As early as the early 1980s, experts in China's packaging design and packaging industry raised the issue of “overpackaging”. Due to the wide range of packaging, China's "packaging law" has not yet been formed, and many factors have not attracted the attention of experts. Excessive packaging of products is not a single type of supervision of packaging or materials and should be viewed from a number of factors.
1 . Different types of packaging different levels and packaging levels
From the point of view of the product's attributes, the goods have high, medium and low grades, as well as gift wraps and general packaging. Different grades of products have different consumer groups, packaging components, price profits, packaging materials, packaging and decorative added value. In addition to packaging features, gift wrapping has special significance. In the China Packaging Design Committee, the definition of the packaging design review rule is: gift packaging material costs account for less than 30% of production costs, and lower or normal packaging material costs account for 3% of product production costs. More is designated as "excessive packaging." (Note: This definition is not a stipulation. It is difficult to accurately calculate and divide in practice because we cannot accurately calculate production costs and interest rates.)
The reason that gift packaging differs from ordinary packaging is "memorial value." When people give home supplies as gifts to others or ask for help, the articles of daily life become gifts. In this case, the gift wrap is not commemorative. The gift itself is an ordinary household item, but it will leave memories. There are a wide variety of gifts, such as daily necessities, crafts, art, commemorative tickets, coins, antiques, jewelry, and jewelry. Current arts and crafts, art, antiques, jewelry and jewelry are not valued in the domestic market, and some are not even packaged. This is because people's living standards or ideas do not reach a new height, so there is not so much "excessive" packaging.
Second, the value of goods is different, and the degree of packaging is not the same
The goods have the same ingredients, but the content and price are different. Different brands of cigarettes, the raw material is tobacco, due to the different quality and composition of the smoke, the price difference is very large, the price of high and low positioning will affect the packaging and decoration design and packaging material grade. The same brands of cigarettes are packed in cartons, plastics, and metal. Although the quality and composition of cigarettes differ slightly, there are also price differences. This phenomenon uses packaging function benefits, quality benefits, use and reflect the value of added value, and therefore, the extent of its packaging nature is different.
Packaging features include: 1, protection; 2, promotional features; 3, the project landscaping function; 4, convenient features; 5, the value function.
The ultimate goal of packaging is to sell products. The ultimate purpose of value-added packaging is also to sell products.
From the aspect of protection function, the volume of the packaging box exceeds the excess of the product volume, which is necessary in the range of pressure and impact and cannot be defined as "over-packaging". A packaging volume that exceeds the volume of the product by a greater amount of external pressure may conceptually be defined as "overpacked," but in fact if you can sell it, it can be accepted by consumers and will not be defined as "excessive packaging." ". Products, if they cannot be sold, cannot be accepted by the consumer groups and consumers are lost, this situation is called “over-packaging”, and if so, the manufacturer will naturally change the packaging.
The main reasons for increasing the volume of the packaging box are: 1. The pressure and shockproof need to protect the product.
2. The production of cartons and the use of box-type construction paper itself is a waste, and the cost of packaging boxes is big and small.
3. The project increases the added value of the goods. Even if the manufacturer expands the packaging box to mislead the consumer, as long as the manufacturer specifies the content requirements of the production license and national instructor standards. It is difficult to judge whether producers are trying to create higher profits or lower profits to increase sales.
The volume of the box exceeds the excess of the product, which exceeds the range of pressure and impact. However, the utilization of paper in the carton structure is not wasted. Manufacturers in order to ensure the safety of goods, not to damage valuables, without increasing the cost of packaging materials for large-volume packaging box, increase the volume of the packaging box, making it increase the impact strength and compressive strength, so that the need for superior defense. For example, USB HDD Enclosures, in order to expand the size, increase the sponge, foam to protect the product, this is mainly due to the small size of the USB mobile hard disk but the value is higher, the pressure and prevention of impact should be strengthened, this is to ensure safety.
