Author: Arifiani Widjayanti
Widjayanti, Arifiani, 2018 An Examination into Colour of Package and Its Impact on Consumer Response: A Study from Indonesia and Bangladesh, Flinders University, College of Business, Government and Law
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This research explored the extent to which consumers’ responses varied for the packaging colours of popular local food products from two different regions, Indonesia and Bangladesh. It also examined how different types of buyers (in terms of buying behaviour, gender and age) differed in terms of the impact of the packaging colour with respect to these food products. This investigation was conducted about two indigenous food products, which are distant geographically: Bakpia of Indonesia and Bogra Doi of Bangladesh. Colour preferences and likeability, consumers’ association toward colour, word-of-mouth type of communication, as well as consumers’ perception regarding product’s quality and their intention to purchase were the responding variables. Two demographic variables of gender and age and one behavioural variable completed the study.
The first research inquiry intended to determine how different package colours vary in terms of consumer responses. The second research inquiry proposed to discover how different groups of buyer respond to different colours of package with two main focuses: (1) the differences in response among light, medium, heavy, and non-buyers, and (2) the differences in response with respect to gender and age.
This investigation employed a quasi-experimental quantitative survey in three stages of a quantitative approach. It began with a preliminary study whose purpose was to find the most recognised colours of the package. The second stage consisted of a pilot study to validate the instrument through factor analysis and reliability analysis. The third and main stage of this investigation analysed the data obtained from the surveys by applying a set of multivariate tests and tests of between-subjects effects.
Yellow, green, red, and blue were found to be the most popular colours of the Bakpia package, while maroon, cream, orange, and yellow were recognised as the most prominent colours of the Bogra Doi package. Further, findings showed that there were no gender differences in terms of responses toward colour of both products. Similarly, there were no differences between middle-aged and old consumers in regard to responses in the case of colour yellow of the Bakpia package and the colour maroon of the Bogra Doi package. Meanwhile, among the heavy buyers of each product, the yellow Bakpia package and the maroon Bogra Doi package had the largest influence on the responses. Multivariate tests suggested that in both cases, there was a significant effect of colour of both the Bakpia and the Bogra Doi packages on consumers’ responses when all the response items were joined together. Through the test of between-subjects effects, it was proved that in both investigations, a non-significant effect on consumers’ responses consistently occurred, whether or not gender was joined together with colour of package.
As Bakpia and Bogra Doi are produced by small businesses, both the methodology and findings of this study will assist small business entrepreneurs to improve their marketing processes in terms of packaging. Further, the inclusion of both demographic and behavioural aspects in this examination will encourage businesses to do segmenting and targeting of consumers of these kinds of niche products. Moreover, because this study examined products from two different, geographically distant developing countries using large samples, the generalizability of the findings is assured. Overall, this study contributes to marketers’ understanding of the powerful yet complex effects of package colour at the point-of-purchase, an important aspect of packaging, to which SMEs in developing countries have tended to pay insufficient attention in their marketing strategies.
Keywords: Packaging, Colour, Food, Consumer Response, Buying Behaviour, Small Businesses
Subject: Business thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2018
School: College of Business, Government and Law
Supervisor: Vipul Pare