Customers’ perception of sustainable packaging characteristics : an experimental investigation

Abstract

Packaging design is a constantly evolving field which tries to match society’s cultural shifts of what is deemed important at the time. Due to the recent surge in environmental awareness, designers are now pressured to rethink the entire process of packaging design in order to include sustainability as a key aspect. This dissertation explores customers’ perceptions of sustainable packaging, and determines the key design elements that consumers look for when making a purchase decision with sustainability as a key element. It also measures consumers’ understanding of terms related to sustainability, as well as marketing tactics such as greenwashing. The primary data for this study was gathered through a survey, whilst secondary data was obtained from the relevant literature and reported research. The results showed that people do take into consideration whether the packaging is sustainable when making a purchase. Most participants also agreed that they care about the packaging’s appearance, but that it is not their primary concern. The research however, was limited because of a small sample size and therefore cannot be considered as a reflection of the opinion of the general population. For the project part of this study, already existing packaging was redesigned to be more sustainable. The packaging redesign was based on the information gathered from the survey and from other existing literature, and a prototype was produced. The aim of the redesign is to highlight how simple alterations can make packaging more sustainable, which would not only be beneficial to the environment, but could also be used as a marketing strategy to attract environmentally-conscious consumers.