Institute of management studies

Product Management Assignment on

PACKAGING – AN ANALYSIS OF IMPACT OF
PACKAGING CHARACTERISTICS USING
CONJOINT ANALYSIS

Submitted to Submitted by
Mr. Shishir Jain Surbhi Jain
MBA (MM) 3rd Sem Sec A

Roll no.- 43519

 Acknowledgement

This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance and the help of several
individuals who in one way or another contributed and extended their valuable assistance in the
preparation and completion of this study.

First and foremost, my utmost gratitude to Mr. Shishir Jain, whose sincerity and encouragement I will
never forget. He has been my inspiration as I hurdle all the obstacles in the completion this research
work.

Also I want to acknowledge my thanks to my colleagues and staff for the use of facilities and moral
support.

Last but not the least, my family and the one above all of us, the omnipresent God, for answering my
prayers for giving me the strength to plod on despite my constitution wanting to give up and throw in
the towel, thank you so much Dear Lord.

Surbhi Jain

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Project Work titled “Packaging – an analysis of Impact of packaging
characteristics using conjoint analysis” is a bonafide work of Surbhi Jain (roll no. 43519) carried out
in partial fulfillment for the award of degree of MBA (MM) of IMS DAVV under my guidance. This
project work is original and not submitted earlier for the award of any degree / diploma or associate
ship of any other University / Institution.

Signature of the Guide

Mr. Shishir Jain

Place : Indore

Date : 2/11/2010

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 Content
Abstract 5

Introduction 5

Theoretical Framework 8

Research Design 9

Results 11

Conclusion 15

Limitation 15

References 16

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 Packaging – an analysis of Impact of packaging characteristics using
conjoint analysis

Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of various packaging characteristics of GURUJI
SHARBAT on consumer’s perception regarding the brand and quality of product as well as its impact
on decision process. After a thorough research review, a set of four characteristics of packaging were
identified, i.e. the Functional Characteristics, Structural Characteristics, Aesthetic Characteristics and
Identifiable Characteristics. The analysis of the relative importance of these factors is based on conjoint
measurement. A real buying decision without tasting the product is simulated and conjoint analysis is
applied to measure the utility of these characteristics. The results show that packaging has a
significant impact on the buying decision. Furthermore, it can be stated that the influence of the
exterior product design strongly influence customer perception regarding the brand.

Introduction
With the increasing demand of traditional beverages, market is now facing an upsurge of competitive
firms producing traditional beverages. In Indore market, the leader in this category is “Shree GURUJI
Pvt. ltd”. However, there are several local firms that produce similar products. This results in
information overload on consumer while selecting any of these beverages. In such a situation,
customer searches for quality signals, preferably from the Label and Packaging. Equally, the
supermarket trend leaves the customer solely on his own perception of quality. This increases the
importance of packaging to bridge the gap between buyer and seller as it serves as a communication
medium by itself.

Also, consumers today not just buy a beverage rather they tend to choose the alternative product that
satisfy their emotional needs like life style, positive image etc. the central objective of this research is
to find out which Packaging Characteristic plays as a driving factor in decision process for purchasing
any flavour of company when they don’t have the chance to taste it.

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Company Profile:-

Shree Guruji Produts Pvt. Ltd

Kind of Business Beverage > Indore

Address 201-Shalimar Center

South Tukogani, Indor

City Indore

State Madhya Pradesh

Phone 0731 4046104, 4046106 0731 2515590

Fax  0731 2515590

Website shreeguruji.com

Products  Thandai
 Sharbat
 Squash

About Firm Shree Guruji is A Leader in the Thandai Market, Boasts of rich
history achieved by sincere and honest work for over five
decades Satisfying all the beverage needs, Guruji offers an
exclusive selection of natural fruit juices, fruit squash,
Sharbats and soft drinks for all kinds of tastes with goodness
and delightful flavors. Using hygienic production techniques,
Guruji has a tasteful collection of flavors that
includes: Almond, Saffron, Pooy Seeds, Cardamom, Kewadam
Sandal Rose, Lemon etc to bring you the goodness of nature in
a bottle, Guruji has powerful brands like Brahmatej, Kayakalp,
Fruitful Jam and Pachak.

