BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS

Is Impulse buying significant? Impact of Packaging and Shelf

positioning in impulse buying of FMCGs

GROUP MEMBERSAhmed NasirBilal Ahmed

Mahmudul Hasan NuriNabeel Opel

Tahir Ali

ABSTRACT

Consumers’ psyche of buying behavior is considered a black box; the factors that impact buying behavior are numerous. FMCGs revenue stream comes from planned and unplanned buying behavior of consumers. Unplanned buying which is also known as impulse buying, is impacted by several factors. There are two independent variables which are considered shelf positioning and packaging which can lead to consumer impulse buying behavior. A sample size of 300 consumers and 8 supermarkets in the premises of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, relating to the factors mentioned earlier along with a few others such as wor of mouth and price in the process of studying the effect of the two dimensions data was obtained through survey forms. This data was then analyzed and a clear relationship was developed between each of the factors namely, packaging and shelf-positioning with Impulse buying. The research concluded that the explanation of impulse buying can be from difference in packaging and visibility in terms of shelf-positioning. The research can also help brand makers and marketers to effectively market products to increase sales by making the products physically attractive and visible.

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

Impulse buying does vary among similar FMCGs when there is difference in packaging, shelf positioning or not.

Was impulse buying more significant if the product itself had better packaging and better visibility in terms of shelf positioning.

Can high visibility of the product itself in terms of shelf positioning compensate for poor packaging

And if there is lower visibility in terms of shelf positioning can it be compensated by better, attractive packaging

The last and the most critical objective of this research was to identify which set of factors, such as better packaging and visible shelf-positioning, result in higher Impulse buying.

LITERATURE REVIEW•(Stephen, 1990) concludes that approximately 65% of all supermarket purchase decisions were made in-store with over 50% of these being unplanned decisions vary across product categories.

•Average customer purchase 50.5% of the products on an unplanned basis (Kollat & Willett, 1984).

•Differences in packaging excellence are directly translated into corresponding differences in sales appeal (Twedt, 1983).

•Displays can increase the unplanned purchase in Retail stores (Peak, 1977 & Quelch, 1983).

METHODOLOGY

IVs, DVs AND THEIR DATA TYPES

IVs, DVs AND THEIR DATA TYPES

Impulse Buying (DV)

Shelf Positioning

(IV)

Word of Mouth (IV)

Price (IV)

Packaging (IV)

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS We have chosen Fast moving consumer goods or FMCGs like tooth pastes,

shampoos and other food items for the purpose of our research to study impact of shelf positioning and packaging on impulse buying because these are generally place on shelves.

These products are generally in use by majority of the consumers so it would give us data which will give a fair picture of the phenomenon.

We will assume to take our DVs Packaging, shelf positioning, word of mouth of the product and price for analysis, data collection. Other factors may also have an impact but in order to study the DVs it is important make other factors constant.

Another assumption is that we will take those consumers who would come for planned monthly grocery shopping at super markets who buy these at the beginning of the month when they receive their respective salaries and ignoring those who come to make purchases other than the monthly shopping.

A limitation of the research is that we will consider only 8 supermarkets which are representative of the consumer populace of Rawalpindi and Islamabad region.

There could be biasness in the views of consumers about preferences in buying behavior like brand consciousness, price etc but we have structured our survey forms in such a way to have unbiased data.

SAMPLING

RESULTS AND DISSCUSSIONS

94%

6%

Are you a Regular Shopper of Grocery

Stores?

Yes No

27%

51%

15%

7%

How often do you shop for groceries in a

month?

Once TwiceThrice More than Thrice

18%

80%

2%

What kind of places do you like to go for gro-

cery shopping?

Retail Stores Super Markets Others

6% 15%

40%

32%

7%

How would you categorize yourself, in making purchase

decisions generally?

Very Impulsive Impulsive NeutralThoughtful Very Thoughtful

13%

52%

35%

1%

Do you do prior planning about the things you will buy, before going into the super-

market?

Always Mostly Sometimes Never

100%

Have there been cases when you end up buying things

which were not a part of your plan?

Yes No

15%

85%

Which do you deem as more important out of the following

pair, in triggering the cus-tomers to make impulse pur-

chases?

Word of Mouth Packaging

61%

39%

Which do you deem as more important out of the following

pair, in triggering the cus-tomers to make impulse pur-

chases?

Shelf Positioning Packaging

20%

80%

Which do you deem as more important out of the following

pair, in triggering the cus-tomers to make impulse pur-

chases?

