A packaged growth

The organised retail industry has grown considerably over the past decade, and packaging is playing a key role in a brand’s positioning strategy as well as attracting customer attention.

Marketing consultants also highlight that an appropriate packaging helps brands to break the ‘clutter’ on supermarket shelves, and also simplifies the purchase decision for shoppers. And, to achieve the same requires a combination of graphics, colours utilised by a particular brand and relevant product information.

The target audience at modern trade could be broadly segmented into high-end and typically brand conscious, middle class which is often seeking value, and lower middle class that is price conscious. Marketing managers need to ensure that packaging of the ‘mother’ brand appropriately conveys the core values, before launching sub-brands and brand extensions.   

Challenges faced

A problem often faced while implementing the packaging strategy relates to ‘me-too’, with private labels and competitors following a similar strategy. And, it becomes necessary for a brand to constantly focus on improving its packaging strategy as well as appeal to more than one ‘sense’ of consumers.

A noticeable trend relating to the above is “innovation” in promotional packs, and cross merchandising, which helps customers to perceive value for money for a particular product. For instance, Lifebuoy soap as part of its cross promotional packaging offered a free ‘Hulk’ toy for a limited period, and Lux’s gold offer campaign.

Going forward, packaging is also going to help brands communicate with their consumers via mobile phones which scan bar codes, in a bid to gain greater information related to a product or for participating in a promotional campaign.

About the autor

Sethunath P is the Director of the Alia Group. , one of the country's packaging powerhouses.