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Product Profile:-

For this research purpose, a small pilot study was conducted to find out which flavour or product
variants encompasses the major market share. As suggested by the results, following 3 products were
selected for further studies:-

1. Shree Guruji Badam Kesar

2. Shree Guruji Khus Sharbat
3. Shree Guruji Rose Sharbat

The pictures of packaging of these products are shown in figure 1. All these variants are available in
two sizes, i.e, 700 ml and 400 ml. along with this, all the Labels are similar with Informative design
and simple logo.

Figure1. pictures of packaging of variants of guruji beverages.

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 Theoretical Framework
This study focuses on these three factors and quantifies the degree of their respective impacts on the
buying decision. Consumers are typically unaware of the physiological and psychological impacts of
visualised communication performed by packaging. Therefore, it is difficult to find the appropriate
method to analyse the influence of packaging on their buying decision. Usually questionnaires are
based on the method of “direct questioning”, as this approach is fast, uncomplicated and includes
direct questions. These surveys require customers who are aware of the respective topic and respond
knowingly.

Following model depicts the impact of Packaging on buying decision as serves as the base for this
study:-

Expected
Value
Structural
Characteristics

Packaging
Functional
Characteristics Purchase Design

Previous
Aesthetic
Experience
Characteristics
(Brand
Recognition)

Figure2. Model of effect of package characteristics on purchase decision

(Source: own presentation)

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 Research Design
Conjoint analysis is a technique for measuring the structure of consumer preferences by use of a
decomposition model. Respondents assess total profile descriptions and not directly the part‐worth of
attribute levels. Thus, the advantage of conjoint measurement is the simulation of a real choice
situation where products with a combination of attributes are available (GREEN and SRINIVASAN,
1978).

As depicted in the model (figure 2), three characteristics were selected as potentially significant
attributes for the conjoint analysis. The first attribute “Functional Characteristics” means packages
must be able to withstand the pressure of several other crates stored on top of them. They must also
be able to resist moisture, adapt to temperature changes, and withstand rough handling. In addition,
packaging must be tamper-proof, which is to say tamper-evident, since it is extremely difficult to
make a package truly tamper-proof (Packaging – benefits). Equally, packages should ideally be
designed to handle normal use by consumers. Consumer preference for Bottling material for safety
attribute is determined by two alternatives: Glass Bottle and Plastic Bottles.

Similarly, for Structural characteristics include sizes. It entails designing packaging to look as large as
possible without misrepresenting the actual contents. This objective can be achieved by ensuring that
the panels or dimensions of the package most likely to be viewed by the consumer are the largest, and
that the product or brand name is shown on the most visible areas in large letters. In addition, the
package can be made to look larger by using solid colors and simple, bold designs free of borders,
superfluous art work, and unnecessary print (Packaging – benefits). For this attribute, two available
sizes were taken as attributes: 700ml and 400 ml.

The third attribute is aesthetics. Depending on the product and the goals of the marketers, the package
may be made to appear attractive, exciting, pure, soft, sexy, scary, intriguing, or to evoke some other
emotion. In most cases, though, the product is displayed on the front of the package in the form of a
picture, art, or see-through window. In addition, bright colors, glossy stock, obtrusive carton displays,
and other elements can garner positive attention if used prudently (Packaging – benefits). This
attribute was determined by two possibilities: Transparent and coloured.

Alternatives resulted from the selected number of attribute levels were reduced by means of SPSS
17.0 Orthogonal plan to ten profiles (see Table 1).

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 Card List
Card ID name size colour
1 1 khus 700coloured

Table1: Profile of traditional beverages of GURUJI Sharbat for conjoint analysis experimentation

A purchase without tasting the product was simulated for the conjoint analysis. The respondents were
shown cards of the profiles to be ranked according to their perception and preference.

