Parikalpana - KIIT Journal of Management, Vol-12(I), Jan-June 2016 63

Impact of Packaging on Consumers Buying Behaviour:

A Case Study of Mother Dairy, Kolkata

Bidyut Ghosh
PCM School of Management
Hooghly, WB, India - 712139
mail: bidyutbwn@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Packaging communicates brand personality through many elements, including a

combination of brand logo, colours, fonts, package materials, pictorials, product
descriptions, shapes. The focus of colour as a stimulus is related to its ability to aid
companies who are looking for ways to improve their sales. While some colours have
the ability to make goods stand out from their competitors among the clutter of the
goods and promotional material at the point of purchase, other colours do not have
this effect. The present study is based on primary data collected through the structured
questionnaire from the respondents of Howrah, Hooghly and Burdwan of the state of
West Bengal. The main theoretical framework of this study focuses on the finding of
relationship between consumers decision about buying the dairy products and
different elements of packaging such as packaging colour, background image.

INTRODUCTION
In the fiercely competitive market, than advertising (Mutsikiwa and
aesthetic elements of packaging have Marumbwa, 2013). Givee (Givee, 2011)
occupied an important and unique position have established that an appealing and
in delivering the product/service to the end successful packaging design with relevant
users. It has become important tool of design, pictures and decorations is more
differencing the product/service from the successful in attracting consumers.
similar kinds of products/services available However, an obvious question arises that
in the market (Wells, 2007). Rundh does this phenomenon applies to all
(Rundh, 2005) has clearly observed that categories of product and services, viz.
the packaging attracts consumers attention daily necessities, luxuries commodities,
to particular brand, packaging enhances cosmetics products, food items etc.
the product image and influences Moreover, though there is abundance of
consumers perception about the product literature on this particular issue in general,
or service. The appearance of the package there is dearth of quality literature on the
is believed to have a strong impact on issue of role of packaging particularly in
influencing consumers purchase decision the dairy products on the consumers
64 Parikalpana - KIIT Journal of Management

purchasing decisions. Under this have clearly established that packaging has
backdrop, this paper tries to examine the great impact on product marketing as
following specific objectives: 2004), works as a tool for differentiation,
i. To determine the effect of package i.e. helps consumers to choose the product
colour on consumers purchase from wide range of similar products and
decision; thus, stimulates customers buying behaviour.
ii. To examine the effect of background Garber (L.L. Garber, 2000) has
image used in packaging on observed that though the package design
consumers purchase decision; is an integrated element of the promotional
iii. To examine the impact of packaging mix, it is also an important carrier of brand
materials on the consumers purchase equity in the store.
decision;
iv. To examine the influence of products Packaging communicates brand
package typography on consumers personality through many elements,
purchase decision; and including a combination of brand logo,
v. To examine the impact of information colours, fonts, package materials,
printed on the packaging on pictorials, product descriptions, shapes
consumers purchase decision. and other elements that provide rich brand
associations (Underwood, 2003). A study
The present study is planned into five performed by CM Research (cited in
sections. The After the introduction in Gautier, 1996, p.37) demonstrated that
section I, section II deals with the literature consumers did not consciously believe
survey of the research problem. Data and they were purchasing products because of
methodological aspects of the study are the packaging alone There are strong
outlined in section III. Section IV consists indicators, however, of the subconscious
of results and discussion of the study, while influence of the packaging on the
the final section V summarises the purchasing processes.
conclusion and policy prescription
emanating from the overall analysis. While some research was conducted
by Wisenblitz (Wisenblitz, 1999) on colour
REVIEW OF LITERATURE choices with packaging in fast moving
There are numerous literatures consumer goods, they also highlighted the
available on this particular issue of impact need for more research into colour as a
of packaging on consumer purchase stimulus when they stated that colour
decisions. (Kuvykaite, 2001), research in the field of marketing still appears
(Underwood, 2001), (Speece, 2007), to be in its infancy (p. 86). Underwood
(Wells, 2007), (Marumbwa, 2013), (R.L. Underwood, 2001) highlighted the
(Givee, 2011) to name a few of them. importance of both colour and packaging
(R.L. Underwood, 2001), (Speece, 2007) as a brand communication vehicle.
 Impact of Packaging on Consumers Buying Behaviour 65

