ABSTRACT

This study investigated the influence of packaging elements on consumer buying behaviour of selected fast moving consumer goods in Umuahia North L.G.A of Abia State, Nigeria. The study focused on six key elements of packaging which are product colour, background image, font style, wrapper design, printed information and packaging material. The study adopted a survey research design. The population of the study is 220,660 which is the population of Umuahia North, Abia State. The sample size for the study amounted to three hundred and ninety nine (399) respondents which were estimated using Taro Yamane formula. Only three hundred and sixty-two (362) questionnaires were filled properly and then used for the analysis, which gave a response rate of 90.7%. The statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 20) was used to analyse the data collected. Data collected were analysed using the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) Multiple Regression Analysis, ANOVA Test and Pearson Correlation Coefficient used for testing the formulated hypotheses at 5% level of significance. From the analysis, the multiple regression of the packaging elements on consumer behaviour reveal that background image influences the consumer buying behaviour more than other variables. Further, the result reveals that printed information is not statistically significant to influence the consumer buying behaviour. ANOVA test gave BSP (F = 4105.215), RPP (F = 219.282), AWP (F = 1594.964), BUP (F = 1312.476), and BEP (F = 1018.777) which were significant. The correlation test on the packaging elements and consumer behaviour resulted to the following; colour (0.943), background image (0.912), font style (0.925), wrapper design (0.940), printed information (0.389), and packaging material (0.889) which were also significant. Findings showed that packaging elements such as colour, background image, font style, wrapper design and packaging material of the selected products significantly influenced consumers’ behaviour to a high extent; while printed information weakly influences the consumer buying behaviour. The finding of the study also revealed that the packaging elements positively influenced consumer buying behaviour of fast moving consumer goods. The study recommends that manufacturers of fast moving products should be innovative towards product packaging to win consumers’ attention. They should be aware that if they adopt poor packaging for their products, their products failure in the market is certain.