Sustainable Packaging Innovation and Customer Expectations in Fast Moving Consumer Products Manufacturing Firms
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19166/imj.v6i2.11279Keywords:
Customer Expectations, Environmental Consciousness, Green Packaging, Sensory Stimuli, Sustainable Packaging InnovationAbstract
The research sought to investigate the influence of sustainable packaging innovation and customer expectations of fast-moving consumer goods by Unilever Nigerian Group of companies in selected retailers in Lagos state. In the current investigation, survey method was adopted as questionnaires were distributed among three eighty-four respondents (384) while two hundred and seventy-two (272) were finally retrieved for analysis. Regression analysis was utilized to analyze the data gathered in the study. As such, the results of the study indicate that there is a positive yet statistically insignificant regression coefficient between sustainable packaging innovation and customer expectation. It implies that even though customer expectation increases slightly with improvements in sustainable packaging innovation, this relationship is insignificant. The constant reveals that without any sustainable packaging innovation, consumers have high expectations anyway. This research shows that the existence of the gap between the attitude and the behaviour, high consumer expectations irrespective of sustainable packaging innovation, the absence of clear communication about sustainability, and the importance of functional features of packaging instead of symbolic ones are the possible explanations of the phenomena. It is suggested that Unilever needs to move from the approach where only innovation of packaging is carried out to more general communication strategies of sustainability implementation. As sustainable innovations do not lead to increased consumer expectations, these must be made evident to the customer.
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