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Thesis Proposal on

Packaging as a Brand-Building
            Tool.



                Presented to:

         Dr. Muneeruddin Soomro.
          Institute of Commerce,
           University of Sindh.




           In (Partial) Fulfillment

      of the Requirements for the Degree

               M.S Commerce




                     By

        Muhammad Yousif Shaikh
            2K7/COM/82

               October 2012
Packaging as a Brand-Building tool

Marketing competition in this day & age as quite stiff, and as a result, businesses & other
organizations are frantically trying to find new ways to get customers to purchase their
products, therefore by utilizing excellent packaging, companies can bring more
customers’ in. nothing tends to get a attention of customer the same way that outstanding
packaging design can. At the point of purchasing a product packaging is what serves as a
direct link between the product within and the customer looking to make a purchase.


It is important that marketers really get to know their market well so that they can make
sure that they are having a positive level of penetration. If the packaging is not doing
anything, when it comes to drawing attention to the product, then probably nobody is
going to buy the product. Whether brand packaging is designed for business to business
or consumer retail sales, packaging is everything when it comes to truly reflecting the
brand. Having a good packaging design will continue to work for company and product
for many years to come, which will allow you to build large amount of loyalty all along
the way.


It is important for this reason that you make a point to know your customers well, and
that you choose your packaging options accordingly. In order to be able to penetrate the
market with your packaging, that is when you can generate real brand power, generating
the appreciation of your customers & building business as a result.


Marketing & advertising will both play important roles in influencing the buying
intention of the customer, but neither of these roles are nearly as close to your product as
packaging is, because the decision to make a purchase during a shopping experience is
made specifically at the store level & not at the marketing or advertising level. Packaging
has a better reach than advertising does, and can set a brand apart from its competitors. It
promotes & reinforces the purchase decision not only at the point of purchase, but also
every time the product is used. Packaging in different serving sizes can extend a product
into new target markets or help to overcome cost barriers.
An important part of the product decision making process is the design of the packaging.
An effective packaging strategy can contribute to the firm’s competitive advantage. A
good packaging strategy will endeavor to produce packaging that is unique, functional,
safe, easy to remove, promotes product benefits and promotes the brand. Packaging
design, which upgrades the brand image value of its products in an artistic form and is for
the purpose of commodity sales, is a combination process of art & natural science.
Excellent product packaging is a link that delivers the products’ information &
consumers’ purchasing desire, and it should include the arts, materials, psychological,
market and many other factors. Therefore, it is critical for the package designer to
conduct a deep research into the consumers’ emotional appeal before carrying out
product design, due to which marketer use various psychological tricks to influence the
overall behavior of the consumers.
Products can be packaged in variety of styles. When it comes to packaging, size matters.
And also changes in the shape of packaging or serving sizes can have a big impact on
consumption patterns. Lets take the example of Tang (powdered beverage), they offer
their packages in various sizes. Pack ranges size from 4 gm sachet to 1000 gm bulk unit.
This can be either in the following formats, sachets, bag in box, printed bags, non glass
jars, non glass canisters, metal cans, composite cans, etc.
According to recent study, published in the journal of marketing research, volume
changes appear smaller when all three dimensions (height, width, and length) changes.
This is because to double the size of one of its dimensions – and then people will notice –
or one can just increase each dimension by 26 percent – and then people will under
estimate how big the change is. For marketers, this means that if a company increases the
size of its packaging in one dimension, consumers perceive it to be much larger & so
assume they’re getting a big deal and are more likely to buy it. If a company increases the
product size by the same volume, but the package is expanded in three dimensions – not
just one – consumers don’t perceive as big the change is. If the consumers are willing to
buy a larger size, then packaging designers should just increase the height because people
will notice. If they want to reduce the quantity of your package, for example if you had
higher raw material costs, marketers should reduce the height, the width, the length
because people won’t notice.
For the health and diet conscious customers, one of the keys to a healthy weight while
still getting all the nutrients and energy they need to enjoy life is watching packaging
serve size. Serve size is the amount of food you eat at one time. To avoid temptation, buy
single serves or individual portions of treat foods rather than big blocks of products or
family sized packs. The number of serves from each food group one need to meet their
nutrition needs depends on many things such as age, height, weight, how active consumer
is and how much consumer is willing to use that product.
There was a time when it was easy to raise the price of products and shoppers didn’t even
notice. Past researches showed that shoppers were completely unaware of little 5, 10, or
15 percent rise in prices, that’s not true anymore. Such as the wholesale price of
ingredients, their best option is to reduce the product size & retain the original price,
instead of raising the price. Some examples include smaller pizza in the same sized box,
more air space in the cereal boxes. There are all these kind of generic tactics being used
so shoppers don’t notice the difference.
Humans have always been interested in the preservation of food to extend its storage life.
Packaging became a necessity when food and other items needed to be packaged for
storage, transportation, protection, measurement, & display purposes. In early civilization
nature provided containers like hollowed-out trees and stones. A man discovered through
chemistry how to use elements like ores, product packaging took on new forms which
remain the standard today. However, the United States military has been a behind-the-
scenes influence in product packaging. The need to get perishable and non-perishable
products to servicemen around the world in all different climates led to many packaging
innovations. The space program has also been the source for packaging concepts.
Packaging industry is constantly coming up with new techniques to improve the quality
of products final appearance while launching them in the market. Since, overall
appearance of the products significantly impacts the marketing part, commercial product
manufacturing companies are very careful about the packaging services they hire.
Statement of the problem

Packaging could be treated as one of most valuable tool in today’s marketing
communications, necessitating more detail analysis of its elements & an impact of those
elements on consumer buying behavior.


The impact of package & its elements on consumer’s purchase decision can be revealed
by analyzing an importance of its separate elements for consumer’s choice. For this
purpose main package’s elements could be identified: graphic, color, size, form, material
of packaging are considered, wrapper design, printed information, innovation while
product information, producer, country-of-origin & brand are considered as important
ones. However, the impact of package elements on consumers purchase decisions should
be evaluated depending on the consumer’s involvement level, time pressure or individual
characteristics of consumers.


I am trying to point out few of the facts, which marketers will need to be aware of and
consider in product packaging. It’s important to understand the evolution of the package
because now products are using the packaging as the primary sales tool. It has to be
“speak” to consumers both literally & visually.


So, I do start my analysis by viewing a particular package from the eyes of consumers,
and emphasis on how to shape the image of the product to better meet the needs of the
consumers.


Research Questions:

    1. Do verbal/informational packaging attributes influence the purchase decision?

    2. Do visual packaging attributes influence the purchase decision?
Objective/Aim/Vision
According to the World Packaging Organization (WPO), globally the packaging material
& machinery industry is estimated to be worth 500 billion US $ per year, representing
between 1-2 % of the GDP in industrialized countries. An estimated 100,000 million
people, and in principle, serve all business sectors manufacturing and/or trading physical
products.

Packaging concept has gone through a fast & significant development in recent decades,
however the smartest development are to be seen in developing economies. Today’s
modern society depends to a large extend on the availability & use of modern packaging
technology, comprising a vast variety of modern materials, high tech applications &
smart concepts.

