Abstract

The aim of the article. The purpose of this article is to verify the hypothesis that the tool for solving the conflict of objectives between marketing and preservation of the environment in relation to the packaging of products being sold in retail is the formation of proper environmental behavior of consumers and the justification of measures to increase the level of environmental behavior of the population of Ukraine in the field of packaging handling. The results of the research. It is discovered that the fact of packing the goods adds value for customers and is advantageous for the manufacturers, ensuring unification of the goods, increasing their expiration date, their allocation among competitors, provides consumers with information about them, protects the goods from damage and forgery, facilitates logistics processes. All these factors stimulate increase in the use of packaging. The other side of the fact of packing the product is to create a potential threat to the environment after its direct functions performing, which can not be bypassed, but is difficult and often expensive to manage. On the one hand, it stimulates the search for such packaging materials that are subject to rapid biodegradation, and on the other hand, it can motivate people’s behavior to reduce the demand for disposable packaging of goods (if it is technologically possible) and to reuse packaging. In addition to the main hypothesis presented in the study, additional hypotheses were also put forward: ecological behavior in relation to the purchase of packaged products and the use of packaging directly correlates with the income and age of consumers; the bottleneck in purchasing packaged products and the use of packaging is the lack of packaging reuse infrastructure. A 411 consumer survey was conducted using the Google Forms service to verify the hypotheses. Its results show that the respondents’ preferences for packaged and non-packaged goods were distributed almost equally. It was found that with a decrease in the income level, respondents favorably refer to the unpackaged product, which is due to the lower price of such a product. However, the ecological position is far behind the environmental consciousness of respondents. In particular, according to the results of the survey, only one third of the respondents are ready for additional inconvenience when buying unpackaged goods. Most respondents tend to sort and dispose of packaging separately and reuse them, which confirms their ecological position. However, this does not always coincide with their environmental behavior. Based on the results of the survey, the hypothesis that the bottleneck for the purchase of packaged products and the use of packaging is a lack of packaging reuse infrastructure has been confirmed. This is due to the fact that in Ukraine, resellers do not have enough collection points to collect used packaging, which is typical of Western countries. The collected primary marketing information made it possible to determine measures of influence of state authorities and management directed on separate groups of the population of Ukraine in order to optimize the use and disposal of packaging and reduce its quantity, informing the population. They will increase the level of social consciousness and social responsibility in Ukraine, taking into account the specifics of the behavior of people of all ages and different backgrounds. It is expedient to stimulate the rational handling of packaging also by innovative measures of manufacturers and intermediaries. Conclusions and directions of further research. Based on the assumption that proper environmental behavior reflects the appropriate level of environmental position and environmental consciousness, this hypothesis was verified. The result of the verification of the hypothesis is the following statements: ecological consciousness is at a rather high level, which in particular correlates with the equivalence of the purchase of packaged and unpackaged goods; the ecological position of consumers is not too high; ecological behavior is even lower. The research shows that solving the problem of packaging utilization and reducing its use can be through the use at the state level of various measures to promote this idea. The following measures may be proposed to use in order to solve the problem of utilization of packaging: the use of environment-friendly packaging; increase in the price of packaging and, accordingly, of the goods as a result of consideration of expenses for its utilization; creation of an extensive network of collection points of secondary raw materials; dissemination of information on the harmful effects of packaging on the environment; creating an atmosphere of public condemnation for those who buy packaged goods without need. However, such measures should be differentiated for consumers of a certain age category and income level. Prospects for further research are related to research on the possibility of using social networks to promote the idea of ​​rational packaging and reduce its usage by consumers.  

Keywords: environment pollution by packaging, ecological consciousness, ecological position, ecological behavior, utilization of packaging

JEL Classification: F18, Q53.

Cite as: Krykavskyy, J. V., Kuzo, N. J., & Kosar, N. S. (2018). Product packing: marketing contra ecology. Marketing and Management of Innovations, 1, 103-117. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2018.1-07

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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