Packaging

The packages in which goods are sold serve several purposes. First, packaging is funcнtional. Many kinds of products, such as soup, laundry detergent, and lubricating oil must be carried in some type of container. Furthermore, customers may expect the package to have some kind of seal or other device to show that it has not been tamнpered with. In many cases, resellers want products to have some sort of antitheft device as well.

Packaging also can be used to promote the product. Colorful, attractive packaging helps a product stand out in the eyes of buyers, and it can include labels that provide information to help with purchase decisions and make the product's brand easy to identify. Coca-Cola has long identified its product by a curvy bottle that has been known as the "contour" bottle, the "hobble skirt" bottle, and the "Mae West" bottle. The company continued featuring this bottle in its advertising even after most conнsumers began buying soft drinks in cans or two-liter plastic bottles. Recent advances in plastics technology have allowed Coca-Cola to begin selling Coca-Cola Classic and Diet Coke in a 20-ounce plastic version of the contour bottle. Marketing research showed that older consumers associate the shape with quality, while young conнsumers see it as distinctively modern.

Finally, distinctive packaging can be a product feature that sets the product apart from the competition. This is the case with fancy perfume bottles designed to reflect the image of a particular fragrance. And the Colgate-Palmolive Company recently replaced Colgate toothpaste's pump dispensers with a tube called the Stand-Up that rests on its cap. Colgate wants consumers to choose Stand-Up because it uses less packaging and costs less.

The use of packaging to distinguish a product may be an important part of the marketing mix for reaching certain target markets. For example, to target elderly consumers, the marketer will want packages that are easy to open. To target single people, the marketer might want to offer small or single-serving packages.

PACKAGING STRATEGIES   The way in which a package is designed depends on the marketer's goals. For the consumer products classified as convenience goods, packaging needs to be eye-catching or to look like the market leader (as in the case of store brand shampoo in bottles that resemble those of a major brand). Consumers select convenience goods while they are at the store, so the product needs to attract shoppers. If a product is fragile, the functional aspects of packaging are especially important to protect the product.

In selecting packaging, the marketer must consider the costs of the various alternaнtives. Making the packaging as attractive, protective, and convenient to use as possible would be very expensive. Therefore, marketers try to determine how much of these benefits are needed to satisfy their customers, and then limit the packaging on that basis.

PACKAGING AND THE ENVIRONMENT With all the talk about overflowing landнfills, it seems clear that the design of packaging can have a major impact on the enviнronment. Thus, a significant balancing act for marketers is that between using a lot of packaging to keep products safe and make them attractive and finding ways to keep packaging materials to a minimum. Marketers also have choices as to the materials used. For example, aseptic packaging, such as juice boxes, has been criticized because it is made of materials that are difficult to recycle.

Packaging decisions increasingly reflect concern about the impact on the environment. Because people in their roles as consumers and organiнzational buyers also tend to be concerned about environmental issues, marketers let them know about environmentally friendly packaging decisions. For example, packнaging made of recycled paper is often branded with the arrows in a circle that symнbolize recycled materials.

LABELING An important part of most packaging is some kind of labeling. A label can be as small and simple as a sticker on an apple identifying it as a Royal Gala apple from New Zealand. It can be as complex as the information taped to the window of new cars on a dealership lot.

Labels can work with packaging to support the organization's promotional effort. If promotion emphasizes certain product features or quality messages, these can be reinforced on the labels. The dust jackets or covers of trade books contain messages written to entice readers to buy the books.

Labels can provide information helpful to resellers and consumers. For example, resellers typically expect that labels will carry a Universal Product Code (UPC), or bar code. The UPC identifies the product by inventory number and size or weight. Consumers, in turn, expect that the labels on products will help them make buying decisions by indicating the contents of the products. Labels may also contain instrucнtions to help buyers use the product correctly, as in the case of washing instructions on clothes labels.

In some cases, the government requires that products bear labels containing cerнtain information. Clothing labels must indicate fiber content, and the labels on preнpared foods must list the ingredients in order of weight.

GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS In developing packaging for international markets, marнketers must consider a number of issues. One is that the package may have to be durable enough to withstand transportation over greater distances. Also, the marketer must take into account lanнguage differences. When several target markets speak different languages, it may be more efficient to use several languages on one package than to print several versions of the package. To sell its candy in Europe, M&M Mars prints as many different languages on each candy wrapper as will fit. Freeman Cosmetic Corporation, based in Beverly Hills, California, has learned that Mexican consumers like products that look as though they are from the United States, so the company prints the front label in English and the back label in Spanish. Packaging should be consistent with local wants and needs. Phoenix-based Penn Racquet Sports had trouble selling its tennis balls in Japan until the company realized that customers didn't like buying three balls in a can, the standard packaging in the United States. The company did much better with a two-ball canister. Most conнsumers in China find Procter & Gamble's shampoo a luxury, so the company has had success selling single-use pouches of shampoo for the equivalent of 14 cents apiece.

Organizations marketing to the European Community should be familiar with the EC's regulations designed to encourage the use of environmentally friendly prodнucts and packaging. Under the eco-label program, products deemed friendly to the environment qualify to bear a special label. Also, a proposed EC regulation seeks to protect the environment by, among other things, setting packaging requirements that will make the packaging materials easier to recycle. The environmental concern of many Europeans is mirrored by U.S. Consumers.