Product Packaging: Impact on Customers’ Purchase Intention

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the impact of packaging on customers' purchase intention in Malaysia. Many studies show that the outward appearance of a product's package will appeal and consumers' attention towards the products displayed in the open market. Since the consumers' choice is the primary consideration that marketers emphasize on, packaging has become an important tool for sales promotion by most business organizations. Although a large number of factors can impact customers' purchase intention, a product's packaging is the most influential. Therefore, this research looked into the extent of how packaging has influenced the purchase intention of customers. Findings from the study show that three hypotheses out of four were supported which lend support to the vital role that packaging plays in creating appeal and influencing customers' purchase intention. The conclusion of this study provides the theoretical implications and practical implications as well as suggestions for future studies in different industries.

Full text

International Journal of Business and Society, Vol. 21 No. 2, 2020, 857-864
PRODUCT PACKAGING: IMPACT ON CUSTOMERS’
PURCHASE INTENTION
Sook-Fern Yeo
♣
Multimedia University
Cheng-Ling Tan
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Kah-Boon Lim
Multimedia University
Yong-Hwi Khoo
Multimedia University
ABSTRACT
This research aims to investigate the impact of packaging on customers’ purchase intention in Malaysia. Many
studies show that the outward appearance of a product’s package will appeal and consumers’ attention towards
the products displayed in the open market. Since the consumers’ choice is the primary consideration that
marketers emphasize on, packaging has become an important tool for sales promotion by most business
organizations. Although a large number of factors can impact customers’ purchase intention, a product’s
packaging is the most influential. Therefore, this research looked into the extent of how packaging has
influenced the purchase intention of customers. Findings from the study show that three hypotheses out of
four were supported which lend support to the vital role that packaging plays in creating appeal and
influencing customers’ purchase intention. The conclusion of this study provides the theoretical implications
and practical implications as well as suggestions for future studies in different industries.
Keywords: Product packaging; Colour; Materials; Size and shape; Purchase intention; Malaysia.
___________________________________
Received: 18 August 2018
Accepted: 20 May 2020
1. INTRODUCTION
The high level of competitiveness between business environments has certainly intensified the
marketability of products to meet the needs and wants of customers. To capture and sustain
customers’ purchase intention, packaging has become an essential tool in the way business
organisations conduct their sales promotion. The strategic use of packaging can increase the sales
and market share of a particular product and interestingly, even defray and decrease the company’s
market and promotional costs as more and more customers are attracted to their products. This is
supported by Rundh (2005) who stated that product packaging can impact and influence the
♣ Corresponding author: Yeo Sook Fern, Faculty of Business, Multimedia University, 75450 Melaka, Malaysia; Tel: +606-2524876;
E-mail: yeo.sook.fern@mmu.edu.my

858 Product Packaging: Impact On Customers’ Purchase Intention
opinions of consumers, draw in consumers’ attention and stimulate consumers’ perceptions into
forming their purchase intentions about a particular product. Furthermore, Ibojo and Olawepo
(2015) concur that packaging will deliver a brand new image or value to the existing product and
help consumers to differentiate from products that have similar characteristics. In other words, the
unique value of packaging can attract and influence consumers to pick out their ideal product from
the extensive variety of similar products found in the market.
Catering to a wide range of consumers’ needs and wants has pushed Malaysian companies to seek
novel ways of packaging to attract, maintain and sustain consumers’’ purchase intention. There
are various packaging types and closures that are easily available: metal packaging, rigid plastic,
glass, liquid cartons, paper-based containers, etc. To assess the packaging industry in Malaysia,
we have to examine some of the most dynamic factors that guide Malaysian manufacturers to
determine the type of packaging that can boost their market growth.
First of all, recyclability has become a major concern in the world today and with a large number
of environmental-friendly consumers within our midst, manufacturing sectors are driven to look
for packaging that attracts consumers’ in general to support not only their product but also their
efforts to protect the environment. Thus, there is a high demand for recyclable packaging which
has a bright prospect and is worth looking into. Nowadays consumers prefer to buy products that
have recyclable packaging due to the wide attention given by global movements to recycle and
save the environment. There are mainly two types of recyclable packaging: paper packaging and
corrugated packaging. Within the recycled materials market, paper packaging is the largest sector,
accounting for around 65% of all recycled packaging. Demand for paper packaging will keep on
rising as it is affected by the manufacturing economies of China and other emerging countries.
Analysts predict the overall market for recycled paper packaging to grow at a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 5% to reach $139 billion in 2018 (Anne, 2014).
Flexible packaging is also one of the most dynamic packaging types in Malaysia. Due to high
barrier properties, long-lasting feature and cost-effectiveness, plastic has been used widely for
packaging. In 2012, plastic accounted for over 70% of market share. The food and pharmaceutical
industries in Malaysia have the highest usage of plastic packaging in Malaysia. Malaysian food
consumption was estimated to reach US$2 billion in 2017 while pharmaceutical productions will
increase to US$5 billion by 2023 (Printing Review Graphic Arts Magazine, 2016). Nevertheless,
the growing awareness among the public has shrunken the use of plastic and many have opted for
an eco-friendlier material - cellulose. More easily recyclable materials such as mono-layers are
expected to be brought in over the next 10 years but real improvement will only come with
enhanced collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure. With a variety of packaging materials
easily available to them, manufacturers have the onus of choosing suitable materials and designs
that appeal to their consumers and influence their purchase intention. Therefore, the main purpose
of this research is to investigate how four factors such as packaging colour, packaging material,
packaging design and packaging graphics influence the customers’ purchase intention.