The aim of the study is to understand integral role packaging has to play in marketing &
selling product, as it’s no longer enough for the retail environment in a satisfactory
condition, now it has to sale the product too. Packaging plays an integral role in the
decision to purchase a product or not, therefore, it’s very crucial to analyze how the
psychological characteristic affects the buying behavior of customers.

Objectives of the Study:

      To find out the effects of packaging on the buying behavior.

      Theoretical analysis of package elements & their impact on consumer’s purchase

        decision empirically reveal the elements having the ultimate effect on consumer

        choice in a case of different products.

      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 highlight while design the packaging.

      Respondents' likes, dislikes as well as key purchase drivers will be examined.

      Preference of different packages by different income groups.
Literature Review


The concept of package design is inherently multidimensional, incorporating multiple
elements such as text, shape, graphics, design , logo, size, colors, illustrations, material,
construction, texture, and so on (Underwood et al., 2001). With regard to the main
elements of packaging, many different points of views have been expressed (for example
Ampuero & Vila, 2006, Underwood et al., 2001 and Vidales Giovannetti, 1995).
According to Ampuero & Vila (2006), a distinction is made between two blocks of
components:

   1. Graphic Components: It includes color, typography, the graphical shapes used
       and the images introduced. And

   2. Structural Components: It includes the shape & size of the packages & the
       materials used to manufacture them.

Silayoi and Speece (2004) also divide packaging elements into two categories, which are,
in part, different from Ampuero & Vilas (2006) view. According to Silayoi and Speece
(2004) four main packaging elements potentially affect consumer purchase decisions, and
they can be separated into two categories:

   1. Visual Elements: The visual elements consist of graphics, size, and shape of
       packaging, and relate more to the affective side of decision-making (Silayoi &
       Speece, 2004).

   2. Informational Elements: The informational elements relate to information
       provided, and technologies used in the package, and are more likely to address the
       cognitive side of decisions (Silayoi & Speece, 2004).
Figure shows the two types of communication elements of packaging: Visual and
Informational elements. Visual elements are divided into two parts: package graphics, &
package size & shape, and package graphics are further divided into four parts: layout,
illustrations, color, and typography. Informational elements are also divided into two
parts: Packaging Information & Packaging Technologies. First, the visual components,
and then, the informational components of packaging should be looked more closely into.


1.1) Package graphics

According to Silayoi and Speece (2004) the visual components of packaging are the
different graphical elements of the package and the size and shape of the package.
Furthermore, as mentioned, the graphical elements include layout, color combinations,
typography, and product illustrations, and they all contribute to creating an image for the
product or brand (Silayoi & Speece, 2004). Simply put, Silayoi and Speece (2004) state
that poor graphics can lose the sale for many consumers, while attractive graphics gains it
for many. First, a look at one of the most attention attracting graphical elements: color is
taken.


Color
Meyers-Levy and Peracchio (1995) suggested that color, which is assumed to be more
vivid than black and white, attracts attention and can provide information, as we will see
shortly. As already discussed, a product must be able to stand out from the clutter of
competing brands in order to succeed and color has a great capacity to attract the needed
attention (Fitzgerald Bone & Russo France, 2001; Meyers-Levy & Peracchio, 1995).
However, color can also attract attention to irrelevant data at the expense of more
important and diagnostic information in a situation when colorful graphics use
consumers’ resources that might better be used in examining the verbal component of the
package label, leading to an incorrect conclusion on the product (Fitzgerald Bone &
Russo France, 2001). Especially in the grocery store environment, consumers may rely
on cues that they can quickly assess (Richarsson et al., 1994) and therefore if the
product’s color evokes associations that conflict with actual product attributes the risk of
making a bad product choice is possible.


Color associations seem to be influenced by numerous aspects. Interestingly, Ampuero
and Vila (2006) discovered some color associations they stated could cross category
boundaries. In their study, the authors found that packaging in cold and dark colors were
usually associated with high-prices and refined aesthetics. In contrast, accessible products
that are directed to price sensitive consumers required light, mainly white, colored
packaging (Ampuero & Vila, 2006). Safe and guaranteed products were associated with
red packaging (Ampuero & Vila, 2006).
Layout
Ampuero and Vila (2006) found, in the same way, some common associations in the
second type of graphical elements: package layout. They found that non-selective, middle
class products were associated with horizontal and oblique straight lines, circles, curves,
wavy outlines, asymmetrical compositions and the use of several elements. In contrast,
high price products appeared to be associated with vertical straight lines, squares, straight
outlines, and symmetrical composition with one single element (Ampuero & Vila, 2006).
Also Rettie and Brewer (2000) touched upon layout issues as they studied the recall of
packaging elements. They found that elements were recalled differently according to their
placement on the package. The results indicate that verbal stimuli is recalled better when
they are on the right side of the visual field, and non-verbal stimuli recall would be better
when on the left hand side of the visual field (Rettie & Brewer, 2000). Hence, the
composition of visual elements could be thought to influence both the product
associations and product recall.

Pictures
The third graphical packaging element, packaging pictures, have been found to fulfill
multiple tasks. MacInnis and Price (1987), for instance, state that a consumer viewing a
product picture on a package is more likely to spontaneously imagine aspects of how a
product looks, tastes, feels, smells, or sounds like than they would with a picture less
package. Underwood et al. (2001), say that the positive impact of package pictures is
Primarily to increase attention to a brand, rather than increase the likelihood of the brand
to be chosen. According to them, pictures are extremely vivid stimuli and incorporating
visual imagery on a package may enhance the product’s accessibility to consumers
(Underwood et al., 2001), which does not seem to be synonymous to brand choice.


The picture can also be a source of information to a consumer (Underwood et al., 2001).
Pictorial content represents concrete information that tends to be more influential in the
decision making process than more abstract verbal information (Underwood et al., 2001).
A picture could actually show how the product looks like or how it could be served,
while verbal information can only describe it. For consumers wishing to save money, for
example, a picture may validate the quality of a more inexpensive private label product
when compared to a national brand (Underwood et al., 2001).



Typography
When it comes to the forth graphical packaging element, package typography, some
interesting findings have come up in previous research. Ampuero and Vila (2006) found
that packaging for elegant products usually presented bold, large, roman, upper case
letters with expanded characters (Ampuero & Vila, 2006). In contrast, accessible
products of reasonable price were associated with both serif and sans serif typographies
(Ampuero & Vila, 2006).



