India and China's emerging economies. The major driving forces in the Asia-Pacific region include rising urbanized populations, increasing demand for packaged food, easy availability of polymer films, and relatively low labor cast.
• A price-sensitive market like South-East Asia is expected to be a major growth area for the use of shrink and stretch sleeves that are cost-effective solutions for decorating containers with highly complex shapes. Moreover, the easy availability of polymer films and low labor cost is further boosting the market growth.
• In the Asia Pacific region, China and India mainly dominate the market. Across the region, the outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted differently in every country. The manufacturing and production of packaging and labeling industries are only functional in selected countries, where packaging contributes to GDP significantly.​
• Further, the region's three major trade associations such as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), All India Foods Processors' Association, and the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF, along with big beverage manufacturing companies such as PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Mondelez, among others have submitted letters to the government requesting for the Food and Beverage manufacturing sector to be deemed as an 'essential service' and thus exempted from restrictions under the lockdown in order to continue production.

Competitive Landscape

The Competitive Landscape for the Shrink and Stretch Sleeve Labels Market is highly fragmented with several small and medium-sized players across geographies. The heightened need for customization leads to the proliferation of smaller players that cater to the customization needs of a handful of consumers. Some of the recent developments in the market are as follows: -

• July 2020 - CCL Label introduced EcoFloat TD shrink sleeve material engineered to improve the float separation process for PET bottle recycling. The new technology has been approved by the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP). EcoFloat has been developed to enable the packaging industry to meet recycling targets and to support sustainability.
• February 2020 - Far Eastern New Century’s (FENC) Top Green heat-shrink PET film for shrink sleeve labels was recognized by the Association of Plastic Recyclers for meeting or exceeding the requirements of its Critical Guidance Protocol for Clear PET Articles with Labels and Closures.
• In April 2019 - Eastman launched two APR-approved recyclable shrink-sleeve label resins. Both Embrace Encore and Embrace Float have received the Critical Guidance recognition of APR. Both uses shrink labels that can be recycled easily.

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