Impact of Product Packaging on Consumer’s Buying Behavior

TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

This is to certify that the project report titled “ Impact of Product Packaging on Consumer’s
Buying Behaviour”carried out by Miss Bhawya wadhwa D/o INDER KUMAR
WADHWA has been accomplished under my guidance & supervision as a duly registered.
This project is being submitted by him/her in the partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of the Master of Business Administrationfrom Lovely
Professional University .Her dissertation represents his original work and is worthy of
consideration for the award of the degree of Master of Business Administration.

DECLARATION

I," BHAWYA WADHWA hereby declare that the work presented herein is genuine
work done originally by me and has not been published or submitted elsewhere for
the requirement of a degree programme.

bhawya
_______________________
(Student's name & Signature) _______________________
(Registration No.)
A19201131323
Date:
20.05.2016
 Acknowledgement
It was a great pleasure and a unique experience to work on this project and on its completion. We
would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to those who have extended their valuable
time, co-operation and guidance during the time of the study.
Completing a project without proper
g u i d a n c e i s l i k e s a i l i n g a l o n e i n a n o c e a n w i t h o u t a compass. We must affirm
our thankfulness to our guide
Mr. MANAS TANDON for their kind guidance, during my capstone project.
We must put on record our gratitude towards our faculty, without whom
we, would not have reached to the conclusion of the project. It was
through their efforts that we could complete the project well in time. The
respondents constituted the back bone of the project. Thanks to the
respondents who had taken out some time out of their busy schedule to
fill in my questionnaire without which the survey could not have taken place.

Prashant Kumar
Chandan Kumar
Asad Gour
Rajan Kumar

Executive Summary

Objective/purpose of the study

This descriptive study aims to identify the most important factors

which influence consumers’ learning after reading the packaging
information on the food product.
Scope of the study

v The study has been conducted in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Phagwara

of Punjab.

v It is decided to consider all malls in these places like big

bazaar, vishal mega mart, easyday, where can easily find out
the respondent for the survey.

Methodology

The study was descriptive in nature with survey method being used to
complete the study because this research is the most commonly
used and the basic reason for carrying out descriptive research is to
identify the consumer learning through the information given on food
products.

Popu lation of research h as b een tak en the p eop le of v ariou s

cities of Punjab.

A sample size of “500” consumers of Punjab (100 respondent from

Ludhiana, 200respondent from Jalandhar and 200 respondent from
Phagwara) are taken for the purposeof study and analysis. The
sampling technique has been used; Simple random sampling
techn iqu e fo r cho osing th e v ario us cities of Pun jab th at is
Ludh ian a, and Jalandhar, quota sampling

fo r d ivid ing the nu mb er of respo ndent in th e selected

city(Ludhiana, Phagwara, and jullundhar)
100 respondent from Ludhiana, 200 respondents
from Jalandhar and 200 respondents from
P h a g w a r a and Co nvenien ce sa mp lin g technique for
collecting the data conveniently from the mall of selected cities
of Punjab for the survey. Primary data was collected with the
help of structured questionnaire and personal interview with
consumers and for analysis of collected data we will use
SPSS,Microsoft excel.

Findings

v The study shows the people of Punjab really health Conesus.

v Packaging information plays important role to make

purchase decision of customer.
v The mostly consumers check the content detail, nutritional facts and
the way of using.
v The packaging information is significantly effect on consumer
learning.
v The most important thing is all respondents are aware about the food
packet information.
v
All respond en ts are ch eckin g p ackaging infor mation at
the time o f pu rch asing food products.
 Recommendation

After analyzing the facts and by talking to the people following

suggestions came out:

v Th e info r mation p rov id ed b y co mp an ies on food p ack et,

the fon t size is mu ch s maller which is not seen clearly to
all therefore companies should give it in appropriate size
for clear view to all on food packet.

v The most important thing is that in some cases abbreviation are

used for few words that is not understandable to some people. So
there should be full name must be given with abbreviation.

v During conversation with respondents many of them said that in some

product they were not able to find the information easily due to the
information is given in some case at the bottom of the packet, in some
case at the upper side of the packet, and sometime they did not find
the information that is useful to them. So therefore companies should
try to give it at a fixed place every time which can be found by the
customer easily.

v Th e info r mation p rov id ed b y co mp an ies on food p ack et,

should be in con trast and d eep color for the purpose of
visibility.