1.2) Size and shape
The second type of visual packaging elements is package size and shape. According to
Silayoi and Speece (2004), package size, shape, and elongation affect consumer
assessment and decisions, much like graphical elements, but not always in easily
uncovered ways. In their study, Silayoi and Speece (2004) found that size and shape were
much related to usability. While consumers thought of product pictures and graphics as a
means of communication, discussion about size and shape focused more on packages
being convenient to use and carry (Silayoi & Speece, 2004).
Consumers appeared to use package size & shape as simplifying visual heuristics to make
volume judgments (Silayoi & Speece, 2004). Interestingly, consumers perceived more
elongated packages to be larger, even if there was no difference in the size with the less
elongated packages, and even when they frequently purchased these packages & had
experience using them (Silayoi & Speece, 2007). Thus, elongating the shape, within
acceptable bounds, should result in consumers thinking of the package as a better value
for money & result in larger sales generally (Silayoi & Speece, 2007).
Shape is very important attribute as it is evidenced from the past researches & that signals
towards the fact that previous shape of package can become important marketing tool. In
case of Coca-Cola or other soft drinks, the bottle is the package so the shape of the bottle
becomes its brand identity. If we analyze the shapes of different soft drinks like pepsi or
sprite or fruit juices, we can see that different companies have got different shape of the
bottle, so the shape of package can become an innovative marketing tool creating an
iconic brand image through different shaped packages. Instead how we feel about the
product itself. The shape of the package must be designed in such a way so as to enable
the product to cut through the clutter on shelf space & creates its own distinct identity.
The replacement of tin pack of toothpaste with flexible, soft plastic pack, broadening of
caps of face wash, shaving cream so that the package can stand upside down, innovation
of liquid soap dispenser is the testimony to the fact that more & more effort should be
focused on making the package easy to handle and use by the customers. The shape of
the package is the significant attribute of the communication through the package and an
innovative pack design can help to set a brand apart from its competitors. Various studies
identifies that ease of handling the packages & protection are also weighted highly by
respondents & thus it indicates towards the reasoning that most of the toothpastes have
become soft plastic tubes rather than that old tin tube toothpaste used by companies like
forhans & colgate.
Package size has been stressed as one important variable of packaging convenience
(Draskovic, 2010). Size emerged as a very important factor thus indicating towards the
variation of packages sizes available for a particular product. We can take a examples of
shampoo sachet, deodorant sticks, small sized toothpaste packages or even more of
FMCG products. Variation of size makes the affordability of product adjustable as per the
income level & standard of living. Packaging in different serving sizes can extend a
product into new target markets or help to overcome cost barriers. In developing markets
such as Pakistan, the pack size can mean the difference between the success & failure of
a brand in the informal sector. Smaller packages & portions are usually priced at a lower
absolute level – making the product more readily affordable to a greator proportion of the
population.




Informational elements
The second type of packaging elements, are the informational elements: information
provided by the package and technologies used in the package. I will not be as thorough
in my exploration of the informational elements as I have been with the graphical
elements, due to the visual focus of this paper and the fact, that graphics may affect
beliefs more even when accurate verbal information is provided to the consumer
(Fitzgerald Bone & Russo France, 2001). This revelation makes the role of informational
Elements smaller in marketing communications.

2.1) Product information
As mentioned, one of packages’ functions is to communicate product information, which
can assist consumers in making their decisions carefully (Silayoi & Speece, 2007), and it
seems evident that written, verbal information has a great capacity to do this. However,
written information on a package can also create confusion by conveying either too much
information or misleading and inaccurate information (Silayoi & Speece, 2007) in some
cases. Furthermore, in a study by Silayoi and Speece (2007), consumers were found to
use explicit product information to assess healthiness, and also many other aspects of
quality.



2.2) Technology

When it comes to the second type of informational elements: packaging technology,
Silayoi and Speece (2007) found that the impression of the level of technology used in
packaging reflected the contemporary image of the product itself. Also, as convenience
has become increasingly important for food products, consumers who are worried about
time saving could pay more attention to claims of new technology, because of
technology's association with convenience (Silayoi & Speece, 2007). Coca-Cola is
expanding the distribution of products — Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Sprite —
that it sells in eight-ounce glass bottles, and S. C. Johnson now sells a line of reusable
Ziploc containers called Versa Glass that can be used in a microwave, a freezer and,
without their lids, even in an oven up to 400 degrees. “Its part of our overall effort to
increase packaging diversity so that people have more choices of packaging and portion
size,” said Susan Stribling, a Coca-Cola spokeswoman. (Stephanie, 2012).
Scope of Study

A packaging that is well designed for its marketing function helps to sell the product by
attracting the attention and expressing the product positively to the ultimate potential
consumers. To achieve the communication goals effectively and to optimize the potential
of the packaging in a buying place, marketers must recognize the attributes of a
packaging and their impact on consumer’s purchase decision and integrate these
perceptual attributes into their packaging design. This study is significant since majority
of the previous packaging studies were not locally-based (Silayoi and Speece, 2004;
2007; Kuvykaite et al., 2009), and so ought not to be expected to reflect the same
situation settings as in Pakistan. Thus, the results of this study will provide a new insight
to the local marketers towards the impact of visual as well as verbal packaging attributes
on consumer’s purchase decisions of packaged food.


It is important that business organizations focus on providing the best service to their
customers. The survival of the organization depends ultimately on the service provided.
Design is increasingly used by firms as a strategy to create a substantial competitive
advantage. Good design uniquely differentiates a product. Companies mastering the art of
design have emerged as leaders in their respective markets. In this proposal, I examine
how consumers respond to the visual aspects of packaging design and benefits of
studying consumer behavior.


Today’s companies in the packaging supply chain are faced with acknowledging,
understanding, addressing & managing a range of issues affecting the sustainable use of
packaging.
In nowadays competitive environment the role of package has changed due to increasing
self service & changing consumers’ life style. Firms’ interest in package as a tool of sales
promotion is growing increasingly. Package becomes an ultimate selling proposition
stimulating impulsive buying behavior, increasing market share & reducing promotional
costs.


Literature analysis on question under investigation has shown that there is no agreement
on classification of packaging elements as well as on research methods of package impact
on consumer’s purchase decision. Furthermore, the abundance of scientific literature on
this issue do not provide unanimous answer concerning impact of package elements on
consumer’s buying behavior: diversity of the results in this area depends not only a
research models constructed & method employed, but on the context of the research too.
Therefore, it’s very necessary to investigate the issue in more detail.


In this study we will try to find out how important are some design attributes of the
products for its quality perception. Also we are going to find out not only how important
are these attributes but furthermore in which way they affect consumers’ preferences.
There will be an effort to link consumers’ attitudes towards the package design attributes
with their involvement in the particular products as well as their consumption habits.


The final goal of this study is to help marketers to understand consumers’ preferences
about the design of their products. By this study we seek to reveal attributes of packaging
having the ultimate effect on consumer choice, taking into consideration that package
could be treated as a set of various elements communicating different messages to a
consumer; the research model will be developed & tested in order to reveal impact of
visual & verbal package elements on consumer’s purchase decisions.
Methodology
In this study work, after exhaustively surveying the literature on the dependant &
independent variables were jotted down & the questionnaire involving dependant and
independent variables will be administrated to the representative set of population. The
data will be collected through survey will be analyzed by using multiple regression
analysis. The questionnaire will be rated on the five point likert scale. The ratings of the
questionnaire will be ranged from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The strongly
disagree is to be allotted the scale of 1 and strongly agree will be allotted the scale of 5.
The respondents will be asked to fill the questionnaire which will involve 20 questions
that comprises the respondent’s feedback on various variables of the package. The survey
is to be conducted online as well as by the direct interaction at the point of purchase. The
survey will be conducted online to target the respondents on the random basis from the
population from the whole Pakistan, where though, the direct survey will be used as the
primary data collection tool for this study purpose, for which the convenient sampling
technique will be used where respondents are to be selected because of their convenient
accessibility & proximity to the researcher. Many researchers prefer the sampling
technique because it is fast, inexpensive, easy, and the respondents are readily available,
therefore, in this study the respondents will be targeted at the various super stores of the
Hyderabad, where customers experience the shelf impact of the product, therefore they
can better understand & analyze the various attributes of the product, so in return they
will better provide their feedback & experience for this study.

