BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Packaging is a very important marketing strategy to glamorize product in order to attract the consumer’s attention. Sometimes packaging is so important that it cost more than the product itself in order to lure the consumers to buy it. Packaging should definitely be included in the 4 major P’s of marketing (product, place, promotion and price) (Soroka, 2002). Diana, (2005) believe that most consumers judge a product by its packaging before buying. So it is logical to say attractive packaging is crucial in order to get the first time buyers to buy your products. Without attractive packaging, nobody will buy it in order to try it. The first step to enter the market is crushed if the packaging is ugly (Soroka, 2002). The basic function of packaging is to “preserve product integrity” by protecting the actual food product against potential damage from “climatic, bacteriological and transit hazards” (Stewart, 1995).

However, the first to define packs as the “silent salesman” was Pilditch in 1957, who argued that the pack must come alive at the point of purchase, in order to represent the salesman (Vazquez et al., 2003). About 30 years later, Lewis (1991) expanded further on Pilditch’s views, stating that “good packaging is far more than a salesman; it is a flag of recognition and a symbol of values”. Given that only a small minority of brands are strong enough to justify the investment that national advertising requires, for the rest, packaging represents one of the most important vehicles for communicating the brand message directly to the target consumer (Nancarrow et al., 1998). As the retail environment becomes saturated with competitors varying for consumers’ attention, packaging has to work harder than ever if the product is to be noticed through the congestion of competitive products (Milton, 1991). Alongside this challenge, retailers are faced with the realization that consumers not only differ in how they perceive brands but also in how they relate to these brands (Fournier, 1998; Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001).

Olayinka and Aminu (2006) see packaging as all activities of designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product. Kottler (2003) defines packaging as all materials products used for the containment, protection, hard delivery and presentation of goods. Packaging is the protecting products for distribution, storage, sale and use, packaging also refers to the process of design evaluation and production of packages. Packaging can be described as a coordinated system of preparing goods for transport, warehousing information and sell. It is fully integrated into government business, institutional, industry, and personal use (Diana, 2005)

Packaging can play an important role in reducing the security risks of shipment. Packages can be made with improved tamper resistance to deter tampering and also can have tamper-evident (Severin, 2007) features to help indicate tampering. Packages can be engineered to help reduce the risks of package pilferage: Some package constructions are more resistant to pilferage and some have pilfered indicating seals. Packages may include authentication seals and use security printing to help indicate that the package and contents are not counterfeit. Packages also can include anti-theft devices, such as dye-packs, tags, or electronic article surveillance (Zabaniotou, 2004) tags that can be activated or detected by devices at exit points and require specialized tools to deactivate. Using packaging in this way is a means of loss prevention. It on this premises that this research wishes to examine the impact of product packaging on organizational sales turnover with special reference to PZ Nigeria Plc.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Several researcher have opined that new package can become the major factor in a new marketing strategy by significantly improving the total product sales and turnover. A better box, wrapper, can or bottle, may even enable a relatively small, unknown firm to compete successfully with the established competitors. A new package change often creates a (new) product by giving either the regular customers or new target markets the existing product in a new form or quantity that is more satisfactory which in turn increases sales. However, the researcher is examining the impact of packaging on organizational sales turnover in PZ Nigeria Ltd.

1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the objectives of this study:

1. To examine the impact of packaging on organizational sales turnover in PZ Nigeria Ltd.
2. To examine the strategic importance of packaging in PZ Nigeria Ltd.
3. To examine the impact of packaging on organizational profitability in PZ Nigeria Ltd.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the impact of packaging on organizational sales turnover in PZ Nigeria Ltd?
2. What is the strategic importance of packaging in PZ Nigeria Ltd?
3. What is the impact of packaging on organizational profitability in PZ Nigeria Ltd?

1.5   HYPOTHESIS

HO: There is no significant relationship between packaging and organizational sale turnover in PZ Nigeria Ltd.

HA: There is significant relationship between packaging and organizational sale turnover in PZ Nigeria Ltd.

1.6   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following are the significance of this study:

1. The results from this study will educate business managers and the general public on the importance of product packaging especially as it relates with organizational sales turnover.
2. This research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.

1.7   SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study is limited to PZ Nigeria Ltd. this study will also cover impact of packaging on organizational sales turnover.

LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

 Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.