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 Results
As surveys of conjoint analysis show, the methodology is often applied to actual or constructed
purchase situations. There are a number of statistical indicators available to evaluate the performance
of the conjoint approach. Kendall’s Tau and Pearson’s correlation coefficient are often used.
Kendall’s Tau is a conformity quantification grade of two different rank lines while the correlation
coefficient, Pearson’s R, is a measure of the strength of the association between two nominally scaled
variables, which is based on the Chi-square statistic (HERRMANN and HOMBURG 2000, pp. 496-
498).
A Kendall’s Tau above 0.60 and a Pearson’s R above 0.80 indicate an internal validity from medium
to very good (TEICHERT 2001, pp. 106). The following analysis is characterized by a good internal
validity with a Kendall’s Tau of 0.571 and a Pearson’s R of 0.880.

Correlationsa
Value
Pearson's R .880
Table2: Correlation coefficients as calculated by SPSS V. 17

Analysis of the part-worth and the relative importance of the attributes

The dimensionless part-worth of the attribute levels are calculated by means of conjoint analysis (see
Table 3). Their sum over one particular attribute equals to zero. For the estimation of the part-worth
the discrete preference model was used.

Concerning the preference towards the bottle size, this analysis shows 700 ml bottle is more popular
than the 400 ml type. Regarding the bottle colours, tansparent bottle is preffered over coloured
bottles. With regard to bottling material, the glass (+1.079) obtained the best value.

Utility Std.
Estimate Error
brand khus -.375 .240
rose .434 .281
Table 3: The part-worth of the attribute levels

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Table 4 contains the relative significance of the attributes. Achieving a part value of 41.044 %, brand
or flavor is the most important factor among the selected and tested characteristics. The second most
important factor is structural (size) with 20.592 % followed by Aesthetics (bottle colour) with 19.748
% and functional (18.616 %).
Importance
Values
brand 41.044
structural 20.592
asthetics 19.748
Table 4: The relative importance of the attributes (n=202)

Preference Scores of Simulations and Probabilities o

brand structural asthetics
ID

1 rose 700 ml transparent

Table 5: Preference Scores of Simulations and Probabilities of Simulations

Table 5 shows that the respondents clearly prefer the Rose Flavor with a value of 35.3%. The Badam
flavor received the second‐highest preference value within the conjoint analysis.

Figure2: Graphical presentation of the ranking of the test Preference values of the attribute levels

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 Conclusions
By means of conjoint analysis we could indirectly determine the impact of the packaging on the
purchase decision of consumers. The outcome indicates that the outer appearance of sharbat bottle
strongly influences consumers’ buying behavior.
Customers attach the highest importance to brand and flavor (41.044%), followed by 20.592 % who
mainly adjust themselves at the structural characteristics. 19.748 % focus on the bottle colour and, for
18.616 % on bottling material is the decisive argument.
The conjoint analysis is limited as it can only show the magnitude of the influence which the
packaging have on the buying decision. It does not allow, however, to draw conclusions on the pieces
of information different packaging elements might transmit. Other methods of research are needed
here. The findings presented in this work confirm a strong impact of packaging characteristics on the
perception and preference building of a consumer for a particular brand. The results of conjoint
analysis clearly depict the preferences of consumer for package characteristic in Bottled traditional
beverages.

Limitations
This research is limited to Indore. Although there international transactions and supplies also but they
are limited. The analysis and findings of this research should be considered in this context only. The
quantitative results are drawn on the basis of 202 respondents. Though it is feasible to make
reasonable assumptions and hypothesis, the sample size delimits any causality or more complex
relationship.

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 References
Company description:- http://www.shreeguruji.com/home.html & http://rajb2b.com/yellowpages/profile-
guruji/Shree-Guruji-Produts-Pvt-Ltd.html

GREEN, P.E. and V. SRINIVASAN (1978): Conjoint Analysis in Consumer Research. Issues and
Outlook. In: Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 5 (2), pp.103‐123.
Packaging - benefits, expenses http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Oli-
Per/Packaging.html#ixzz143fLk56Y

HERRMANN, A. and C. HOMBURG (2000): Marktforschung. Wiesbaden: Gabler.

TEICHERT, T. (2001): Nutzenschädigung in Conjoint‐Analysen. Theoretische Fundierung und

empirische Aussagekraft. Wiesbaden: Gabler.

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