CHAPTER-1:
INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC
 Packaging

Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting

products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. The objective of
foodstuff packaging is to guarantee that consumers have access
to complete information on the content and composition of products, in
order to protect their health and their interests. Other information may
provide details on a particular aspect of the product, such as its origin or
production method. Some foodstuffs, such as genetically modified
organisms, allergenic
foods, foods intended for infants or even various beve
r a g e s , a r e a l s o s u b j e c t t o s p e c i f i c regulations.In 1990, the
Nutrition Packaging and Education Act went into effect. The
USDA and the FDA designed the requirements so that consumers
would have useful information about the food they eat. According to
the Nutrition Packaging and Education Act, all food packets
must contain the following information:

v Common name of the product

v Name and address of the product’s manufacturer

v Net contents in terms of weight, measure or count, and:

Ingredient List

Lists th e ing red ients in d escend ing o rd er of p redo min an ce

and weigh t. In Crisp y Crun ch es, the ing red ients are listed
at the b otto m o f th e lab el. As yo u can see, the predominant
ingredient is corn, next is oil, then cheese, etc.
 Serving Sizes

Each pack ag e mu st id entif y th e size of a serv ing . In Crisp y

Crunches, o ne package contains one serving. The nutritional
information given on the food packet is basedon one serving of the
food.

Nutrition Facts

Each pack ag e mu st id entif y th e qu antities of sp ecif ied

nu trien ts and foo d constituents for one serving. From this
information, you can gleam some very useful information.

Consumer learning:
A process by which individuals acquire the purchase and consumption
knowledge and experience that they apply to future related behaviour.
Information given on the packet of food product helps consumer
to make cognitive learning in
their min d . The cogn itiv e learn ing may
influ en ce th e con su mer b u ying b eh aviou r and mak e different
perceptions about product.
the usurpation of the creator's role.
Nicholas J Ollberding (2010)
this research indicates that
as i mp l e l o g o h e l p e d s t u d e n t s i d e n t i f y h e a l t h f u l f o o d c h o i c e s , a n d
p o s i t i v e l y i n f l u e n c e d f o o d choice," commented Professor Freedman. "It
would be interesting to determine if a
combinationof point-of-purchase nutrition information, coupled with
economic incentives (e.g. lower pricesfor healthier foods) would further drive
consumers to choose these healthier food items. We mustaggressively test such
options in light of the increasing threat of obesity to the health of
our society. Low rates of label use also suggest that national campaigns
or modification of the foodl a b e l ma y b e n e e d e d t o r e du c e t h e
proportion of the
p o p u l a t i o n n o t u s i n g t h i s i n f o r ma t i o n . P o s s i b l e c h a n g e s t o t h e c
urrent label that have been suggested include bolding calor
i e information, reporting the total nutrient intake for foods likely to be consumed
in a single sitting, and using more intuitive packaging that requires less cognitive
processing such as a red, yellow ,and green 'traffic light' signs on the front of
the label. The food label alone is not expected to be sufficient in
modifying behavior ultimately leading to improved health outcomes, but
may be used by individuals and nutrition professionals as a valuable and
motivating tool in our efforts to combat obesity
and diet-related chronic disease.
Swati Bhardwaj (2010)
The Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, amended in 2008, says food items
should carry labels that include the
weighto f t h e p r o d u c t , l i s t o f i n g r e d i e n t s p r e s e n t a n d n u t r i t i o n i n f o r
ma t i o n - i n c l u d i n g t o t a l c a l o r i e s (energy value) as well as amounts of
protein, carbohydrate, fat, sodium (salt), sugars, dietary fibre, vitamins and
minerals. According to Anoop Mishra, director and head of the department
of diabetes, obesity and metabolic diseases, Fortis Hospitals, New Delhi, it is a
myth that if a label says "cholesterol free", then the product will not affect blood
cholesterol levels. , the
small-scalema n u f a c t u r e r s e i t h e r s k i p t h i s p a c k a g i n g pr o c e d u r e o r mi
s l e a d t h e c o n s u me r s t h r o u g h f a l s e c l a i m s , " s a y s S w a t i B h a r d w a
j, nutritionist, National Diabetes, Obesity and CholesterolF
oundation (N-Doc), New Delhi. Even larger companies, some playing by more
stringent rules in international markets, are guilty of misleading with labels
such as "heart healthy", "fat free" or "sugar free", based on myths and
half-truths.

