Pacaking and Labelling: Important Aspect of Marketing Mix - Essay Example

? PACAKGING AND LABELLING: IMPORTANT ASPECT OF MARKETING MIX By number and of Contents Contents 2 INTRODUCTION: 3 PACKAGING AND ITS IMPORTANCE: 4 WHY PACKAGING? 6 LABELLING: 8 CONCLUSION: 9 INTRODUCTION: The term marketing is a very vast and diversified notion. It’s not merely related to just selling and advertising about products and services but it’s more than that. It’s about identifying customer needs and developing products and services that not only satisfies their needs, but also sell well. So the first rule of marketing is not how to sell or advertise your product, but to design a set of tools that integrate together as a marketing mix to satisfy what the customers want and to build stronger and long lasting relationships with them (Baker, 2007). Thus, marketing in its broad aspect can be termed as a process through which individuals or organizations create value for customers and gain what they want, that is profitability and long term relations from customers in exchange of the value they provide. Traditionally marketing mix was only comprised of four P’s, namely product, price, promotion and place. But in recent times there has been an addition in the P’s of the marketing mix such as people, packaging, positioning etc. There is immense competition in every field of work, and thus the concept of marketing had taken its toll. The factors that have an effect on the success of a product or services revolve around a lot of factors such as the booming technology, telecommunication, speedy globalization, ethics and corporate social responsibility (Brassington & Pettitt, 2006). When these are all combined with the marketing mix, helps in developing something that delivers value to the customer, and the finally the organization or company reaps the reward in terms of profitability, customer loyalty and customer equity (Dibb, Simkin, Pride, & Ferrell, 2005). PACKAGING AND ITS IMPORTANCE: The product is self is very important because it is important to understand that something that is being manufactured actually had a demand and is needed in the market. Then comes its pricing, the way and place its distributed and how it is promoted or advertised. But now, another important element is added to the product that is the way it is displayed or packed. Thus, packaging and labelling of a product had become an important element of the marketing mix (Drummond & Ensor, 2005). Packaging mainly refers to the designing and producing a container or a wrapper for a product to preserve or hold it that enables it to be easily distributed to the customers. One single product has usually three layers of packaging. The primary package is the container or a wrapper that holds the main product, the secondary package us usually a box that holds the primary product inside it and is usually thrown away. And lastly there is a packaging for shipping. That is usually a big carton box that holds multiple individually packed products that are easily transported or shipped (Groucutt, 2005). A couple of years ago, the purpose of packaging was merely to hold and protect the product, so that it could reach the end users in an appropriate way. But nowadays the whole concept of packaging has evolved, and it has become an immensely important tool of marketing, that makes the product attractive and adds value to it (Jobber, 2009). The marketing environment is becoming increasingly complicated and competitive. Day by day, this increasing competition is becoming a threat to the manufacturing companies. Advertising is a very effective medium of communication to the consumers who are exposed to it. It is not easy to reach each and every potential consumer due to media fragmentation. Therefore, because of its limited reach, in comparison to advertising, the packaging of a product is something that mostly all buyers will experience, so it will engage a potentially huge majority of the target market. The recent marketers also believe that the packaging of the product is more influential than advertising in influencing the customers because it has a more direct impact on the way consumers perceive and experience the product. As a result, packaging nowadays, is one of an extremely powerful and exclusive tool in the modern marketing environment (Kotler, Armstrong, Wong, & Saunders, 2010). For attaining a good place on the shelf, it is now important that the product has an attractive packaging to gain attention of the customers. If the packaging is innovative, or something that gives convenience to customers in usage and storage, it can give a company a competitive edge over competitors. The main reason for this is because mostly the customers come into contact with the products in the shelf and are more attracted to the standard of the product and the way it is presented. This is so, because for example, there is a supermarket which stocks about 17000 to 20000 items, a customer while shopping on an average will pass through looking at least 300 items a minute and about 50% to 70% of the purchases are on the basis of impulse buying behaviour (Luca & Penco, 2006). Therefore if the packaging of a product is attractive and creates an instant recognition of the company or brand on the consumers mind and is appealing to them it will influence them to buy it. In the promotional campaigns, for setting a criteria for pricing, or defining the characteristics for a new product, for setting trends, or as an instrument for creating an impact in shelf or creating a brand identity packaging plays a vital role. Packaging is not only just a box, tin or wrapper but includes the design, colour, shape, labelling and the material that is used makes up the entire outlook of the product and the way it is presented to the customer, appealing to them and may be convincing them to buy it. WHY PACKAGING? Many people, authors and companies believe that packaging is just a part of the product component in the marketing mix, but most of them in the modern times where there is immense competition and the world has turned into a global village think that packaging serves as a promotional tool instead of just a product extension. A famous author, Keller believes that packaging is not related to product, but it’s one of the five elements of the brand, combined with the name, logo or graphical symbol, personality or the slogan (Luca & Penco, 2006). The importance of packaging should not be underestimated. Usually, marketers assess the brand perception of the consumer and ignore the pack. But it is also observed and to a great extent true as well, that consumers do not respond well to the products that are unbranded, therefore once again, packaging plays a massive role in the reinforcement of the consumer perceptions by enabling them to experience the product (Haque & Joshi, 2011). Now, when it is linked with brands, it opens up a whole new aspect to the importance of packaging related to the brands. Many companies are realizing the power of