   Sampling Design:

           •   Sampling Population: Sampling population consisted of the different
               uses of packaging, which use the packaging in their day to day life,
               residing within the Hyderabad city. For this purpose, the respondents are
               to be targeted at the Delton super market, Zain super store, Haseen mart,
               Farhan departmental store, Sakrani super store, Syed brother’s super store,
               Pioneer bakery, Garison & various utility stores with in Hyderabad city.

           •   Sampling size: 300 respondents for direct survey by a questionnaire.
Data Collection:

        Self designed questionnaires will be administrated to gauge the
        preferences of respondents. A Two-part questionnaire will be developed
        for use as a survey instrument. In the first part, demographics section
        collect information on gender, age, number of adults and children’s per
        household, level of education, ethnicity, area of residence and finally they
        have to select income group from the multiple options, however, it will not
        be   compulsory      for    respondents    to    provide    their   complete
        demographic/personal information. In the second part, the questionnaires
        will be rated on the 5 point likert scale with 1 for strongly disagree & 5 for
        strongly agree, where they will be asked questions regarding the various
        attributes & variables of the particular products on the likert scale to
        measure the influence of various packaging attributes on the consumer
        perception.
        In this study, an online survey will also be used as internet access is
        increasing among consumers across the world. Consumers of all ages are
        becoming familiar with the use of this computer network.
        Questionnaires might be revised after surveying from 30 initial
        respondents to improve question clarity, user-friendliness, and enhance the
        quality of they collected data.
Resources

I will use survey method as primary data collection method that would be conducted by
questionnaires. In regard to secondary data, books, journals, newspaper etc. will be used
to determine the solution of research problem. I have access to computer hardware
software’s and internet facility to conduct my online survey. This study takes time and
money, even if I am funding my own research time, I still need to consider the impact on
things such as your subject’s time, travel, equipment needed and any permission required
to access the resources. For this study purpose I will need to use the printer, computer
software’s to analyze data, recommendations and suggestions from the supervisor and
other faculty members to assist in the methodology for this study, and need a prior
permission from the various superstores to let me conduct my survey over there.
Not all research proposal require a budget (such as thesis proposals for academic
institutions), however if researcher is intended to apply for funding for research, it is
important that researcher must be able to show how much money you require, and justify
the amount asked for. However, as I will arrange financial assistance from my personal
sources, that’s why I have estimated my financial expenses up to 69500.
The following expenses are an outline of expenses that will be required while
undertaking this study:


           Expenses Description                           Cost in Rupees (PKR)
Travel Cost (Petrol)                                                20000
Phone and internet charges                                           8000
Refreshments                                                        10000
Stationary                                                           5000
Photocopying & Binding                                               3000
Postage                                                              2500
Computer Software/ Printing/ Ink Cartridges                          6000
Miscellaneous/ Unforeseen costs                                      5000
Statistical Services (If Required)                                  10000
                          Total Estimated Cost:                    69500
Limitations

Although this research is carefully prepared, I am still aware of its limitations and short
comings. For the purpose of this study, an experiment will be conducted on particular
food products. The package design includes four attributes which vary in two particular
levels. Other products, other attributes & different levels may lead more or less in
different results. Furthermore, the design of the experiment as well as the illustration of
the participants will be done with my & my supervisor limited skills. Also the sample of
the study comes from the urban population of the Hyderabad region. Hyderabad is a
second most big city & economical hub of the Sindh province, with its particular social,
economic, & cultural characteristics. Therefore, the results cannot be over-generalized.
Duration

The proposed time duration for completing this study is over a 24 Weeks period. A table
presented below outlines the estimates duration of each process.




                                     Time Scale
  Duration
                                               Description
  (Weeks)
                  Review of Literature: Start Thinking about research ideas & objectives
       2
                  clearly defined with reference to literature.
                  Draft Literature Review: Collection of secondary data from books,
       2
                  journals, articles.
                  Compile, pilot, & Review Questionnaire: Design & testing of
       2
                  questionnaire, if appropriate.

       4          Administer Questionnaire: Design of a final questionnaire.

                  Final Collection of Questionnaire: Editing of completed
       6
                  questionnaire, grouping, and coding of data.
                  Data Analysis: Entering data into a computer, analyze data, draft
       3
                  findings chapter.
                  Final Writing of Project: Complete remaining chapters, submit to
       5          supervisor & await feedback, revise draft, format for submission, print,
                  bind, submit.
   24 Weeks       Total
Findings

It is expected that the study will make at least two contributions to the field of marketing.
First, the study will contribute to the expanding knowledge base of packaging concepts.
As more is known about the relationship between various packaging attributes and their
effects on the brand image, it will be possible to more clearly understand the importance
of visual and informative elements in influencing the consumer decision, which might be
affected by the level of education among the various customers, as it is already witnessed
from the past researches that if the customers are educated, than they are probably less
influenced by the visual elements of the packaging, as they are more likely to be
influenced by the informative elements such as usage information, nutrients facts, etc.
The proposed research study is viewed as a piece of this puzzle. The study should
contribute toward a better understanding of these facts.
I anticipate the impact of the results of the research to be useful for understanding the role
of packaging in the brand promotion. Marketers are always keen to adopt new tactics to
promote their products, so through this study, they will find a new and various interesting
facts regarding the peoples from the selected population. Therefore, the marketers can
interpret and use the finding of this study to further enhance their product attributes. This
study is important because it will show light on the general trends of the packaging in the
food products.
References

•   Ampuero, O., & Vila, N. (2006). Consumer perceptions of product packaging.
    Journal of Consumer Marketing, 23(2), 102-114.

•   Fitzgerald Bone, P., & Russo France, K. (2001). Package graphics and consumer
    product beliefs. Journal of Business and Psychology, 15(3), 467-489.

•   MacInnis, D. J., & Price, L. L. (1987). The role of imagery in information
    processing: Review and extensions. Journal of Consumer Research, 13(4), 473-
    491.

•   Meyers-Levy, J., & Peracchio, L. A. (1995). Understanding the effects of color:
    How the correspondence between available and required resources affects
    attitudes. Journal of Consumer Research, 22(2), 121-138.

•   Rettie, R., & Brewer, C. (2000). The verbal and visual components of package
    design. The Journal of Product and Brand Management, 9(1), 56-68.

•   Richarsson, P. S., Dick, A. S., & Jain, A. K. (1994). Extrinsic and intrinsic cue
    effects on perceptions of store brand quality. Journal of Marketing, 58, 28.

•   Silayoi, P., & Speece, M. (2004). Packaging and purchase decisions: An
    exploratory study of the impact of involvement and time pressure. British Food
    Journal, 106(8), 607-628.