Kala Vijayraghavan, Ratna Bhushan. (2010)

Most food companies in India have started reducing portion sizes and are
reformulating existing products to reduce saturated fat, cholesterol, added sugars
and sodium in line with global trends .Food and beverage companies are gearing
up to meet the requirements of the integrated food law th a t wi l l b e ma n d a t o r y
t h i s ye a r , s a y i n d u s t r y p l a ye r s . Th e u n i f i e d f o o d l a w p l a n s t o s e t
u p , among other things, mandatory packaging of ingredients, and a scientific
panel to audit the claims

made by functional foods flooding the market. The food law will also
include a feature called 'food recall'.
Hawkes, Mintel (2004)
,As at least 65 per cent of food purchase decisions are made in-store, food labels
are clearly intended to influence consumption choices at point of purchase
by providing information relevant to the decision in hand. They combine
size,
colour, i ma g e s a n d infor m a t i v e P a c k a g i n g
canalso directly reinforce advertising and other b
r a n d communications, and stimulate an interpretation of the meaning of
these communications inr e l a t i o n t o t h e s e a n d o t h e r a s s o c i a t i o n s
a l r e a d y s t o r e d i n c o n s u me r s ' mi n d s . Th e me a n i n g a consumer ascribes
to a food can be related to a variety of different attributes the food is perceivedto
possess, such as a particular health or social value.

Dimara Efthalia, Skuras Dimitris (2005)

The purpose of this work is to examine the range of information

consumers seek on labels of quality products and construct an indicative
check-list of various types of informational
packaging
as well as to examine whether quality of information demanded
segregates the market-creating segments to be targeted by firms. The study
records the range of informational
packaging sought by consumers as well as critical factors influencing their
consuming behavior. Informational
packaging linking product to place ranks top among a wide set of information
sought on labels. A Poisson count data model reveals that consumers’ willingness
to acquire information from
labelsis i n f l u e n c e d b y v a r i o u s s o c io - e c o n o mi c c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s a n d ,
i n g e n e r a l , h i g h d e ma n d f o r information is associated with higher
expenditures for wine.

Singla Manisha (2010)

Nutritional
packaging
of food products is not mandatory in India at present and the Indian Government is
on the verge of introducing a code of conduct for it. The aim of this paper is to
provide some initial guidelines for the above-said purpose so as to have
consumer friendly
packaging
policies. Food la b e l s a r e r e a d b y t h e c o n s u me r s f o r
b r a n d c o mp a r i s on s a n d n o t f o r c o n s u l t i n g n u t r i t i on a l information.
Difficult terminology, small font size and inability to understand nutritional
labelsa r e t h e ma j o r p r o b l e ms e n c o u n t e r e d b y t h e c o ns u me r s . Te l e v i
s i o n , f r i e n d s , ma g a z i n e s a r e commonly used for assessing nutritional
information. Labels are considered more consumers friendly when
benchmarks regarding serving size are provided. Income level, size of household,
number of children and age did not play a role in the usage of nutritional labels by
the consumers. Consumers with special dietary needs used nutritional labels
regularly.

A. Stuart Stephen (2010)

This pilot study for a larger research project aims to quantify and
Categories elements of food label information and establishes an indicative
physical relationship between mandatory and
other information thereby articulating the relative balance between inform
ation intended to inform healthy dietary choices and that intended to
perform other functions such as aiding
purchased e c i s i o n s. F i n d i n g s i n d i c a t e t h e a mo u n t o f a v a i l a b l e s p a c
e o n l a b e l s d e v o t e d t o ma n d a t o r yi n f o r ma t i o n r a n g e d b e t w e e n 1 7
a n d 3 1 p e r c e n t , w h i l s t t h e a mo u n t a l l o c a t e d t o c om me r c i a l
information ranged between 18 and 45 per cent. Unoccupied space varies between
32 and 54 per cent. This indicates there is an imbalance between mandatory and
commercial information, with the weighting in favour of the latter.
Borin Norm, Obispo San Luis, Cerf C. Dou
glas
(2011)
T h e p u r p o s e o f t h i s p a p e r i s t o i nv e s t i g a t e t h e i mp a c t
o f d i f f e r e n t l e v e l s o f e n v i r o n me n t a l information on key consumer
metrics. More specifically, it aims to evaluate environmentally benign
products against those that have negative environmental impacts. The
results show
thatc o n s u m e r p e r c e p t i o n o f p r o d u c t q u a l i t y , v a l u e , a n d p u r c
h a s e i n t e n t i o n s d o e s n o t d i f f e r significantly between products
with positive environmental messages and those without any message.
Products with positive environmental messages are viewed better than
products with negative environmental messages. It is also found that the impact
of environmental information is greater for consumable product

