The Importance Of Marketing In Marketing

With retail chain outlets operating in a slow growth and unpredictable environment, the pursuit for dominance in the market has become more aggressive in relation to packaging, pricing, brand awareness, purchase intention and brand loyalty, thereby challenging companies to explore other marketing avenues to gain market share (Kent & Omar 2003). Such opportunities are exhibited through the increased emphasis placed on improving the quality of packaging, maintaining competitive pricing and creating loyalty amongst customers (Rowley 2005).

Independent Variables

X1: Packaging

X2: Price

Packaging

Packaging may be perceived as a family of activities that are concerned with the design, production and filling of a container or wrapper of the product

2003). Non-verbal communication through packaging is an important expression through which consumers learn the thought processes since two-thirds of all stimuli reach the brain through the visual system (Zaltman 1997). Wright (2006) also acknowledges that packaging is effective in marketing products since most consumers are greatly affected by appearances and design of the product, in addition to other aspects such as touch, taste, texture and smell. Packaging appears to be one of the important factors in purchase decisions that are made at the point of sale where it becomes an essential part of the selling process (Silayoi & Speece 2004). In current competitive retail environments, consumers are exposed to a plethora of messages on packaging and merchandising (Klevas 2005; Nancarrow, Wright & Brace 1998). When consumers are spoiled for choice in terms of the available product range, they rely on product externalities, such as packaging, as signals of perceived quality (Rundh 2005). This presents marketing with a challenge to

With the move to self-service retail formats, packaging increases its key characteristic as the ‘salesman on the shelf’ at the point of sale (Silayoi & Speece 2004). Packaging also adds exceptional value to products (Underwood, Klein & Burke 2001) and is a vital product differentiation tool that has a beneficial stimulus effect on the buying behaviour of consumers (Wells, Farley & Armstrong 2007). It attracts the consumer’s attention to a particular brand, enhances its image and influences consumers’ perceptions about a product (Vila & Ampuero 2007). Research evidence on the influence of packaging on consumer buyer behaviour in diverse contexts is available. A study conducted by Bed (2008), which focused on existing practices of branding, packaging and labelling of new products in consumer product manufacturing units, reveals that the right packaging can help a brand to carve a unique position in the marketplace and in the minds of consumers. Broadbridge and Morgan (2007) also found that most consumers have the desire to feel confident with the product in terms of reliability, performance and packaging before they purchase the product. A study conducted