What do shoppers want in a package? Our special survey details the packaging benefits that influence a consumer's brand choice - Business: consumer trends

Food & Drug Packaging, August, 2003 by Mona Doyle

This year, The Consumer Network did a three-part study of the market for packaging attributes.

Part I of the study, called "Who Wants What Package Improvements," was a year-end 2002 mail survey that asked 1,500 Consumer Network shoppers to review a list of 62 attributes and rate the package improvement appeal of each one. The responses to this survey were clear and intriguing: Shoppers said that what they wanted were packages that were easier to use and easier to store. One respondent went so far as to write: "If it's not easy to use, what good is it?"

Age differences in the responses were immediately apparent. Older shoppers wanted packaging that was easier to read; younger shoppers were more interested in packaging that saved time. And the men who responded seemed more interested in package improvements than we believed possible!

The Consumer Network panel is a wonderful source of rich, qualitative information and directional demographics. But it has limitations, including being almost 80% female (great for checking shopper attitudes but not so great for looking at male-female differences). We turned to Harris Interactive panel to augment our data with a demographically balanced survey that would enable us to find out which demographics wanted 10 of the improvements that our Consumer Network panel bad rated most important.

Part II of the study used a Harris Interactive panel of 3,001 adults to check the appeal of 10 of the attributes that appealed most to the Consumer Network shoppers. We asked this larger sample to select the features that would actually influence their choice of one brand over another.

Part III was an open-ended (qualitative) mail survey conducted in March 2003. This survey asked another 200 Consumer Network shoppers to comment on the 10 winning packaging features and attributes and to list, for each one, a specific product that they felt really needed it or would benefit from it. Their responses provided some additional insights into "What's Wanted Where," such as, which improvements are wanted for which product categories.

Wow! ... and Wow!

Since I have developed an almost personal relationship with long-time readers of my column in Food & Drug Packaging, I'd like to share my surprise and pleasure at how widespread and purchase-power-influential packaging has become. Since packaging is the piece of the marketing mix we study most, it was rewarding to learn that it was not The Consumer Net-work's shopper panel or just a women's issue--at least not anymore.

My first Wow! was the cross-demographic percentages that would switch brands for better packaging. My second Wow! was that women do care about some attributes more than men, but, as men get older, their attitudes and packaging needs get closer to women's attitudes and needs.

Here are some of the findings that I found most intriguing. (I is emphasized because you may find other differences more important from your brand, product or supplier perspectives.)

* Interest in packaging attributes is widespread among all of the demographics checked for this study: male and female, younger and older, with and without children, even with and without employment. Females care more, but not as much more as you probably think they do.

* Easterners care more than Westerners, but approximately 90% of the respondents in every region say that one or more attributes would influence them to switch brands.

* Six of the top package improvement wishes relate to ease of use. Five relate to work and clean up. Three relate to safety. Two each relate to economy, health and storage.

* Package utility impacts the ease of use, the venues of use, the demographics of use and the fashion of use. Today's consumers put a premium on utility in their buying decisions.

* Females older than age 45 want packages that are easier to handle and take up less space, but younger females (and younger males) want packages that save time.

* Easier storage was the overall attribute-benefit winner. Fifty-four percent of the electronic survey of 3,001 consumers said that packages that are easier to store would influence their brand choice. In the Consumer Network panel study, approximately 60% of the respondents rated "easy to store" as a packaging attribute needing improvement.

* Liquids that leak from the top because they look closed when they are not create an opportunity for more informative or obvious closures.

* Getting more convenience and less trash at the same time is appealing to some consumers. The work aspect of trash hasn't been seen as an opportunity to bring packages into new consideration.

* See-through packaging, widely considered appealing, has become commonplace. Only 12% of our younger respondents and 20% of our older respondents feel strongly about see through. Only 32% and 34% of our younger and older respondents respectively cared about having more or better see-though packages at all.

* Caring about specific packaging improvements is something that younger females have in common with males over 55.