•   Silayoi, P., & Speece, M. (2007). The importance of packaging attributes: A
    conjoint analysis approach. European Journal of Marketing, 41(11/12), 1495-
    1517.

•   Underwood, R. L., Klein, N. M., & Burke, R. R. (2001). Packaging
    communication: Attentional effects of product imagery. Journal of Product &
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•   Vidales Giovannetti, M. D. (1995). El mundo del envase. Manual para el diseño y
    producción de envases y embalajes. In Ampuero, O., & Vila, N. (2006).
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    23(2), 102-114.

•   Bone, P.F., & Corey, R.J. (2000). Packaging Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics,
    pp. 199-211.

•   Omar, O. E. (1996). Grocery purchase behaviour for national and own label
    brands. The Service Industries Journal. pp. 58-66.

•   Rundh, B. (2005). The multi-faceted dimension of packaging. British Food
    Journal, pp. 670-683.

•   Sehrawet, M., & Kundu, S.C. (2007). Buying behaviour of rural and urban
    consumers in India: the impact of packaging. International Journal of Consumer
    Studies, 31(6), 630-638.doi:10.1111/j.1470-6431.2007.00629.x

•   Zikmund, W.G. (2003). Business Research Methods. Ohio: South-Western City.

•   Assoc.   Professor      Jane    (2005),   consumer   response   to   sponsorship
    leveraged packaging (SLP), school of management and marketing university
    of Southern Queensland West Street.

•   Gonzalez M. P., Thorhsbury S., & Twede D. (2007). Packaging as a tool for
    productdevelopment: Communicating value to consumers. Journal of Food
    DistributionResearch, 38 (1), 61-66.

•   Sogn-Grundvag, G., & Østli, J. (2009). Consumer evaluation of unbranded
    andunlabelled food products: the case of bacalhau. European Journal of
    Marketing, 43 (1/2), 213-228.
•   Young, S. (2006). Measuring success: Using consumer research to document the
    value of package design. Design management review, 17 (2), 60-65.

•   Gonzalez M. P., Thorhsbury S., & Twede D. (2007), packaging as a tool
    for product development: Communicating value to consumers, journal of
    fooddistribution research, 38 (1), 61-66.


•   Stephanie Storm, “Wary of plastic, and waste, some consumers turn to glass”, The
    Newyork Times, June 20, 2012.


•   www.packagingdigest.com, Secondary packaging puts pharma protection first,
    Lisa McTigue Pierce.

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Thesis Proposal on Packaging as a Brand-Building Tool.

