The Roles of Packaging in Influencing the Consumer Purchase Decision Making

Abstract

This study reviews the roles of packaging in the consumer purchase decision
making. Specifically, the focus of the paper was to examine the roles of
packaging in delivering ultimate satisfaction to the consumer, ascertain the
key elements of packaging and their roles in the consumer purchase decision
making process; and assess the prospects of packaging for the firm in the
course of delivering ultimate satisfaction to the consumers. The study, among
other findings, observed that: (i) attempts made by most scholars in discussing the roles of packaging centred on the use of packaging to attract the consumer to make a purchase and no serious attempt was made to discuss the use of packaging to deliver ultimate satisfaction to the consumer; (ii) there was no agreement on the classification of the elements of packaging with respect to the number of variables that make up the packaging and the messages they tend to transmit; and (iii) there has not been serious research into the problem of marketplace deception that consumers most times face following the behaviour of firms in trying to use packaging to attract consumers to purchase their products. These findings have implications for the effective use of packaging to deliver ultimate satisfaction to the consumer and clearly expose the real need for the strategic use of packaging in this regard. As a basis for addressing the gaps, it is recommended among others that firms should begin to give priority attention to packaging by seeing and treating it as a system rather than using it mainly as a tool to attract customers. In this regard, the relationship among packaging, logistics, and marketing should be studied, understood, and used as power points for the planning and achievement of goals.