Research methodology
Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. One can also
define research as
as c i e n t i f i c a n d s ys t e ma t i c s e a r c h f o r p e r t i n e n t i n f o r ma t i o n o n a s p
e c i f i c t o p i c . Ac c o r d i n g t o
Clifford Woody
1
research comprises defining and redefining problems, formulating
hypothesisor s u g g e s t e d s o l u t i o n s; c o l l e c t i n g , o r g a n i z i n g a n d e v a l u a
t i n g d a t a ; ma k i n g d e d u c t i o n s a n d reaching conclusions; and at last
carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fitthe
formulating hypothesis.
Research design
The study
-

The study was descriptive in nature with survey method being used to complete
thestudy because this research is the most commonly used and the basic
reason for carrying outdescriptive research is to identify the consumer
learning through the information given on
food p r o d u c t s . De s c r i p t i v e r e s e a r c h i s a l s o c a l l e d S t a t i s t i c a l R e s e
a r c h . An d i t d e s c r i b e s d a t a a n d characteristics about the population or
phenomenon being studied. Descriptive research answersthe questions who, what,
where, when and how.The main goal of this type of research is to describe
the data and characteristics about what is b e i n g s t u d i e d . He r e w e a r e
a l s o g o i n g t o f i n d o u t t h e e f f e c t of p a c k a g i n g
i n f o r ma t i o n o n consumer learning with respect to food product.

CLIFFORD

WOODY
Professor of Education, University of Michigan

Sampling design:
•
Population
Population of research was the people of various cities of Punjab
(Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Phagwara).
•
Sample size
A sample of “500” consumers of Punjab (100 respondent from Ludhiana, 200
respondentfrom Jalandhar and 200 respondent from Phagwara) are taken for the
purpose of studyand analysis.
•
Sampling unit:
Sample unit of study was the area of Ludhiana, Phagwara and jullundhar,
and in sampleunit it is decided to consider the mall of these areas which named
as vishal mega mart, big bazaar, and easy day.
•
Sample element:
T h e s a mp l e e l e me n t w a s t h e e a c h a n d e v e r y c o n s u me r wh o
p u r c h a s i n g p a c k e d f o o d products in the organized mall in various
cities of Punjab like Ludhiana, Phagwara andJalandhar.
•
Sampling technique

The sampling technique has been used

Simple random sampling technique

for choosingthe various cities of Punjab that is Ludhiana, Phagwara, and Jalandhar.
The quota sampling has been used for dividing the number of respondent in the
selectedc i t y ( L u d h i a n a , P h a g w a r a , a n d j u l l u n d h a r )

1 0 0 r e s p o n d e n t f r o m L u d h i a n a , 2 0 0 respondents from Jalandhar and

200 respondents from Phagwara
.
The Convenience sampling technique has been used for collecting the data
convenientlyfrom the mall of selected cities of Punjab for the survey.
Data collection
:Data was collected through primary and secondary sources.
•
Primary data:
P r i ma r y d a t a wa s c o l l e c t e d wi t h t h e h e l p o f s t r u c tu r e d q u e s t i o n n a
i r e a n d p e r s o n a l interview with consumers.
•
Secondary data:
Source of secondary data was collected with help of published, journals
and magazines,the websites.
•
Method of data analysis:
Analysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling
data withthe goal of highlighting useful information, suggestion, and supporting
decision making.And for analysis of collected data we will use SPSS, Microsoft
excel.
19

Impact of Product Packaging on Consumer’s Buying Behavior

Abstract
The objective of this study is to determine role of packaging on consumer’s buying
behavior. The purpose of this research is to examine the essential factors, which
are driving the success of a brand. This research also identified the relationship
between the dependent and independent variables. This is the primary research and
data has been collected through questionnaire and for analysis purpose SPSS
software has been used. In this study samples of 150 respondents has been
collected and tested the reliability of the model. According to the finding of the
research study, it has been observed that the packaging is the most important
factor. It is further concluded that the packaging elements like its Colour,
Packaging material, Design of Wrapper and innovation are more important factors
when consumers making any buying decision. Finally it has also been concluded
that the Packaging is one of the most important and powerful factor, which
influences consumer’s purchase decision.

INTRODUCTION

Now, packaging has become itself a sales promotion tool for the organizations.
The consumer’s buying behavior also stimulated by the packaging quality, color,
wrapper, and other characteristics of packaging. Packaging is a whole package that
becomes an ultimate selling proposition, which stimulates impulse buying
behavior. Packaging increases sales and market share and reduces market and
promotional costs

Objectives of the Study

• To Find Out the effect of packaging on the buying behavior decision.