  • 1. Thesis Proposal on Packaging as a Brand-Building Tool. Presented to: Dr. Muneeruddin Soomro. Institute of Commerce, University of Sindh. In (Partial) Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree M.S Commerce By Muhammad Yousif Shaikh 2K7/COM/82 October 2012
  • 2. Packaging as a Brand-Building tool Marketing competition in this day & age as quite stiff, and as a result, businesses & other organizations are frantically trying to find new ways to get customers to purchase their products, therefore by utilizing excellent packaging, companies can bring more customers’ in. nothing tends to get a attention of customer the same way that outstanding packaging design can. At the point of purchasing a product packaging is what serves as a direct link between the product within and the customer looking to make a purchase. It is important that marketers really get to know their market well so that they can make sure that they are having a positive level of penetration. If the packaging is not doing anything, when it comes to drawing attention to the product, then probably nobody is going to buy the product. Whether brand packaging is designed for business to business or consumer retail sales, packaging is everything when it comes to truly reflecting the brand. Having a good packaging design will continue to work for company and product for many years to come, which will allow you to build large amount of loyalty all along the way. It is important for this reason that you make a point to know your customers well, and that you choose your packaging options accordingly. In order to be able to penetrate the market with your packaging, that is when you can generate real brand power, generating the appreciation of your customers & building business as a result. Marketing & advertising will both play important roles in influencing the buying intention of the customer, but neither of these roles are nearly as close to your product as packaging is, because the decision to make a purchase during a shopping experience is made specifically at the store level & not at the marketing or advertising level. Packaging has a better reach than advertising does, and can set a brand apart from its competitors. It promotes & reinforces the purchase decision not only at the point of purchase, but also every time the product is used. Packaging in different serving sizes can extend a product into new target markets or help to overcome cost barriers.
  • 3. An important part of the product decision making process is the design of the packaging. An effective packaging strategy can contribute to the firm’s competitive advantage. A good packaging strategy will endeavor to produce packaging that is unique, functional, safe, easy to remove, promotes product benefits and promotes the brand. Packaging design, which upgrades the brand image value of its products in an artistic form and is for the purpose of commodity sales, is a combination process of art & natural science. Excellent product packaging is a link that delivers the products’ information & consumers’ purchasing desire, and it should include the arts, materials, psychological, market and many other factors. Therefore, it is critical for the package designer to conduct a deep research into the consumers’ emotional appeal before carrying out product design, due to which marketer use various psychological tricks to influence the overall behavior of the consumers. Products can be packaged in variety of styles. When it comes to packaging, size matters. And also changes in the shape of packaging or serving sizes can have a big impact on consumption patterns. Lets take the example of Tang (powdered beverage), they offer their packages in various sizes. Pack ranges size from 4 gm sachet to 1000 gm bulk unit. This can be either in the following formats, sachets, bag in box, printed bags, non glass jars, non glass canisters, metal cans, composite cans, etc. According to recent study, published in the journal of marketing research, volume changes appear smaller when all three dimensions (height, width, and length) changes. This is because to double the size of one of its dimensions – and then people will notice – or one can just increase each dimension by 26 percent – and then people will under estimate how big the change is. For marketers, this means that if a company increases the size of its packaging in one dimension, consumers perceive it to be much larger & so assume they’re getting a big deal and are more likely to buy it. If a company increases the product size by the same volume, but the package is expanded in three dimensions – not just one – consumers don’t perceive as big the change is. If the consumers are willing to buy a larger size, then packaging designers should just increase the height because people will notice. If they want to reduce the quantity of your package, for example if you had higher raw material costs, marketers should reduce the height, the width, the length because people won’t notice.
  • 4. For the health and diet conscious customers, one of the keys to a healthy weight while still getting all the nutrients and energy they need to enjoy life is watching packaging serve size. Serve size is the amount of food you eat at one time. To avoid temptation, buy single serves or individual portions of treat foods rather than big blocks of products or family sized packs. The number of serves from each food group one need to meet their nutrition needs depends on many things such as age, height, weight, how active consumer is and how much consumer is willing to use that product. There was a time when it was easy to raise the price of products and shoppers didn’t even notice. Past researches showed that shoppers were completely unaware of little 5, 10, or 15 percent rise in prices, that’s not true anymore. Such as the wholesale price of ingredients, their best option is to reduce the product size & retain the original price, instead of raising the price. Some examples include smaller pizza in the same sized box, more air space in the cereal boxes. There are all these kind of generic tactics being used so shoppers don’t notice the difference. Humans have always been interested in the preservation of food to extend its storage life. Packaging became a necessity when food and other items needed to be packaged for storage, transportation, protection, measurement, & display purposes. In early civilization nature provided containers like hollowed-out trees and stones. A man discovered through chemistry how to use elements like ores, product packaging took on new forms which remain the standard today. However, the United States military has been a behind-the- scenes influence in product packaging. The need to get perishable and non-perishable products to servicemen around the world in all different climates led to many packaging innovations. The space program has also been the source for packaging concepts. Packaging industry is constantly coming up with new techniques to improve the quality of products final appearance while launching them in the market. Since, overall appearance of the products significantly impacts the marketing part, commercial product manufacturing companies are very careful about the packaging services they hire.
  • 5. Statement of the problem Packaging could be treated as one of most valuable tool in today’s marketing communications, necessitating more detail analysis of its elements & an impact of those elements on consumer buying behavior. The impact of package & its elements on consumer’s purchase decision can be revealed by analyzing an importance of its separate elements for consumer’s choice. For this purpose main package’s elements could be identified: graphic, color, size, form, material of packaging are considered, wrapper design, printed information, innovation while product information, producer, country-of-origin & brand are considered as important ones. However, the impact of package elements on consumers purchase decisions should be evaluated depending on the consumer’s involvement level, time pressure or individual characteristics of consumers. I am trying to point out few of the facts, which marketers will need to be aware of and consider in product packaging. It’s important to understand the evolution of the package because now products are using the packaging as the primary sales tool. It has to be “speak” to consumers both literally & visually. So, I do start my analysis by viewing a particular package from the eyes of consumers, and emphasis on how to shape the image of the product to better meet the needs of the consumers. Research Questions: 1. Do verbal/informational packaging attributes influence the purchase decision? 2. Do visual packaging attributes influence the purchase decision?
  • 6. Objective/Aim/Vision According to the World Packaging Organization (WPO), globally the packaging material & machinery industry is estimated to be worth 500 billion US $ per year, representing between 1-2 % of the GDP in industrialized countries. An estimated 100,000 million people, and in principle, serve all business sectors manufacturing and/or trading physical products. Packaging concept has gone through a fast & significant development in recent decades, however the smartest development are to be seen in developing economies. Today’s modern society depends to a large extend on the availability & use of modern packaging technology, comprising a vast variety of modern materials, high tech applications & smart concepts. The aim of the study is to understand integral role packaging has to play in marketing & selling product, as it’s no longer enough for the retail environment in a satisfactory condition, now it has to sale the product too. Packaging plays an integral role in the decision to purchase a product or not, therefore, it’s very crucial to analyze how the psychological characteristic affects the buying behavior of customers. Objectives of the Study:  To find out the effects of packaging on the buying behavior.  Theoretical analysis of package elements & their impact on consumer’s purchase decision empirically reveal the elements having the ultimate effect on consumer choice in a case of different products.  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 highlight while design the packaging.  Respondents' likes, dislikes as well as key purchase drivers will be examined.  Preference of different packages by different income groups.
  • 7. Literature Review The concept of package design is inherently multidimensional, incorporating multiple elements such as text, shape, graphics, design , logo, size, colors, illustrations, material, construction, texture, and so on (Underwood et al., 2001). With regard to the main elements of packaging, many different points of views have been expressed (for example Ampuero & Vila, 2006, Underwood et al., 2001 and Vidales Giovannetti, 1995). According to Ampuero & Vila (2006), a distinction is made between two blocks of components: 1. Graphic Components: It includes color, typography, the graphical shapes used and the images introduced. And 2. Structural Components: It includes the shape & size of the packages & the materials used to manufacture them. Silayoi and Speece (2004) also divide packaging elements into two categories, which are, in part, different from Ampuero & Vilas (2006) view. According to Silayoi and Speece (2004) four main packaging elements potentially affect consumer purchase decisions, and they can be separated into two categories: 1. Visual Elements: The visual elements consist of graphics, size, and shape of packaging, and relate more to the affective side of decision-making (Silayoi & Speece, 2004). 2. Informational Elements: The informational elements relate to information provided, and technologies used in the package, and are more likely to address the cognitive side of decisions (Silayoi & Speece, 2004).
