Sustainability remains firmly embedded in packaging strategy, but companies are still struggling to operationalize smart technologies at scale. New data from RRD’s 2026 Integrated Packaging Report shows that despite strong investment signals across AI and IoT, implementation roadblocks, from fragmented IT systems to fulfillment-driven redesign demands, are slowing progress.
A Growing Intention–Execution Gap in Smart Packaging
RRD’s new report reinforces a trend visible across packaging and logistics operations: the wider ecosystem is moving toward item-level data, but enterprise systems and process readiness are developing more slowly. Most respondents say they intend to adopt technologies such as RFID, QR-based traceability, and IoT-enabled labels within one to three years, yet only a small fraction have active deployments in production environments.
The hesitancy is tied to operational complexity. Among companies not planning to transition soon, half cited concerns that their IT and infrastructure systems cannot yet support the added data flows or integration demands. That caution mirrors what recent trade reports have noted about serialization and digital governance initiatives, namely, that visibility programs often stall at the interfaces between packaging lines, warehouse execution systems, and carrier networks.
At the same time, investment behavior tells a different story. Respondents report accelerating commitments to IoT (87%), predictive analytics (85%), and real-time visibility platforms (84%). These spending patterns echo broader logistics technology trends in 2025–26, where companies are prioritizing data architecture and automation even when downstream use cases, such as connected packaging, lag in practical deployment.
E-commerce adds further urgency. Nearly all respondents operate an e-commerce channel, and 80% expect it to grow within three years. That expansion is driving packaging redesign toward direct-to-consumer requirements, lighter materials, improved protection, and more robust identification, to enable consistent tracking and automate post-purchase flows such as returns and replenishment.
Sustainability Becomes a Non-Negotiable Design Parameter
Even as smart packaging adoption progresses unevenly, sustainability remains the clearest and most consistently funded design requirement. Internal sustainability goals were cited as the primary driver of packaging changes by 74% of packaging respondents. Nearly half, 49%, expect environmental regulation to materially affect operations within the coming three years, underscoring how design teams are calibrating portfolios ahead of compliance timelines.
AI is now part of that recalibration. Sustainability optimization ranked as the top AI use case, with 62% of respondents expecting the technology to shape material decisions, packaging reduction efforts, and waste-minimization strategies. This aligns with recent industry work around lifecycle analytics and packaging-to-logistics modeling, where AI tools are being applied to quantify emissions reductions and identify more efficient combinations of materials and formats.
A net 77% of packaging professionals expect their operations to move their organizations closer to sustainability goals over the next one to three years. The momentum is consistent with findings from RRD’s 2024 Packaging & Labels Insight Report, where a majority of respondents said their packaging programs had already contributed to measurable sustainability progress.
A Shift That Will Test Supply Chain Readiness
One underexamined factor shaping the next phase of smart packaging is how quickly upstream material suppliers can standardize the digital attributes brands now expect. Recent trade reports show that converters, resin producers, and label manufacturers are upgrading their own data systems unevenly, creating mismatches between what brands design and what partners can reliably deliver. As more packaging programs depend on serialized identifiers and real-time data capture, the speed of adoption may hinge less on enterprise ambition and more on whether suppliers across the chain can meet these rising technical baselines.
