The effects of packaging changes as a factor which affects customers perception of the American Farm School products

Abstract

A great number of researches have been conducted with the purpose of understanding the consumer behavior, identifying and analyzing the factors affecting consumer perception and the effect of packaging on these two dimensions. Even though this topic is of high importance and interest mainly for marketing and marketers, the studies and previous researches were presented on more developed countries compared to Greece. The nature of this study is common since packaging is considered to be a part of the marketing mix, consequently marketing is directly involved. The objective of this dissertation is to identify the effects of packaging changes is a factor which affects customer's perception of the American Farm School (AFS) products. The American Farm School is located on the city of Thessaloniki Greece and is a private, nonprofit educational institution founded in 1904 to serve the rural population of Greece and the Balkans" (American Farm School 2011). Except from the objective mentioned, this work also evaluates how the packaging changes can be perceived, well accepted or rejected by customers and if they relate that the quality of product is also affected by a packaging change. The aesthetics of the label of a product are also evaluated in the present dissertation regarding the utilization of the label as a source of information regarding its corporate image, while the packaging design of a product as a source of information regarding its quality is examined as well. For the evaluation of the above factors a quantitative research was carried on the premises of Thessaloniki, Greece. The results of this study showed that the packaging design an indicator of product quality, while changes in packaging did not mean changes in the quality of the product according to the findings of the research. Finally, when analyzing the meaning of the aesthetics or the label, it was deducted that are not in order to win information about the image of the manufacture company