Market Research Offers Insight into Consumer Packaging Importance
Robbie’s new Hot N Handy® pouch exceeds consumer needs
Shoppers who purchase rotisserie chicken in the deli departments of their grocery stores are accustomed to their chickens being packaged in a plastic dome-shaped container grocers call a “dome.” Several variations of this concept have been introduced over the years.
A marketing study, conducted in June 2002 by Market Research Institute of Kansas City, recorded and ranked the features consumers say they consider when evaluating the packaging containers used by grocers for rotisserie chicken.
The “first tier” factors, or those that ranked as the most important to consumers were:
1. Protecting you from liquid leaking out of the container
2. Keeping the chicken from spilling out of the container while you carry it
3. A container that doesn’t open unexpectedly
The second tier factors, or those that were considered important, yet right behind the first tier were:
1. Knowing that the container will not slip out of your grasp and spill the product
2. Protecting your hands from the likelihood of getting burned
3. Ability to protect chicken from the store to your home
4. A container that allows you to see the chicken adequately in the store display
The third and fourth tier factors, or those that ranked as having minimal importance to consumers were:
1. Keeping the chicken hot until you eat it
2. Ease with which you can get the chicken into and out of the container
3. Providing you with the information you need to prepare the chicken properly
4. A container that makes it easy to warm up the products at home
5. Ease of repeatedly opening and shutting the container
6. A container that fits easily into your refrigerator
7. Helping you store chicken leftovers in the refrigerator
Robbie Manufacturing, the Kansas City-based leader in flexible packaging, commissioned the survey as part of their product development for a new container for rotisserie chicken packaging. Robbie recently introduced a new packaging solution named the “Hot N Handy®.” Its zip pouch design introduces new security and branding features never before available with conventional roaster dome packaging. The significant advancement, according to consumers in the study, is the Hot N Handy® Pouch’s convenient, reusable zip lock seal that stays closed to eliminate leakage and surprise spillage, the factors that ranked number one and two in importance by consumers.
Consumers reported that leakage is their greatest concern with the plastic dome. Conversely, Hot N Handy® was ranked as the best perceived performer for leakage by a significant margin over the dome.
Consumers also said they preferred Hot N Handy® to the dome by a two-to-one margin.
Robbie Manufacturing is a leading flexible packaging supplier to the supermarket industry in the United States. The company also serves the food processor industry with customized packaging solutions.
Find more information about Hot N Handy® products or view an executive summary of the consumer research on our website or contact Penny Sweeny at 913-492-3400.