How product packaging influences consumers

Influence of Product Packaging on Consumers Influence of Product Packaging on Consumers Introduction Many questions have been posed concerning consumer behavior in the marketplace. It is a business’ concern to understand why their potential customers chose certain brands and ignore others. Why is it that certain products do well in the market while others turn into dead stock? What differentiates products that are probably manufactured from the same ingredients and raw materials? These are some of the many questions that marketers seek to answer while strategizing for a high market performance for their products. Researchers have linked packaging of a product to its performance in the market. Obviously most people fall for what is physically appealing and finding a commodity in the market that can stand out from the rest would make it sell more (Peter, Higgins and Richmond, 2013). This, therefore, means that there is some influence that packaging has on the consumer. This paper seeks to analyze and determine some of the influences that product packaging has on consumer behavior and how it will affect their choice in purchasing.
With the growing rate of counterfeit products, consumers have realized that packaging of a product can give a clue whether the item is original and genuine. Most keen consumers take quite a considerable amount of time analyzing the product’s packaging in order to find elements such as government verification of quality, genuine manufacturer’s logo or stamp and many others just to be sure that the product is not a low quality duplicate of the original. Packaging, therefore, is a point of verification that consumers use. Those products having the rightful labeling will sell more (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2012).
Consequently, the appeal that the product gives will influence an individual into buying it. People prefer goods that stand out and owing to factors such as prestige and social identification; consumers are more likely to buy goods that are conspicuous and catchy. Young men, for example, are more likely to buy items that are well packaged such that when they walk with them everyone notices. This has also been found in women owing to the strong love for beauty. Consumers may be easily lured into buying items they did not plan for simply because they are attractive from outside.
The realization that attractive and luring packaging influences customers into buying has had huge impact in packaging-oriented profession. A lot of market research has been now conducted to determine what packages the potential customers are more likely to be attracted to and why. Companies are recruiting young innovators who can design desirable packages that can do well in the market. The use of technology in producing more sophisticated products that are well packaged has been trending lately in the manufacturing sector. For companies that fail to realize this trend, sooner or later they may be forced to shut down as consumers are increasingly attaching high value to packaging (Fisher and Shipton, 2010).
Conclusion
The role packaging plays in product marketing is quite significant. It is the ambassador of a brand to the consumer. As demonstrated, packaging increases trust that the customer forms with the product and thereby improving its sales. The appeal purpose it serves is also phenomenal. With this in mind, manufactures have sought for ways of improving their packaging.
References
Fisher, T., & Shipton, J. (2010). Designing for re-use: The life of consumer packaging. London: Earthscan.
Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., & McDaniel, C. D. (2012). Essentials of marketing. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Peters, J., Higgins, B., & Richmond, M. (2013). Creating value through packaging: Unlocking a new business and management strategy. Lancaster: DEStech Publications.