• To check the effect of packaging elements on the buying behavior.

• To measure the relative impact of each packaging element on the consumer.

• To identify the elements, which should be highlighted while design the

packaging.

Research Question
To identify the role of packaging on consumer buying behavior decision
.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework between independent and dependent variables can be

expressed as

follows:

Independent Variable
• Packaging color

Color plays an important role in a potential customer’s decision-making process,

certain

colors set different moods and can help to draw attention.

• Packaging Material

Any material used especially to protect something- packing, wadding. Consumer

can

change its decision regarding Packaging material. High quality Packaging attract

consumer then low quality Packaging. So packaging material has strong impact on

buying behavior.

• Design of wrapper

The overall design also plays a vital role in attracting the consumer. Mostly the
children

of 10-18 years are so sensitive to the design of wrapper. The companies try their
best to

create attractive design of packaging.

Independent Variable
Packaging Color

Packaging Material

Design of Wrapper

Innovation

Dependent Variable

Consumer’s Buying Behavior

Independent Variable

• Packaging color

Color plays an important role in a potential customer’s decision-making process,

certain

colors set different moods and can help to draw attention.

• Packaging Material

Any material used especially to protect something- packing, wadding. Consumer

can

change its decision regarding Packaging material. High quality Packaging attract

consumer then low quality Packaging. So packaging material has strong impact on

buying behavior.

• Design of wrapper

The overall design also plays a vital role in attracting the consumer. Mostly the
children

of 10-18 years are so sensitive to the design of wrapper. The companies try their
best to

create attractive design of packaging

• Innovation
Innovative packaging may actually add value to the product if it meets a consumer
need

such as portion control, recyclability, tamper-proofing, child-proofing, easy-open,

easystore,

easy-carry, and non breakability.

Dependent Variable

Consumer Buying Behavior

Tools of Data Collection:

In order to find data on role of packaging on consumer buying behavior, we will

collect

data on four variables: The first benefit to use questionnaire technique is that
result.

Sampling Technique & Sample

The population of my study will be students and educational institutions of Karachi

in

which the sample size of 150 students will be taken for conducting the study by
using simple

random sampling in order to generalize the finding in the particular sector.

Measures

There were at least 13 questions in the survey obtaining data for one variable and
some

questions were directly obtaining with no complications. Measure for each variable
is defined

below:

Each variable was measure by asking the seven questions by using the 5-points
itemized rating
type scale ranging from (1) strongly disagrees to (5) strongly agree.

Methodology for Analysis of Data

To make analysis of data it will use SPSS software in which we will make analysis
in to

Two parts where part one will lead descriptive statistics that will be use to describe
and

summarize data and include measures of central tendency (average) and dispersion
(the spread of

data or how close each other is to the measure of central tendency).

Descriptive analysis

It is used first techniques for generating result is descriptive statistics. It shows

minimum,

maximum, and mean values of data.

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

Conclusion
Results of research study regarding the role of packaging on consumer’s buying

behavior stipulated following conclusions:

Packaging could be treated as one of the most valuable tool in today’s marketing

communications, necessitating more detail analysis of its elements and an impact

of those elements on consumer’s buying behavior.

Recommendation
It is highly recommended to the marketing and business units that they should

pay proper attention for good packaging. If they accept or introduce the poor

packaging then it could be one of the causes of product failure in the market. It is

necessary to set the packaging standard and to implement strategy accordingly for

better protection and promotion of a product.

Researcher believes that culture difference does have an impact on companies’

initiatives to design the product package, for instance, during our research; the

choices of packaging colors are quite different between the West and Far East.

Thus, it is recommended that it is important for international companies to take a

consideration of culture differences when they design the product package in

different parts of the World.

It is finally recommended that the marketers of the industry should not consider

the packaging is the solely factor for the success of any product, therefore, they

should also take up other important factors of the marketing while they are

launching new products or revitalize old products

It is also recommended to other researchers when they take up packaging then

they should also consider other factors and dimensions of marketing as well.

References

[1]. Rundh, B., 2005. The multi-faceted dimension of packaging. British Food

Journal, 107 (9), 670-684.

DECLARATION

I," BHAWYA WADHWA hereby declare that the work presented herein
is genuine work done originally by me and has not been published or
submitted elsewhere for the requirement of a degree programme.

Bhawya wadhwa

project submitted by :

BHAWYA WADHWA
A19201131323