NEW EVENT! Cutting-edge Trends for Every Industry at PACK EXPO Southeast
Discover packaging & processing solutions for all industries at the all-new PACK EXPO Southeast in Atlanta, GA, March 10-12, 2025
LAST CHANCE! Register ASAP for $30

Leveraging package design research

Here’s to a better understanding of, and appreciation for, package design research.

Pw 381142 Sterlinganthony Crop 25 0

Packaging is a potent marketing tool and package design research provides guidance as to how packaging should be leveraged. Every packaging-related decision is fraught with risks. That being so, package design research is only as valuable as the researcher’s ability to reduce those risks. That ability, in turn, depends on how well a company understands package design research, not only its potential but its limitations and pitfalls.

Qualitative and quantitative are the two categories of package design research and it is fundamental to understand the difference. Qualitative research explores and delves, typically to generate ideas, theories, and hypotheses. Quantitative research generates statistics derived from data sourced from sample sizes large enough to be projectable.

Qualitative research describes and quantitative research measures, a simplification that does not mean that the two categories never overlap. Focus groups are considered qualitative, and in-depth interviews are considered quantitative, but both are conducted interpersonally. As another example, observation methods can straddle the line between qualitative and quantitative, depending on how the methods are structured.

It’s an easy recognition that qualitative and quantitative should be used in tandem, the ideal being mutual/reciprocal validation of results. A thornier consideration is which methods from the two categories should be combined in a research program and in what sequence. Adding to the prickliness are such factors as primary vs. secondary, in-house vs outsourced, and (always) time and budget.

In the scientific vernacular, package design research is applied research, meaning that it is undertaken to solve a problem, meet a challenge, or achieve an objective—such as the aforementioned reduction of risks. Package design research is applied to a myriad of situations that fall under a particular marketing launch: new product, revised product, and product-line extension.

What constitutes a new product? It’s relative, contingent upon whether it’s introducing a new category or entering an existing category. How should the packaging convey the former and differentiate among the latter? With a revised product, how should the packaging convey “updatedness,” yet retain those characteristics most prized by the consumer? Regarding product-line extension, how should the packaging convey the “family image,” yet give each family member its own identity?

The answers to the preceding questions can spell the difference between success and failure in the market place. For all its prowess, however, packaging design research is subject to misapplications. The most egregious are any attempts to use packaging to compensate for deficiencies that are inherent in the product itself. When a product introduces a new category, there’s no guarantee that it addresses unmet consumer wants/needs. When a “me-too” product enters an established category, consumer-use will expose it as being just that. When a brand, even a leading one, overextends itself, consumers won’t regard the extension as reliable. Under such scenarios, packaging design research might result in packaging that spurs trial purchases but it can’t sustain repurchases sufficient for impressive growth.

New e-book on Flexible Packaging
In this e-book, you’ll learn key considerations for vertical and horizontal f/f/s and how to choose between premade bags and an f/f/s system. Plus, discover the pitfalls to avoid on bagging machinery projects.
download
New e-book on Flexible Packaging
INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for All Industries at PACK EXPO Southeast
The exciting new PACK EXPO Southeast 2025 unites all vertical markets in one dynamic hub, generating more innovative answers to your production challenges. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity for your business!
REGISTER FOR $30!
INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for All Industries at PACK EXPO Southeast