  • 8. Figure shows the two types of communication elements of packaging: Visual and Informational elements. Visual elements are divided into two parts: package graphics, & package size & shape, and package graphics are further divided into four parts: layout, illustrations, color, and typography. Informational elements are also divided into two parts: Packaging Information & Packaging Technologies. First, the visual components, and then, the informational components of packaging should be looked more closely into. 1.1) Package graphics According to Silayoi and Speece (2004) the visual components of packaging are the different graphical elements of the package and the size and shape of the package.
  • 9. Furthermore, as mentioned, the graphical elements include layout, color combinations, typography, and product illustrations, and they all contribute to creating an image for the product or brand (Silayoi & Speece, 2004). Simply put, Silayoi and Speece (2004) state that poor graphics can lose the sale for many consumers, while attractive graphics gains it for many. First, a look at one of the most attention attracting graphical elements: color is taken. Color Meyers-Levy and Peracchio (1995) suggested that color, which is assumed to be more vivid than black and white, attracts attention and can provide information, as we will see shortly. As already discussed, a product must be able to stand out from the clutter of competing brands in order to succeed and color has a great capacity to attract the needed attention (Fitzgerald Bone & Russo France, 2001; Meyers-Levy & Peracchio, 1995). However, color can also attract attention to irrelevant data at the expense of more important and diagnostic information in a situation when colorful graphics use consumers’ resources that might better be used in examining the verbal component of the package label, leading to an incorrect conclusion on the product (Fitzgerald Bone & Russo France, 2001). Especially in the grocery store environment, consumers may rely on cues that they can quickly assess (Richarsson et al., 1994) and therefore if the product’s color evokes associations that conflict with actual product attributes the risk of making a bad product choice is possible. Color associations seem to be influenced by numerous aspects. Interestingly, Ampuero and Vila (2006) discovered some color associations they stated could cross category boundaries. In their study, the authors found that packaging in cold and dark colors were usually associated with high-prices and refined aesthetics. In contrast, accessible products that are directed to price sensitive consumers required light, mainly white, colored packaging (Ampuero & Vila, 2006). Safe and guaranteed products were associated with red packaging (Ampuero & Vila, 2006).
  • 10. Layout Ampuero and Vila (2006) found, in the same way, some common associations in the second type of graphical elements: package layout. They found that non-selective, middle class products were associated with horizontal and oblique straight lines, circles, curves, wavy outlines, asymmetrical compositions and the use of several elements. In contrast, high price products appeared to be associated with vertical straight lines, squares, straight outlines, and symmetrical composition with one single element (Ampuero & Vila, 2006). Also Rettie and Brewer (2000) touched upon layout issues as they studied the recall of packaging elements. They found that elements were recalled differently according to their placement on the package. The results indicate that verbal stimuli is recalled better when they are on the right side of the visual field, and non-verbal stimuli recall would be better when on the left hand side of the visual field (Rettie & Brewer, 2000). Hence, the composition of visual elements could be thought to influence both the product associations and product recall. Pictures The third graphical packaging element, packaging pictures, have been found to fulfill multiple tasks. MacInnis and Price (1987), for instance, state that a consumer viewing a product picture on a package is more likely to spontaneously imagine aspects of how a product looks, tastes, feels, smells, or sounds like than they would with a picture less package. Underwood et al. (2001), say that the positive impact of package pictures is Primarily to increase attention to a brand, rather than increase the likelihood of the brand to be chosen. According to them, pictures are extremely vivid stimuli and incorporating visual imagery on a package may enhance the product’s accessibility to consumers (Underwood et al., 2001), which does not seem to be synonymous to brand choice. The picture can also be a source of information to a consumer (Underwood et al., 2001). Pictorial content represents concrete information that tends to be more influential in the decision making process than more abstract verbal information (Underwood et al., 2001). A picture could actually show how the product looks like or how it could be served, while verbal information can only describe it. For consumers wishing to save money, for
  • 11. example, a picture may validate the quality of a more inexpensive private label product when compared to a national brand (Underwood et al., 2001). Typography When it comes to the forth graphical packaging element, package typography, some interesting findings have come up in previous research. Ampuero and Vila (2006) found that packaging for elegant products usually presented bold, large, roman, upper case letters with expanded characters (Ampuero & Vila, 2006). In contrast, accessible products of reasonable price were associated with both serif and sans serif typographies (Ampuero & Vila, 2006). 1.2) Size and shape The second type of visual packaging elements is package size and shape. According to Silayoi and Speece (2004), package size, shape, and elongation affect consumer assessment and decisions, much like graphical elements, but not always in easily uncovered ways. In their study, Silayoi and Speece (2004) found that size and shape were much related to usability. While consumers thought of product pictures and graphics as a means of communication, discussion about size and shape focused more on packages being convenient to use and carry (Silayoi & Speece, 2004). Consumers appeared to use package size & shape as simplifying visual heuristics to make volume judgments (Silayoi & Speece, 2004). Interestingly, consumers perceived more elongated packages to be larger, even if there was no difference in the size with the less elongated packages, and even when they frequently purchased these packages & had experience using them (Silayoi & Speece, 2007). Thus, elongating the shape, within acceptable bounds, should result in consumers thinking of the package as a better value for money & result in larger sales generally (Silayoi & Speece, 2007). Shape is very important attribute as it is evidenced from the past researches & that signals towards the fact that previous shape of package can become important marketing tool. In case of Coca-Cola or other soft drinks, the bottle is the package so the shape of the bottle becomes its brand identity. If we analyze the shapes of different soft drinks like pepsi or
  • 12. sprite or fruit juices, we can see that different companies have got different shape of the bottle, so the shape of package can become an innovative marketing tool creating an iconic brand image through different shaped packages. Instead how we feel about the product itself. The shape of the package must be designed in such a way so as to enable the product to cut through the clutter on shelf space & creates its own distinct identity. The replacement of tin pack of toothpaste with flexible, soft plastic pack, broadening of caps of face wash, shaving cream so that the package can stand upside down, innovation of liquid soap dispenser is the testimony to the fact that more & more effort should be focused on making the package easy to handle and use by the customers. The shape of the package is the significant attribute of the communication through the package and an innovative pack design can help to set a brand apart from its competitors. Various studies identifies that ease of handling the packages & protection are also weighted highly by respondents & thus it indicates towards the reasoning that most of the toothpastes have become soft plastic tubes rather than that old tin tube toothpaste used by companies like forhans & colgate. Package size has been stressed as one important variable of packaging convenience (Draskovic, 2010). Size emerged as a very important factor thus indicating towards the variation of packages sizes available for a particular product. We can take a examples of shampoo sachet, deodorant sticks, small sized toothpaste packages or even more of FMCG products. Variation of size makes the affordability of product adjustable as per the income level & standard of living. Packaging in different serving sizes can extend a product into new target markets or help to overcome cost barriers. In developing markets such as Pakistan, the pack size can mean the difference between the success & failure of a brand in the informal sector. Smaller packages & portions are usually priced at a lower absolute level – making the product more readily affordable to a greator proportion of the population. Informational elements The second type of packaging elements, are the informational elements: information provided by the package and technologies used in the package. I will not be as thorough
  • 13. in my exploration of the informational elements as I have been with the graphical elements, due to the visual focus of this paper and the fact, that graphics may affect beliefs more even when accurate verbal information is provided to the consumer (Fitzgerald Bone & Russo France, 2001). This revelation makes the role of informational Elements smaller in marketing communications. 2.1) Product information As mentioned, one of packages’ functions is to communicate product information, which can assist consumers in making their decisions carefully (Silayoi & Speece, 2007), and it seems evident that written, verbal information has a great capacity to do this. However, written information on a package can also create confusion by conveying either too much information or misleading and inaccurate information (Silayoi & Speece, 2007) in some cases. Furthermore, in a study by Silayoi and Speece (2007), consumers were found to use explicit product information to assess healthiness, and also many other aspects of quality. 2.2) Technology When it comes to the second type of informational elements: packaging technology, Silayoi and Speece (2007) found that the impression of the level of technology used in packaging reflected the contemporary image of the product itself. Also, as convenience has become increasingly important for food products, consumers who are worried about time saving could pay more attention to claims of new technology, because of technology's association with convenience (Silayoi & Speece, 2007). Coca-Cola is expanding the distribution of products — Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Sprite — that it sells in eight-ounce glass bottles, and S. C. Johnson now sells a line of reusable Ziploc containers called Versa Glass that can be used in a microwave, a freezer and, without their lids, even in an oven up to 400 degrees. “Its part of our overall effort to increase packaging diversity so that people have more choices of packaging and portion size,” said Susan Stribling, a Coca-Cola spokeswoman. (Stephanie, 2012).
