Business: packaging

Self-tutoring about business: the tutor mentions a neat story about marketing.

The following is according to my understanding.

I used to like to buy grapes in a clamshell container: back then, their price per pound, in that format, was X. For a long time, that price was stable; some weeks it went down a bit, even. COVID hit, then the price went up. It eventually came back down, though not necessarily back to X. As a result, I stopped buying grapes in that format, which means I stopped buying them altogether.

My wife’s response was different: she started buying grapes in bags. (My wife and I each do grocery shopping separately, but also go together about once per week.) Unilaterally, I found alternatives to grapes, but some people who visit us like grapes, so she wanted to keep buying them.

In time, I started buying grapes in bags when my wife would send me to the store for them. Therefore, I started noticing their price.

The other day, I saw the price of the grapes in bags was exactly X. Right next to them, the grapes in the clamshell were twenty five percent more. The difference was obvious, which I mentioned to my wife.

“That’s because grapes in a clamshell container are seen by many customers as a different product from grapes in a bag,” she replied. “Therefore, people don’t necessarily compare the price of grapes in one format versus another.”

My wife is right, as usual: packaging is an important part of marketing. It took me awhile to think outside the clamshell, but I got there.

Interesting, eh?

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