In an interview with PrintWeek, Grant Shouldice, product director of Flint Group Packaging & Narrow Web, explained that the growth of large US home improvement chains such as Home Depot and Loewe's along with the continued strength of outdoor/garden retailers has helped drive a small but growing packaging category - outdoor bags for products that are sold at stores but displayed outdoors.

"It's not a spectacular growth segment, but it is an opportunity especially for us," Shouldice said, adding that supplying ink for these outdoor bags is a $15-$20m annual turnover business.  

There are only a handful of products like mulch, grass seeds, fertilizer or roofing shingles that are shelved and displayed outside of physical stores, but Shouldice stressed that brand image remains important for the companies behind these products.

"The typical inks that are used are not good for packages that are stored outdoors on pallets because the humidity and other elements cause the ink to come off," he added. "You can end up with crappy looking bag package if it's been stored outside for a while and in some cases the brand graphics come right off."

One reason for that is because the Outdoor Bag packaging market has traditionally relied polyethylene substrates where adhesion can be difficult. PamioStar Outdoor ink utilizes a new approach to adhesion, making it less dependent on these difficult films to achieve superior adhesion and resistance properties, the Flint Group, whose US headquarters is in Plymouth, MI, claimed.

"Even though outdoor bag is a small market, it's part of the larger surface printing market that is worth $200-$300 million annually in North America," Shouldice explained, noting the technology behind PamioStar Outdoor can be transferred to other segments of the surface printing space. "Flexible packaging is a mature market so you have to dig a little to find the technology gaps and opportunities."