Consumers’ Perceptions about Packaging of Made-in-Ghana Products

Abstract

Sale ratio is vividly dictated by equal open product exposure to consumer attention. In these situations, the determining factor of sale is the quality of packaging. On the market where local products stand in contrast with foreign ones, packaging deficiencies of local product stand out. Packaging automatically influences consumer decision and biases. Micro packaging constituents like colour, design and shape play on the psycho-emotional intellect of the consumer and persuade the consumer to buy a product that the consumer may not even readily need. The ultimate goal of increasing sale is however achieved. On the contrary, for local products, packaging may dissuade the consumer from buying a product that may
be readily needed, thus, sale drops. This work seeks to find the details existing between local and foreign products that determine the rate and frequency of consumer attraction. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used from September to October 2009, using cross-analysis research design (Obeesi, 2012). Interviews were conducted using a combination of probability (the cluster sampling techniques) and non-probability sampling methods (the accidental sampling technique). Major road corridors in Kumasi served as the basis for clustering while the accidental sampling technique was used for the selection of the shopping malls interviewed because there was no reliable information on the number of malls in the Kumasi Metropolis and also their locations. Differences existed between local and foreign packaging in the areas
of design, aesthetics and product information. Twenty-one percent of respondents confirmed that foreign products were well packaged, attractive and colourful. Hundred percent of respondents indicated that foreign products contained adequate information on product usage and instructions. The study recommends a packaging regulatory body to oversee and ensure standards in local packaging to the level of foreign product packaging.