The focus of colour as a stimulus is packaging colour,

background image used in packaging,

related to its ability to aid companies who

quality of packaging materials,

Consumers' buying behaviour =
are looking for ways to improve their sales font style & size in packaging,
wrapper desing,
and obtain a dominant market share
packaging information


(Kotler, et al. 1998). While some colours
have the ability to make goods stand out The associations between the
from their competitors among the clutter dependent variable and independent
of the goods and promotional material at variable have been analysed individually
the point of purchase (Heath, 1997, and with the applications of Chi-square test.
Key, 2000) other colours do not have this Accordingly, the following set of
effect (Key, 2000). hypotheses have been framed keeping in
DATA AND METHODOLOGY mind the objectives of the study.
1. No relation between buying behaviour
The present study is purely based on
& packaging color
the primary data collected through the
structured questionnaire from the 2. No relation between buying behaviour
respondents. In total 150 filled & back-ground image,
questionnaires were collected from the 3. No relation between buying behaviour
districts of Howrah, Hooghly and & quality of packaging,
Burdwan of the state of West Bengal 4. No relation between buying behaviour
during the months of June-July, 2015. & wrapper design/packaging
However, after scrutiny of the data, 18 innovation
filled questionnaires were not included in
For the entire hypothesis, the
the final study and thus, total number of
dependent variable is the consumers
observations reduces to 132.
purchasing behaviour. The dependent
The main theoretical framework of this variables are the different elements of
study focuses on the finding of relationship packaging viz. Packaging colour,
between dependent variable (consumers background image used in packaging,
decision about buying the dairy products) and quality of packaging materials etc. Each
independent variables (different elements of of above mentioned dependent variables
packaging such as packaging colour, was measured by using the 5 points
background image etc.). It is hypothesised itemized rating type scale ranging from (1)
that consumers purchasing decision of dairy strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree
products is a function of the different [Likerts Scale].
packaging elements. These set of packaging
elements either jointly or individually may RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
influence the consumers purchase decision. Demographic Characteristics of the
Accordingly, the following theoretical Respondents: The sex distribution shows
framework is sought for.
66 Parikalpana - KIIT Journal of Management

that 69 percent of the respondents were Reliability checking of the analysis:

male, while 31 percent were female. The Any empirical research work should
age distribution shows that only 2 percent qualify the reliability analysis for checking
of the surveyed population belongs to the of the internal consistency of the
age group of below 18 years, 37 percent questionnaire and reliability of the primary
belongs to the age group of 19-35 years, data. As such the Cronbah alpha statistic
31 percent belongs to the age group 36- is found to be 0.57 which is quite
50 years, 18 percent belongs to the age acceptable.
group of 51-65 years while the age group t-test for Testing the Perception of
66 years and above captures the remaining Packaging in Mother Dairys Products:
12 percent of the sample observations.
Firstly, an attempt has been made to
With respect to occupational standard of
assess the customer perception about the
the respondents, 43 percent of total
packaging of products of Mother Dairy,
respondents were service holders, 27 Kolkata. For this, the respondents have
percent were business and the remaining been asked to rate the different products
30 percent were from others occupation of Mother Dairy on a 5-point Likert scale.
(students, housewife, etc.). The greater the value of the rating, the more
As far as the income levels of the is the satisfaction level. Now on a 5-point
respondents are concerned, it has Likert scale, the median value is 3. So, if a
observed that 44 percent belongs to lowest particular consumer rates his satisfaction
income category (Less than 10000 per level 3 or more, it implies that he is satisfied
month). Each of the income categories, with the packaging of Mother Dairys
10000-20000 and 20000-30000, products. The following table shows the
constitutes 20 percent of the surveyed mean satisfaction levels of different
population while the highest income aspects of packaging in Mother Dairy.
category (income more than 30000) It is evident from the results that
constitutes 16 percent of the surveyed customers of Mother Dairy is, in general,
population. Again if we look at the satisfied in packaging colour, background
consumption frequency of the surveyed image of packaging, quality of packaging
population, it has been observed that 72 materials, wrapper design, printed
percent of them are daily consumers, 8 information, packaging innovation.
percent of them consumer milk on However, they are not satisfied with the
alternative day. Another 14 percent of the typographic style of packaging as the
population is weekly consumers of milk calculated t-value is much higher than the
and the rest 6 percent consume milk for critical t-value and the corresponding p-
other purposes. value is smaller than the level of significance
(0.05).
 Impact of Packaging on Consumers Buying Behaviour 67

