Consumer perceptions of shopping bags

Abstract

Retail shopping bags are a form of secondary packaging, which are provided by retailers (free of charge) to customers as a means of transporting merchandise. In Hong Kong, the reuse of shopping bags is a common phenomenon. What are the important reasons for consumers to use and reuse shopping bags? What are the usage frequencies of different kinds of shopping bags? There are no published studies relating to shopping bags, therefore, this exploratory study aims to provide an initial insight toward consumer perceptions of shopping bags. After qualitative work, a survey consisting of a total of 200 personally‐administered questionnaires was conducted at a selection of Hong Kong’s Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) stations in Hong Kong. The target sample included males and females aged 15 or over, with an equal distribution of each gender. The findings indicated that the majority of interviewees would like to use and reuse paper shopping bags rather than plastic shopping bags. In addition, the interviewees desired different attributes from paper shopping bags when compared with plastic shopping bags. Finally, the relationship between the duration of keeping a shopping bag and the frequency of reusing the same bag is identified.