Unwrapping the Cosmetic Package: A Discriminant Analysis Approach

Abstract

Packaging which is often called as the ‘silent salesman’ is an important component of marketing. Today the importance of packaging has risen to such an extent that product packaging is rightly called as the fifth ‘P’ of marketing mix. Cosmetics are products which are utilized by a large number of people. The present study examines the discriminating power of five selected cosmetics packaging variables namely ‘picture’, ‘colour’, ‘size’, ‘shape’ and ‘material’ amidst those who purchased cosmetics based on these packaging variables and for those who purchased cosmetics not based on these packaging variables. Discriminant analysis showed that only two variables namely ‘Colour’ (.706) and ‘Shape’ (– .527) were good predictors. Variables ‘Picture’, ‘size’ and ‘material’ were considered as poor predictors as far as the student communities were considered. The cross validated classification showed that out of the 240 samples drawn, 91.8% of the cases were correctly classified.