Table 1: Tests for the perception of Packaging Mother Dairys products

Packaging elements Mean t-value df Sig. level (p-value)
Packaging colour 3.01 2.61 131 0.000
Background image 3.09 1.007 131 0.158
Packaging materials 4.01 10.64 131 0.000
Typographic 2.92 0.928 131 0.822
Wrapper design 3.40 4.178 131 0.000
Printed information 3.84 9.494 131 0.000
Packaging innovation 3.26 2.736 131 0.000

Chi-square test for testing the association to see the degree of association between
between Consumer buying behaviour and consumer buying behaviour and packaging
packaging elements: Having examined the elements of products of Mother Dairy,
customers demographic profiles and their Kolkata. For this purpose, we have used
perception about the different aspects of Chi-square test of association. The results
product packaging, we are in a position are shown in table 2.

Table 2: Chi-square test of association between packaging elements and consumers

buying behaviour.
Variables examined for c2- Critical value Remarks
association of c
2
test statistic

Packaging colour and 44.34 (16) 26.29 Null hypothesis is rejected

buying behaviour and there is association
background image and 28.76 (16) 26.29 Null hypothesis is rejected
buying behaviour and there is association
Packaging materials and 17.59 (16) 26.29 Null hypothesis is accepted
buying behaviour and there is association
Font style and buying Null hypothesis is accepted
14.97 (16) 26.29
behaviour and there is association
Wrapper design and Null hypothesis is rejected
buying behaviour 26.29 (12) 21.09 and there is association
Printed information and Null hypothesis is accepted
buying behaviour 17.82 (16) 26.29 and there is association
Packaging innovation and Null hypothesis is rejected
buying behaviour 56.77 (16) 26.29 and there is association

Source: Authors calculation based on survey data.

68 Parikalpana - KIIT Journal of Management

The above results show that the independent After finding the association
variable such as packaging colour, between the dependent variable
background image, wrapper design and (consumer buying behaviour) and the set
packaging innovation have proper association of independent variable, we go for Carl
with the dependent variable (i.e., consumer Pearsons co-relation test in order to find
buying behaviour). However, no association out to what extent and strength of
has been found in cases of packaging association between the independent
materials, font style and printed information variables and the dependent variable in
in marketing of dairy products. Therefore, it dairy product packaging. The results of
is evident that if the elements of packaging the co-relation analysis is shown in the
are improved then the sales of the dairy table below.
products may improve to a certain extent.
Table 2 : Co-relation between Consumers buying behaviour and Elements of packaging
Dependent variable Independent variable Co-relation t-statistic
Coefficients
Buying behaviour Packaging colour 0.42 4.33
background image 0.35 4.26
Packaging materials 0.11 1.22
Font size 0.07 0.83
Wrapper design 0.38 4.66
Printed Information 0.02 0.26
Packaging innovation 0.01 0.15
It is evident from the above results that CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
packaging colour, background image and Thus, we find that packaging could
wrapper design of dairy product have be treated as one of the valuable marketing
moderate and significant association with weapons with respect to making proper
the consumer buying behaviour. However, communication between an organisation
the other dimensions of packaging such as and its consumers. The study makes it clear
materials used in packaging, font size, that the overall perception of the
printed information, innovative ideas in consumers about the different elements of
packaging etc., and the correlation packaging of Mother Dairys products is
coefficients were found to be very weak satisfactory. A right choice of packaging
and as such there is no such effects on color, background image, wrapper design,
consumer buying behaviour. Thus, both the innovative ideas when imparted to a
Chi-square association test and co- products packaging will create a happy
relation study produce the same results as feeling in consumers mind. All these
far as packaging of dairy products is packaging elements contribute an
concerned and its effects on consumers important effort to catch consumers
buying behaviour. attention and interest. As far as the
 Impact of Packaging on Consumers Buying Behaviour 69

association between dairy product Purchase Consideration and Choice.

packaging and impact on consumers Cambridge: Marketing Science Institute
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