PACKAGING DESIGN

Packaging Design in Retail Food

Packaging Design in Retail Food

Introduction

Food product development and innovation continues to be seen as a fundamental strategy for competitive success and survival within a competitive global market (Stewart-Knox and Mitchell, 2003; Bogue, 2001; Harmsen, 1994). Despite this acknowledgement, a large number of new food products (72-88 per cent) continue to fail (Bogue, 2001; Lord, 1999; Buisson, 1995; Fuller, 1994; Rudolph, 1995), highlighting the difficult task that retailers face in today's food industry (Moskowitz, 1999). Food retailers are facing a somewhat challenging scenario where the cost of marketing is also rising and it is becoming more difficult to maintain sales for brands that are not the first choice household name (Peters, 1994). In addition, consumers are becoming more demanding in terms of quality and choice (Mintel, 2003) and are constantly seeking a product tailored to their every want and need.

Products are developed to, and indeed are expected by consumers to taste good; therefore, it is not surprising that consumers will increasingly make their initial choices based on aesthetic value (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997; Dumaine, 1991). Thus, the question commonly faced by many food retailers is how to distinguish or differentiate their product from competing products. During the 1980s, UK food retailers began to enhance the pack design of their products, discovering that improvements in packaging design and product quality enabled them to compete directly with food manufacturers (Southgate, 1994). Yet, despite the fact that the importance of packaging as a communication tool is growing (Silayoi and Speece, 2004; Nancarrow et al., 1998; Bloch, 1995), there is still limited research into the “influence of packaging on brand identity” (Underwood et al., 2001). In the competitive world of food retailing, packaging has to work harder than ever if the product is to be noticed through the congestion of competitive products (Milton, 1991) and surprisingly few food retailers appreciate the power of packaging as a piece of direct communication (Peters, 1994).

The role of packaging

The basic function of packaging is to “preserve product integrity” by protecting the actual food product against potential damage from “climatic, bacteriological and transit hazards” (Stewart, 1995). However, the first to define packs as the “silent salesman” was Pilditch in 1957, who argued that the pack must come alive at the point of purchase, in order to represent the salesman (Vazquez et al., 2003). About 30 years later, Lewis (1991) expanded further on Pilditch's views, stating that “good packaging is far more than a salesman, it is a flag of recognition and a symbol of values”. Given that only a small minority of brands are strong enough to justify the investment that national advertising requires, for the rest, packaging represents one of the most important vehicles for communicating the brand message directly to the target consumer (Nancarrow et al., 1998). As the retail environment becomes saturated with competitors vying for consumers' attention, packaging has to work harder than ever if the product is to be noticed through the congestion of competitive products (Milton, ...