Sook-Fern Yeo, Cheng-Ling Tan, Kah-Boon Lim, Yong-Hwi Kho o 859
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Purchase Intention
Purchase intentions are known as moving forward a planned decision to purchase specific products
in future and it is not necessary to implement the buying intention because it depends on an
individual’s capability to implement it (Yeo, Tan, Lim, Leong & Lee, 2018). Liat and Wuan (2014)
stressed that when an individual has the arrangement to purchase a specific item or service over a
period of time, the purchase intention will arise. Their intention to buy will be influenced by their
conduct, their recognition of the product and their disposition (Keller, 2009). The purchase
intention of consumers has become an interesting area of study by marketing experts (Hosein, 2012)
to examine shopper recognitions and procedures as well as to investigate customers’ purchase
intention (Javed, Ahmed, Nawaz, & Sajid, 2016). Correspondingly, Yeo, Lim, Goh and Tan (2015)
mentioned that customers’ purchase intention is an important key factor for a company to be gain
a competitive edge in the market place. Furthermore, Chi (2013) found that consumers’ purchase
intention becomes a vital key to anticipate the buying behaviour that can be found through the
advantages and values procurement of a specific product or service. Past research stated that
purchase intention is utilized to become the best apparatus when marketers attempt to investigate
the buying process of consumers.
2.2. Packaging Colour
Every colour owns special meaning which can influence consumers’ feelings and mindsets. Colour
is the most important element of packaging where different types of colour will affect the
consumers to have a different view or opinion towards the packaging (Keller, 2009). Keller (2009)
also stated that the colour of the packaging is an imperative component that will help the consumer
to differentiate from other products with similar characteristics that are offered by competitors.
Some of the researchers stated that the colour of packaging will influence the purchase intention
of consumers when consumers relate to the new styles of packaging for a new product that has a
similar colour with the original product bundle (Ibojo & Olawepo, 2015). Previous studies by Javed
and Javed (2015) stated that making the right choice of colour for the packaging will have the
power to attract the consumer’s attention. However, the wrong choice of colour will result in a
loss of interest by consumers toward the product. The colours that are used by the packaging all
have their significance in appealing and stressing different moods (Ali et al., 2015). The study also
determines that packaging colour of product induces the purchase intention of the customer,
packaging colour can be remembered and packaging colour does bring competitive advantages to
company With this convincing literature, the first hypothesis is developed as:
H1: There is a significant positive relationship between packaging colour and customer
purchase intention
2.3. Packaging Material
Packaging material is used to wrap a product on the exterior to prevent a product from being
damages (Ali et al., 2015). Correspondingly, the packaging material is said as the tool to
communicate the value of the product to the customer. The perceived quality of the product may
affect by the packaging material used and packaging material can avoid the product from being

860 Product Packaging: Impact On Customers’ Purchase Intention
damaged (Farooq, Habib & Aslam, 2015). Following a study of Mutsikiwa and Marumbwa (2013),
the material that people used for packaging in the past was mostly natural materials that was easy
to obtain without much processing required. Naturally, consumers are more inclined towards a
product which has packing material of superb quality compared with a product that has low-quality
packaging (Zekiri & Hasani, 2015). They also stated that packaging materials have a strong impact
on buying behaviour that will influence the customers’ purchase intention. Additionally, Zekiri and
Hasani (2015) also stated that packaging materials have a strong impact on buying behaviour that
will influence customer purchase intention. However, over time. the materials used for packaging
also evolved into material that is being processed to enhance their quality and durability
(Mutsikiwa & Marumbwa, 2013). The material for packaging material is a vital component that
keeps the item from being damaged thus incurring losses. Hence, the second hypothesis tested in
this study is:
H2: There is a significant positive relationship between packaging material and
customer purchase intention
2.4. Packaging Graphic
The graphic for packaging is defined as the pictures that are made on the packaging whether these
pictures are deliberately created specialized for a particular product or unintended and unexpected
(Silayoi & Speece, 2007). According to the studies of Smith (2004), the graphic design of the
packaging such as the image on the packaging will help to build the brand of the product to make
it more special and to create its own identity so that consumers can differentiate it from a similar
product manufactured by their competitors. Besides that, through the research of Farooq et al.,
(2015) it was also found that the higher the quality of the graphic for packaging, the likelihood of
consumers feeling assured about the quality of the product. According to Akbari, Gholizadeh and
Zomorrodi (2014), the picture on packaging is a way to attracting consumers buying intentions.
From the studies of Ali et al. (2015) about packaging, the right selection about the image for a
product packaging that related and identified to the brand can help to draw the attention of
consumers that help to influence the consumers’ purchase intention. With this convincing literature,
the third hypothesis is developed as:
H3: There is a significant positive relationship between packaging graphics and
customer purchase intention
2.5. Packaging Size and Shape
The packaging size and shape is defined as how big the item is and the appearance outline of the
item (Silayoi & Speece, 2004). According to Ali et al., (2015) a study on packaging found that the
size and shape of packaging will influence the purchase intention of consumers who prefer the
design of packaging that is convenient. Consumers will be attracted with the outward appearance
of packaging which is large but if the item inside the packaging is small or low in quantity, the
customer will not have a repurchase intention towards the particular product again (Ali et al., 2015).
Consumers feel the packaging of products in large sizes give them better value in contrast with
product packaging that comes in small sizes (Ali et al., 2015). When the consumers cannot define
the quality of the product by the appearance of the packaging, the packaging size will have a very
strong impact towards the customers’ purchase intention (Silayoi & Speece, 2007). According to

