Trade-off analysis of packaging attributes for foods and drinks

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to understand consumer perspectives and trade-offs on packaging convenience attributes of various food and drink packages vs increased cost. Design /methodology /approach - The research utilized structured interviews to collect pertinent data. Personal interviews were conducted at major supermarkets within Bangkok and the vicinity. During data collection, 600 interviews were concluded. Target groups were composed of those who are major shoppers of particular food and drink products. In total, three packages for food products and two packages for drink products were selected for the study, including snack pouches, tuna cans, ready-to-eat plastic trays, laminated juice cartons, and plastic bottles for drinking water. Packaging attributes that were taken into consideration were structure, body style, opening mechanism, reseal features, and tamper-evident characteristics. Part worth analysis and importance level of increased price factors compared with packaging attributes were discussed. Conjoint analysis was used for importance score calculation and data analysis. Findings - The most important packaging attributes for all packages were the opening characteristics. Tamper-evident characteristics were also perceived as very important for drinking water bottles. However, for all packages, the importance score level for the price factor accounted for only 10-19 percent. As a result, opening characteristics of the packages seemed to influence consumer purchasing decisions for food and drink products; most consumers were happy to trade-off on a slight increase in price for additional convenience or tamper-evident features of a package. Originality /value - The findings of this study can be used in making strategic packaging decisions to improve customer satisfaction and increase sales.