Economic Recession and Packaging to Size

It can be very annoying when you need something but can’t get it or you get it but feel cheated. This happens when Consumers buy brands hoping to get promised offers but find out they have been shortchanged. Imaging purchasing super glue brand to mend something important only to find it filled with air or you are in traffic and feeling very hungry and you buy a beef roll snack but find there is little or no beef in the beef roll. This is called packaging to size.

Packaging to size is on the increase in Nigeria. This is not a good time for the manufacturers as the Nigerian economy is going through a recession. Entrepreneurs and SME’s are finding it hard to get funding, the cost of production is on the increase while demand for goods continued to fall. The recession has led many to lay-off workers in an attempt to cut down on cost and break even.

President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Frank Jacobs, has urged its members to desist from reducing quantity and quality of their goods owing to the scarcity of foreign exchange (Forex). He warned that it was not in the interest of any manufacturer to reduce the number of products, insisting such practice affect customers’ patronages.

“The moment you do that, a loyal Consumer knows the size of the product and might boycott the product. “This is the implication; When a Consumer is lost, it is usually expensive and difficult to get them back because you will first have to get their confidence back.” He said.

Some other options producers can explore are increasing in price, hard-sell promotions with freebies, experiential marketing, door-to-door marketing to mention a few but reducing quality or quantity is a no option.

“Sometimes, it becomes inevitable to increase prices especially at a time of higher production costs. “Unfortunately, there is a lot of resistance to a price increase of manufactured products,’’ Jacobs said.

He urged the Federal Government to deploy strategies to stabilise the economy, adding that the manufacturers would not experience recession for too long.”