The composition of packaging materials and processes increases production costs, but also increases the level of goods, luxury goods and the degree of emphasis on package weight and gift wrapping. Ordinary or disposable low-priced goods do not enter "excessive" packaging. Let's assume an ordinary disposable plastic cup, which itself has the effect of resistance and impact. If you pack it with an iron box, it is overpacked, but no stupid manufacturer will.
Packaging in order to occupy a certain share in the market, in order to increase the value of goods, often spend more time and cost on the various functions of packaging. The convenience of packaging structure and the choice of special packaging materials are all to increase the added value of the products. While increasing the cost of packaging, its added value is also high, which is more valuable than increasing the cost of packaging. The reflection of “return-style compensation” shows that consumers want to buy pearls, and because of the exquisite packaging, the added value has reached the buyer’s idea of “purchasing pearls”. On the other hand, consumer psychology has a certain degree of "vanity" and considers delicacy to be a good thing. Because packaging has promotion and beautification functions, and guides consumer psychology and other factors, why not explain that manufacturers reduce packaging costs to increase profits, usually to increase the value-added packaging to increase profits.
Third, different consumer groups have different packaging and consumer needs
In consumer groups, differences in consumer personality, cultural differences, aesthetics and purchasing power. Therefore, the assessment of "excessive packaging" is not the same. If the purchaser is not within the scope of designing the target consumer group, the number of purchasers and the number of purchases is very limited, and it is understandable that the package is "excessive" after the purchase, but this view is not correct. The commemorative coin in the packaging design, for example: the function of the currency value (circulation) is 200 yuan, the production cost of the box is 60 yuan (excluding the design fee), the market sales price is 2000 - 3,000 yuan, and the positioning of the consumer group is absolute. It will not buy low-margin products at high prices. Although the packaging value is "excessive", it reflects the specific value, that is, "commemorative" rather than the currency itself. It is understandable that people with weaker purchasing power than those with lower purchasing power say packaging is “excessive”. If buyers are designing targeted consumer groups, most people in this group think that packaging is "excessive", that is, "value", such as the design of product positioning is wrong, so people will not buy, product packaging will not be dynamic, The product packaging market will disappear.
In terms of consumer demand, consumers are buying goods instead of packaging, but how do they differentiate between different products without packaging? How do you determine consumer interest? In terms of sales demand, manufacturers make packaging and large packaging to Ensure that the sales process is not compromised and that profits are also guaranteed. Therefore, manufacturers do not need to make large packages to sell the boxes to consumers. The ultimate goal is to sell products better.
4. National regulations and rules do not specify the scope of packaging
From the perspective of national supervision, China currently has advertising law, trademark law, and national measurement standards, and so far no "package law" has been formulated. The national measurement standard must indicate the composition, content and net weight of the product in the packing box. The manufacturer is not “three non-existent” as long as the manufacturer’s production license, production date, name, address, component content, and net weight are specified on the packing box. "product. The composition, content and net weight of the carton are the same as those of the surface of the box, so the package is large, and there is no law to explain that the manufacturer deceives consumers in the form of excessive packaging. Since fake and shoddy goods generally reflect images such as production licenses, national metrology standards, registered trademarks or embezzled brand packaging images, and manufacturing or imitation of brand images, security printing technologies and production technologies are becoming more and more complex. From this point of view, the complexity of the packaging production process also increases the production cost, and is also defined as "over-packaging." If the packaging design according to the China Packaging Association Design Committee sets a comparison: the cost of gift packaging materials is less than 30%. The production cost of the production product, low-grade or normal packaging material costs less than 3% of the production cost of the production product, making it a law, the excess ratio was designated as "excessive packaging" on the basis. However, 30% and 3% are involved in the improvement of many departments and other related regulations.
Therefore, the definition of "excessive packaging" is difficult because it involves the production technology, process, and cost accounting of the goods. Commodity supervision systems; commodity circulation and protection; pricing policies and pricing principles; commodity quality standards and inspections; consumer group positioning and purchasing needs; there are many factors, such as differences in desire and purchasing power. The main reason is that there is no proper and effective packaging legislation.