ABSTRACT
The struggle for supremacy in brand positioning using packaging has introduced various approaches to designing a package for a product. The assumption that packaging conveys only a physical appearance of a product seems to be overtaken by recent marketing assessment, hence, marketers have employed new strategies to out-do their competitors in designing a package for a product. This informed this study on the influence of packaging on consumer choice of beauty products with a focus on Marykay, Sleek and Black Opal cosmetic products. The survey research design was adopted and questionnaire was used to elicit responses from 385 consumers of cosmetic products drawn from Universities, Polytechnics, secondary schools and civil servants in Enugu State using convenient sampling technique. The finding reveals that the functional value of a cosmetic product is a determining factor for consumer’s choice while the various patterns of packaging have varying degree of influence on consumer patronage of beauty products. Based on this, the study recommended that audience research should guide the designing of package for a cosmetic product and that packaging should convey the true quality of a product.

 
CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1        Background to the Study

Packaging is the process of conceptualizing, planning, and designing a packet or wrapper to contain, protect and merchandise a product (Kotler 2003). In modern time marketing, if packaging does not sell a product, it is as good as worthless. Highlighting the role of packaging in marketing or communicating a distinguished advertising practitioner, Chris Doghudje, observed that “packaging sells even more than advertising” (Nwokoye, 1987). That is because most goods like cosmetics and others have little or no advertising support. But they must be packaged. The vital function of packaging comes out clearly in the environment of self service stores, where sales have to be dependent on the strength of packaging. This is achieved by designing a package to attract consumer’s attention at the point of purchase, to furnish consumers with needed information about the product, so as to provide the on-the-spot persuasion and incentive that is often vital to make sales or required to propel consumers into buying.

According to Rita Kuvykaite(2009) packaging attracts consumer’s attention to particular brand, enhances its image, and influences consumer’s perceptions about a product. Also package imparts unique value to products (Underwood, Klein & Burke, 2001; Silayoi & Speece, 2004), works as a tool for differentiation, i.e.  helps consumers to choose the product from wide range of similar products, stimulates customers buying behavior (Wells, Farley & Armstrong, 2007). Thus package performs an important role in marketing communications  and  could  be  treated  as  one of the most important factors influencing consumer ’s purchase of package.

Defining packaging as the vehicle that conveys the brand of a product to consumer (Amarchand et al( 1979) opines that the big test of packaging is how well it succeeds in registering relevant marketing messages to the target – audience. To scale the big test, packaging has to be supported by the twin-pillars of planning and innovation. Scheme and Smith(1980) views packaging as a crucial activity in product planning. Since packaging fulfills an important promotional function in modern marketing (Osuagwu, 1985), it has to be “aesthetically pleasing and be distinctive enough to stand when placed side by side with competing brands on the retail shelf (Nwokoye, 1987).

The pack, according to Unilever International, has become an integral part of the product; without it, there would be no brand and no freedom of choice. On display, the pack becomes a silent assistant in the choice process. This is why products are packaged not just for easy identification but to compel buying actions. The key factor for success (KFS) in packaging is the application of the marketing approach in product packaged to contain, protect, and merchandise a given product (Nwokoye, 1987). The marketing approach to product packaging takes cognizance of the fact that every product communicates a message, and in view of this, a product must be packaged to communicate the desired message to the target market. To effect a proper packaging, your image or personality of the product must be totally different from that of any other product. The ultimate challenge is to make your package distinct and unique so that it is instantly recognised whether alone or when placed side by side with other packages.

Packaging is of great importance to both the seller and buyers of products. It can prevent spoilage, breakage, tampering, or theft; enhance convenience in use or storage; and make products easier to identify. A significant improvement in packaging can even create a new product by expanding the ways in which it can be used, and thus its potential markets. For example, a soup that is packaged in a microbe bowl might suddenly increase its sales to working people.

Prior to World War II, packaging was used primarily to surround and protect products during storage, transportation and distribution (Onah, 1972). Some packaging was designed with aesthetic appeal for easy identification by the end consumer, but package design was typically left to technicians. After the World War II, however, companies became more interested in marketing and promotion as a means of enticing customers to purchase their products. As a result, more manufacturers began to view packaging as an integral element of overall business marketing strategies to their buyers. Thus, packaging became a vital means of differentiating items and inferring inundated consumers.

The importance of consumer packaging was elevated in the United States during the late 1970s and 1980s. Rapid post war economic expansion and market growth waned during that period, forcing companies to increase and entice consumers to their product or brand at the expense of the competition. The product mix or component is not complete without packaging. Packaging in developing countries would sound to be out of place when we still see market women and traders rap their wares with banana leaves, old…