Sook-Fern Yeo, Cheng-Ling Tan, Kah-Boon Lim, Yong-Hwi Kho o 861
research done by Agariya et. al. (2012), consumers will have an association with a particular
product by seeing the outline shape of the packaging. With this convincing literature, the fourth
hypothesis is developed as:
H4: There is a significant positive relationship between packaging graphics and
customer purchase intention
3. METHODOLOGY
The purposive non-probability sampling technique is employed in the present study. The
questionnaires were distributed to 250 respondents in Melaka and Johor Bahru from September to
December 2017. A total of 212 questionnaires were returned and only 200 is usable for further
analysis. The measures used to operationalize the constructs included in the investigated models
and the questionnaires were mainly adapted from previous studies. All items were measured using
a 5-point Likert-type scale with anchors on 1=strongly disagree and 5 =strongly agree respectively.
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Target respondents of this research will be the general public in Malaysia and the sample size will
be a minimum of 129 people in Malaysia, suggested by G*Power. The response rate was 94.34%
where 200 people answered and collected back the questionnaire as 250 survey questionnaires
were distributed to people. The response rate was higher than 90% because the answered
questionnaires were reclaimed by the researcher via face to face interviews with the respondents.
The frequency and percentage of general demographic data of the respondents which consist of
gender, race, age, occupation and marital status. The percentage of male and female respondents
Packaging Colour
Packaging Material
Packaging Graphics
Purchase Intention
Packaging Size and Shape

862 Product Packaging: Impact On Customers’ Purchase Intention
are 45% and 55% respectively. Besides, majority of the respondents are Chinese (55%), followed
by the Malays (23.5%) and Indians (21.5%). The highest age group of respondents come from
those who aged between 20 to 29 years old (71%) and the least percentage of participants are from
those aged below 20 years old (0.5%). Of the 212 respondents, 59.5% are student, while only 1%
of the respondents are the retirees.
Table 1: Reliability Results
Items
Cronbach’s Alpha Value
Packaging Colour
Packaging Material
Packaging Graphic
Packaging Shape and Size
Purchase Intention
0.905
0.813
0.904
0.844
0.809
Cronbach’s Alpha value range within 0 to 0.5 is not acceptable, 0.6 to 0.7 is acceptable, while 0.8
to 0.9 can be considered as excellent (Ali et al., 2015). Table 1 shows packaging colour, packaging
material, packaging graphic, packaging shape and size and purchase intention. The Cronbach’s
Alpha value for purchase intention is 0.809 and independent variable which consists of packaging
colour, packaging material, packaging graphic, packaging shape and size are 0.905, 0.813, 0.904
and 0.844 respectively. Overall, all the variables were reliable.
The R square value was 0.667 which means there is 67.7% of the dependent variable which is
purchase intention was affected by the independent variables which are packaging colour,
packaging material, packaging graphic and packaging size and shape.
Table 2: Hypothesis Results
Model
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig Result
B
Std.
Error
Beta
Packaging
Colour
-0.169 0.052 -0.249 -3.240 0.001 H1 supported
Packaging
Material
0.164 0.040 0.210 4.134 0.000 H2 supported
Packaging
Graphic
0.608 0.600 0.807 10.138 0.000 H3 supported
Packaging Size
and Shape
0.094 0.400 0.123 2.321 0.021 H4 not supported

Sook-Fern Yeo, Cheng-Ling Tan, Kah-Boon Lim, Yong-Hwi Kho o 863
5. CONCLUSION
The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of packaging on the customer purchase
intention in Malaysia. The results from this study have indicated that only packaging size and shape
are not supported whereas there other three hypotheses of packaging colour, packaging material
and packaging graphic which are supported. This research will be very valuable to the packaging
industry in Malaysia because there is limited research about the packaging industry in Malaysia.
To attract the customer purchase intention with product packaging, the packaging industry must
know about what the customers’ needs and wants are to fulfil their requirements. This research
will assist the packaging industry in Malaysia to determine the factors of packaging that can
enhance the customers’ purchase intention. Future study can be conducted with the inclusion of
customer satisfaction as the mediator.
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