Word of Mouth Shelf positioning

61%

27%

12%

In the absence of attractive packaging which factor will

you rate most important (1) in generating an impulse buy?

Shelf positioning Word of Mouth Price

31%

54%

15%

In the absence of attractive packaging which factor will

you rate important (2) in generating an impulse buy?

Shelf positioning Word of Mouth Price

8%

19%

73%

In the absence of attractive packaging which factor will

you rate least important (3) in generating an impulse buy?

Shelf positioning Word of Mouth Price

62%21%

17%

In the absence of nice shelf positioning which factor will

you rate most important (1) in generating an impulse buy?

Packaging Word of Mouth Price

33%

46%

21%

In the absence of nice shelf positioning which factor will

you rate important (2) in generating an impulse buy?

Packaging Word of Mouth Price

5%

33%

62%

In the absence of nice shelf positioning which factor will

you rate least important (3) in generating an impulse buy?

Packaging Word of Mouth Price

5 out of 5

4 out of 5

3 out of 5

2 out of 5

1 out of 5

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Extremely LowLowNeutralHighExtremely High

What has been the frequency of impulse pruchases?

Rate

packagin

g in o

rder

of

its a

bilit

y t

o a

ffect

impuls

e b

uyin

g?

5 out of 5

4 out of 5

3 out of 5

2 out of 5

1 out of 5

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Extremely LowLowNeutralHighExtremely HIgh

What has been frequency of Impulse purchase?

Rate

the S

helf

Posit

ionin

g in o

rder

of

its a

bilit

y t

o

aff

ect

impuls

e b

uyin

g?

Highl

y Im

porta

nt

Impo

rtant

Low Im

porta

nce

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

UnimportantNeutralImportantHighly Important

In the absence of attractive packaging, what rank would you give to shelf positioning?

For

pro

ducts

, w

hic

h d

o n

ot

have v

ery

att

racti

ve

packagin

g,

how

im

port

ant

is t

heir

shelf

-posit

ionin

g

in t

riggeri

ng a

n im

puls

e b

uy?

Highl

y Im

porta

nt

Impo

rtant

Low Im

porta

nce

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

UnimportantNeutralImportantHighly Important

In the absence of nice shelf positioning, what rank would you give to packaging?

For

pro

ducts

, w

hic

h d

o n

ot

have n

ice s

helf

-posi-

tion,

how

im

port

ant

is t

heir

packagin

g in t

riggeri

ng

an im

puls

e b

uy?

Stro

ngly

Disag

ree

(1)

Disag

ree

(2)

Neutra

l (3)

Agree

(4)

Stro

ngly

Agr

ee (5

)0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly Agree

In your opinion, could an improvement in packaging or shelf-positioning further in-

crease the number of unplanned (impulse) purchase?

Bett

er

packagin

g leads t

o g

reate

r chances o

f Im

puls

e b

uyin

g?

Stro

ngly

Disag

ree

Disag

ree

Neutra

l

Agree

Stro

ngly

Agr

ee0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly Agree

In your opinion, could an improvement in packaging or shelf-positioning further

increase the number of unplanned

Hig

hly

vis

ible

shelf

-posit

ionin

g leads t

o g

reate

r chances o

f Im

puls

e b

uyin

g?

HYPOTHESIS 1: “Impulse buying is greater in the case of better packaging or better

shelf-positioning”

HYPOTHESIS 1: In Case of Packaging

HYPOTHESIS 1: In Case of Shelf Positioning

HYPOTHESIS 2: “Unattractive packaging results

in a greater role of shelf-positioning (in terms of higher

visibility) to play in producing an impulse purchase”

HYPOTHESIS 2

HYPOTHESIS 3: “Lower visibility of products in terms of their shelf-positioning, results in a greater role of the

factor packaging to play in Impulse buying”

HYPOTHESIS 3

HYPOTHESIS 4: “Improvement in packaging and visible shelf positioning results in

higher impulse buying”

HYPOTHESIS 4: In case of improved packaging

HYPOTHESIS 4: In case of improved shelf positioning

CONCLUSION

From the above analysis, it may therefore be stated that Packaging and Shelf-positioning do have the ability to impact Impulse Buying. And marketers can gain a lot by keep this factor in mind and making use of both these variables to their own advantage. If marketers seriously take these factors in account, they can draw many conclusions which will ultimately benefit them. Another point of concern here is for the marketers offering a differentiated proposition, Packaging and key positions in the shelves can surely make their products stand out from the other.

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