In recent years, China's cosmetics market has maintained an average annual growth rate of 15%, with annual sales volume reaching nearly 50 billion yuan. It is predicted that the total sales volume will hit 800 billion yuan by 2010. As major packaging materials for cosmetics, both plastics and glass will also have considerable market potential. However, data shows that in recent years, plastic packaging has accounted for more than 80% of the cosmetics packaging market, thus becoming the dominant material for cosmetic containers.
Despite the diverse functions of cosmetic products, their external forms and packaging adaptability—such as those for liquids, body lotions or creams—lack distinctive appearances on their own. Only with beautiful and unique packaging designs can these products showcase their inherent characteristics. Therefore, cosmetics usually rely on packaging to achieve strong sales performance. Besides metals, plastics and glass are currently the primary materials used for cosmetic containers. In the past, glass bottles were commonly adopted for cosmetic packaging. However, due to the homogeneity of glass containers and constraints imposed by technology and materials, even well-conceived design concepts often failed to be fully realized.
Currently, owing to their low cost, lightweight nature and suitability for large-scale production, plastics can be manufactured into transparent or opaque bottles in a wide range of standard sizes and colors. They also boast excellent printability, allowing instructions, logos and barcodes to be directly printed on the container surface using methods such as heat transfer printing and inkjet printing.
Plastics feature abundant raw material sources and superior moldability, which enable them to be shaped into containers of various structures and forms, including bottles, jars and boxes. These plastic containers can also undergo diverse decorative and interior design processes. Additionally, the rapid development of PET resin applications in cosmetic containers in recent years has brought about significant changes in the use of plastics and glass in the industry.