  • 14. Scope of Study A packaging that is well designed for its marketing function helps to sell the product by attracting the attention and expressing the product positively to the ultimate potential consumers. To achieve the communication goals effectively and to optimize the potential of the packaging in a buying place, marketers must recognize the attributes of a packaging and their impact on consumer’s purchase decision and integrate these perceptual attributes into their packaging design. This study is significant since majority of the previous packaging studies were not locally-based (Silayoi and Speece, 2004; 2007; Kuvykaite et al., 2009), and so ought not to be expected to reflect the same situation settings as in Pakistan. Thus, the results of this study will provide a new insight to the local marketers towards the impact of visual as well as verbal packaging attributes on consumer’s purchase decisions of packaged food. It is important that business organizations focus on providing the best service to their customers. The survival of the organization depends ultimately on the service provided. Design is increasingly used by firms as a strategy to create a substantial competitive advantage. Good design uniquely differentiates a product. Companies mastering the art of design have emerged as leaders in their respective markets. In this proposal, I examine how consumers respond to the visual aspects of packaging design and benefits of studying consumer behavior. Today’s companies in the packaging supply chain are faced with acknowledging, understanding, addressing & managing a range of issues affecting the sustainable use of packaging.
  • 15. In nowadays competitive environment the role of package has changed due to increasing self service & changing consumers’ life style. Firms’ interest in package as a tool of sales promotion is growing increasingly. Package becomes an ultimate selling proposition stimulating impulsive buying behavior, increasing market share & reducing promotional costs. Literature analysis on question under investigation has shown that there is no agreement on classification of packaging elements as well as on research methods of package impact on consumer’s purchase decision. Furthermore, the abundance of scientific literature on this issue do not provide unanimous answer concerning impact of package elements on consumer’s buying behavior: diversity of the results in this area depends not only a research models constructed & method employed, but on the context of the research too. Therefore, it’s very necessary to investigate the issue in more detail. In this study we will try to find out how important are some design attributes of the products for its quality perception. Also we are going to find out not only how important are these attributes but furthermore in which way they affect consumers’ preferences. There will be an effort to link consumers’ attitudes towards the package design attributes with their involvement in the particular products as well as their consumption habits. The final goal of this study is to help marketers to understand consumers’ preferences about the design of their products. By this study we seek to reveal attributes of packaging having the ultimate effect on consumer choice, taking into consideration that package could be treated as a set of various elements communicating different messages to a consumer; the research model will be developed & tested in order to reveal impact of visual & verbal package elements on consumer’s purchase decisions.
  • 16. Methodology In this study work, after exhaustively surveying the literature on the dependant & independent variables were jotted down & the questionnaire involving dependant and independent variables will be administrated to the representative set of population. The data will be collected through survey will be analyzed by using multiple regression analysis. The questionnaire will be rated on the five point likert scale. The ratings of the questionnaire will be ranged from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The strongly disagree is to be allotted the scale of 1 and strongly agree will be allotted the scale of 5. The respondents will be asked to fill the questionnaire which will involve 20 questions that comprises the respondent’s feedback on various variables of the package. The survey is to be conducted online as well as by the direct interaction at the point of purchase. The survey will be conducted online to target the respondents on the random basis from the population from the whole Pakistan, where though, the direct survey will be used as the primary data collection tool for this study purpose, for which the convenient sampling technique will be used where respondents are to be selected because of their convenient accessibility & proximity to the researcher. Many researchers prefer the sampling technique because it is fast, inexpensive, easy, and the respondents are readily available, therefore, in this study the respondents will be targeted at the various super stores of the Hyderabad, where customers experience the shelf impact of the product, therefore they can better understand & analyze the various attributes of the product, so in return they will better provide their feedback & experience for this study. Sampling Design: • Sampling Population: Sampling population consisted of the different uses of packaging, which use the packaging in their day to day life, residing within the Hyderabad city. For this purpose, the respondents are to be targeted at the Delton super market, Zain super store, Haseen mart, Farhan departmental store, Sakrani super store, Syed brother’s super store, Pioneer bakery, Garison & various utility stores with in Hyderabad city. • Sampling size: 300 respondents for direct survey by a questionnaire.
  • 17. Data Collection: Self designed questionnaires will be administrated to gauge the preferences of respondents. A Two-part questionnaire will be developed for use as a survey instrument. In the first part, demographics section collect information on gender, age, number of adults and children’s per household, level of education, ethnicity, area of residence and finally they have to select income group from the multiple options, however, it will not be compulsory for respondents to provide their complete demographic/personal information. In the second part, the questionnaires will be rated on the 5 point likert scale with 1 for strongly disagree & 5 for strongly agree, where they will be asked questions regarding the various attributes & variables of the particular products on the likert scale to measure the influence of various packaging attributes on the consumer perception. In this study, an online survey will also be used as internet access is increasing among consumers across the world. Consumers of all ages are becoming familiar with the use of this computer network. Questionnaires might be revised after surveying from 30 initial respondents to improve question clarity, user-friendliness, and enhance the quality of they collected data.
  • 18. Resources I will use survey method as primary data collection method that would be conducted by questionnaires. In regard to secondary data, books, journals, newspaper etc. will be used to determine the solution of research problem. I have access to computer hardware software’s and internet facility to conduct my online survey. This study takes time and money, even if I am funding my own research time, I still need to consider the impact on things such as your subject’s time, travel, equipment needed and any permission required to access the resources. For this study purpose I will need to use the printer, computer software’s to analyze data, recommendations and suggestions from the supervisor and other faculty members to assist in the methodology for this study, and need a prior permission from the various superstores to let me conduct my survey over there. Not all research proposal require a budget (such as thesis proposals for academic institutions), however if researcher is intended to apply for funding for research, it is important that researcher must be able to show how much money you require, and justify the amount asked for. However, as I will arrange financial assistance from my personal sources, that’s why I have estimated my financial expenses up to 69500. The following expenses are an outline of expenses that will be required while undertaking this study: Expenses Description Cost in Rupees (PKR) Travel Cost (Petrol) 20000 Phone and internet charges 8000 Refreshments 10000 Stationary 5000 Photocopying & Binding 3000 Postage 2500 Computer Software/ Printing/ Ink Cartridges 6000 Miscellaneous/ Unforeseen costs 5000 Statistical Services (If Required) 10000 Total Estimated Cost: 69500
  • 19. Limitations Although this research is carefully prepared, I am still aware of its limitations and short comings. For the purpose of this study, an experiment will be conducted on particular food products. The package design includes four attributes which vary in two particular levels. Other products, other attributes & different levels may lead more or less in different results. Furthermore, the design of the experiment as well as the illustration of the participants will be done with my & my supervisor limited skills. Also the sample of the study comes from the urban population of the Hyderabad region. Hyderabad is a second most big city & economical hub of the Sindh province, with its particular social, economic, & cultural characteristics. Therefore, the results cannot be over-generalized.
  • 20. Duration The proposed time duration for completing this study is over a 24 Weeks period. A table presented below outlines the estimates duration of each process. Time Scale Duration Description (Weeks) Review of Literature: Start Thinking about research ideas & objectives 2 clearly defined with reference to literature. Draft Literature Review: Collection of secondary data from books, 2 journals, articles. Compile, pilot, & Review Questionnaire: Design & testing of 2 questionnaire, if appropriate. 4 Administer Questionnaire: Design of a final questionnaire. Final Collection of Questionnaire: Editing of completed 6 questionnaire, grouping, and coding of data. Data Analysis: Entering data into a computer, analyze data, draft 3 findings chapter. Final Writing of Project: Complete remaining chapters, submit to 5 supervisor & await feedback, revise draft, format for submission, print, bind, submit. 24 Weeks Total
  • 21. Findings It is expected that the study will make at least two contributions to the field of marketing. First, the study will contribute to the expanding knowledge base of packaging concepts. As more is known about the relationship between various packaging attributes and their effects on the brand image, it will be possible to more clearly understand the importance of visual and informative elements in influencing the consumer decision, which might be affected by the level of education among the various customers, as it is already witnessed from the past researches that if the customers are educated, than they are probably less influenced by the visual elements of the packaging, as they are more likely to be influenced by the informative elements such as usage information, nutrients facts, etc. The proposed research study is viewed as a piece of this puzzle. The study should contribute toward a better understanding of these facts. I anticipate the impact of the results of the research to be useful for understanding the role of packaging in the brand promotion. Marketers are always keen to adopt new tactics to promote their products, so through this study, they will find a new and various interesting facts regarding the peoples from the selected population. Therefore, the marketers can interpret and use the finding of this study to further enhance their product attributes. This study is important because it will show light on the general trends of the packaging in the food products.
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