Cop 3 Reading: Consumer Perceptions of Product Packaging

Ampuero, O. and Vila, N. (2006). Consumer perceptions of product packaging. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 23(2), pp.100-112.

References:

• Maggard, 1976
• Underwood, 2001 2003
• Clive Nancarrow 1998

p3:

• product positioning ‘meant the shape of the product, the size of the packaging and its price in comparison to competition’ 
• ‘the age of positioning which recognised the importance of the product and the image of the company, but above all, it underlined the need to achieve a position in the mind of the consumer’ 
• positioning ‘refers to what be done to the mind of the probable client’
• ‘how to position the product in their minds’ 
• ‘marketing mix elements (product, price, distribution and advertising) reach consumers and contribute to determining  desire product positioning  the minds of consumers’ (Maggard, 1976)

Communication activities:p3

• ‘positioning decisions identifies the product characteristics that should be stressed in the marketing mix, particularly in its communication campaign. 

Focus on Product decisions:

one element is packaging which is increasingly important because 

• ‘when faces with reduced advertising budgets, brand building expenses are reduced in the traditional mass media and communication efforts are concentrated on sales promotions and point of sale communication’
• ‘proliferation of number of brands in the market  the varied offer that purchasers and at the point of sale force there to be an increase in efforts to achieved effective differentiation’

Packaging:

• ‘container that is in direct contact with product itself, which holds, protects, preserves and identifies the product as well as facilitating handling and commercialisation’ (Vidales Giovannetti,1995)

Types:

• ‘Primary packaging is in direct contact with the product’, such as perfume bottles
• ‘Secondary packaging contains one or more primary packages and serves to protect and identity them and to communicate the qualities of the product’ normally discarded when the product is used 
• ‘Tertiary packaging contains the two previous and its function is to distribute, unify and protect products throughout the commercial chain’ 

Evans and Berman (1992) 

‘ packaging is a product element or characteristic’

Oslon and Jacob (1972)

‘packaging is an extrinsic element of the product, that is to say, it is attribute that is related to the product but that does not form part of the physical product itself’

Underwood (2003)

‘packaging is presented as part of the buying and consuming process, but often it is not directly related to the ingredients that are essential for the product to function’ 

Ziethaml (1972) 

‘considers packaging to be both an extrinsic and intrinsic attribute (an intrinsic attribute is one that cannot be changed without altering the physical composition of the product)’

e.g; non drip to - intrinsic whereas information on bottle is extrinsic 

p3

‘structural and graphic design of the packaging and even the optimised size of the product will be subject to market research’

Vidales Giovannetti (1995)

‘packaging is crucial, given that it is the first thing that the public sees before making the final decision to buy’ 

‘packaging has been called the ‘silent salesman’, as it informs us of the qualities and benefits that we are going to obtain if we consume a certain product’ 

Clive Nancarrow 1998

‘nine out of ten purchasers, at least occasionally, buy on impulse (welles, 1986)

Lindsey 1997

‘As it accompanies products, packaging lives in the home and potentially becomes an intimate part of the consumer’s life constituting  type of live experience between the consumer and the brand’ 

Blankson and Kalafatis 2001

Experiment/test results:

Colour:

Products directed at upper class , high price products and elegant

‘highly associated with cold and dark colours, mainly black’

Reasonably priced, accessible colours:

‘strategy is associated with light colours, mainly white’

Patriotic products and products based on guarantees;

‘neither of these two strategies where clearly associated with any of the graphic  design variables’

 Non-selective products:

‘strategy is not well defined. It appears to be associated with both light and dark colours,  both saturated and unsaturated colours‘ 

Packaging Typographies:

Elegant Products:

‘product associated with bold letters, expanded characters, upper case, large and roman  letters’

Products directed to upper class and high price products:

‘any typographic association’ - all widths, shape, type family, weight 

Accessible products:

‘associated with serif and sans serif’

Products based on guarantees, patriotic products and non-selective products:

‘’do not have a defined typography’ ‘not associated with weight, width, shape and type  family’ 

Packaging Graphic Form:

Upper class and elegant products:

‘mainly associated with the ‘none’ option within the five cases: straight line, line shape, type   of figures, elements and composition’ 

Accessible Products:

‘any graphic form: any straight line, any line shape, any type of figures, any amount of  elements and any composition’

Products based on guarantees, patriotic products and high price products:

‘associated to straight lines, vertical lines, straight outlines, symmetrical compositions and  single elements’ 

Non-selective products:

‘associated to horizontal lines and oblique lines, curved lines, wavy outlines, asymmetrical  compositions and several elements’ 

Packaging Images:

High price products, elegant products and patriotic products:

‘strategy is not related to any of the image options: photographs and illustrations and  images of the product or people’ 

Non-selective products:

‘associated with both illustration and photographs’

Products based on guarantees and upper class:

‘both strategies has been associated with photographs and images of the product’

Accessible Products:

‘has been associated with illustrations with people’

Conclusion:

Colour:

upper classes/high price and elegant and refined aesthetic ‘requires cold, dark coloured packaging’

Accessible products directed at price sensitive consumers  ‘light coloured packaging’

Packaging Typography:

Elegant products ‘usually presents bold, large, upper case letters with expanded characters’ 

Accessible products ‘associated with serif and sans serif typographies’  

Graphic Forms:

Non-selective products ‘horizontal and oblique straight lines, circles, curves, wavy outlines, asymmetrical composition and several elements’ 

High price products ‘appear to be associated with vertical straight lines, squares, straight outlines and symmetrical compositions with one single element’ 

Packaging Imagery:

Guaranteed products and upper class ‘associated with pictures showing product’

Price Sensitive consumers ‘associated with illustration showing people’ 

Managerial Implications:

‘perceptions are recommended on the grounds that the way a consumer see competitive offering will affect his buying decision’

‘opinions regarding alternative packaging formulas should be proved to anticipate the opinions that they originate and the behaviour that consequently cause’ 

‘once a firm has acted over the packaging to affect the perceptions, consumers will convert these perceptions in attitudes, which will determine the final buying decision’ 

‘we can conclude that a general feeling as to what particulate packaging exactly means exist’

‘general option should guide packaging designers to appropriately meet consumers’ expectations’

‘the proliferation of the number of brands in the market and the varied offer that purchasers fins at the point of sale force there to be an increase in efforts to achieve effect differentiation. In this scene, the poser of packaging has been demonstrated’