packaging in great depth that creates instant recognition for the company or brand, for which a lot of research and development is now being done on how to make the product more appealing to the customers. For this, the companies that are mainly the manufacturers consumer packaged goods are investing heavily on the research for developing package designs to make the consumers life easier and to grab more shelf space and attention. For example, Dutch Boy paint came up with an innovative packaging for their paints that gave it a competitive edge over its competitors and boosted its sales. Its “twist and pour” concept for opening the container of the paint gave convenience to the consumers and demolished the need of using a screw driver to open up the can and use a hammer to close it dripping the paint and creating a mess. But they came up with an easy to hold plastic gallon containing paint in it with a side handle, twist off lid and a pour spout. It was rust free, light weight and did not created a mess in mixing and painting. The new packaging did not only increase the sales, but also increased the distribution at a higher retail price (Armstrong, & Kotler, 2005). So this can also be stated that next to innovation or the importance of branding, a constant change is also important. The brands meaning and the value it holds or the satisfaction it gives should be constant and is the core of what appeals to the customer, but it should also provide something to the customers they can believe in and remain loyal to it for a long term. Change is inevitable and always good, if it’s a positive change, and that is what a good marketer needs to understand. The internal factors such as product design, processes, flavours, and the external factors such as the package design, advertising and the web experience of a product must be changed if and when needed. This evolution reflects the customer’s perceptions about the product and their expectations from it that change with time (Luca & Penco, 2006). It is mostly by bringing a change in the packaging if not in the product as a whole that can capture the customer’s mind and position itself. If is usually experienced that just by changing the packaging of a product and putting a line “ all new” can increase the sales because the customers are curious to experience the change and they believe that it might be better than the product itself (Luca & Penco, 2006). Particularly in the low involvement categories, packaging plays a vital role in the buying behaviour of the consumers because they are usually the impulse purchases that the customers make while shopping, for example, chocolates, chips, biscuits, candies, soft drinks etc. the customers are driven by the extrinsic cues and in-store factors as they do not have the desire or need to buy that particular product, but they may buy it because the packaging might attract them. LABELLING: Another important feature of packaging is the labelling that is done on it. It may range from simple tags to complex graphics that are the part of a package. Labelling is important because it identifies the product of the brand, or other things about the product such as where it was made, who made it, when it was made, the contents or ingredients it has, how to use or the processes defined, or the safety precautions etc, the label might also promote the product through the attractive graphics and pictures or symbols (Luca & Penco, 2006). Most of the types of the symbols or content used as labelling for the products are internationally or nationally standardized. Trademarks, bar codes, Universal Product Code, country of origin etc are usually mandatory parts of labelling on a product. Several state and federal laws regulate labelling because at times, labelling can be misleading, may fail to include the important safety warnings or fail to describe the ingredients because of which the customers may suffer (Luca & Penco, 2006). Therefore to protect the consumer’s interest and the industry some mandatory labelling rules are standardized which have to be followed at any cost. Nowadays, people are also very health conscious, therefore it is important to write the proper ingredients, calories chart fats percentages etc on the packaging. Labelling is immensely important especially for the food businesses. It is also an important marketing tool as well as a requirement of law. The label generally must identify the product through the name or brand, batch number, mandatory warning and advises, ingredients, health and safety advise, nutrition information, business address, country of origin. Labelling can also position the product in the consumer’s mind if it fulfils the requirement of the customer, by describing it. Labelling may also help in informing the customers about the environmental and social impacts if the product (Luca & Penco, 2006). CONCLUSION: Packaging and labelling are important tools of the marketing mix today. Packaging has marketing as well as a functional perspective. Packaging is a part of the consumption and not only provides the necessary information but should be easy to use, easy to store and give convenience to the customer, because if it fails to do so, the experience with the product may be negative and may result in the loss of a customer. As from the marketing perspective, packaging plays a vital role in communication the value of the product and reinforcing the consumer’s decision. Thus is can be said and very well justifies, that packaging is an immensely important tool of the marketing mix, which has the power to make brand relationships, but a little negligence can also break it. List of References Baker, M 2007, The Marketing Book, 6th Edition. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd, Oxford. Brassington, F, & Pettitt, S 2006, Principles of Marketing, 4th Edition. Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow. Dibb, S, Simkin, L, Pride, W, & Ferrell, O 2005, Marketing: Concepts and strategies, 5th European Edition. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Mass. Drummond, G, & Ensor, J. 2005, Introduction to Marketing Concepts. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd, Oxford. Groucutt, J 2005, Foundations of Marketing. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. Jobber, D 2009, Principles and Practice of Marketing, 6th Edition. McGraw-Hill Publishing Co, London. Kotler P, Armstrong, G, Wong, V, & Saunders J 2010, Principles of Marketing, 5th European Edition. Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow. Armstrong, G, & Kotler, P, 2005, Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow. Luca, P., & Penco, P 2006, The role of packaging in marketing communication: an explorative study of the Italian wine business. Refereed paper, Montpellier: 3rd International Wine Business Research Conference. Haque, R, & Joshi, H 2011, ‘Marketing communication: thinking outside the box and moving beyond promotion mix’, Asian Journal of Technology & Management Research, vol. 1, no. 1. Read More