In: Economics
How must American marketers change their packaging for sale in India and Pakistan? How about product size? Would warehouse clubs like Costco and BJ's be successful in this part of the world? Why or why not?
minimum 500 words
(A) It is critical for brands and businesses wanting to venture out of their home country to consider the preferences, requirements, aesthetics and other things of the destination countries. Starting from small cosmetic changes to significant changes in terms of prroduct size or in terms of material of packaging, marketers have to consider destination country policies, demographic preferences, etc. to be successful.
For sale in India and Pakistan, for instance, American marketers have to consider certain factors. For instance, given the relatively larger proportion of poor in India and Pakistan, maybe designing smaller packets that cost less would be better suited than having large family packs for products like detergents, chips, etc.
Similarly, instead of big tetra packets of perishables like milk, for India and Pakistan where access electricity in rural pockets is still an issue, large tetra packs would not find an audience given that they would not be able to preserve it for so long.
Another instanceis tha given the sizeable proportion of vegetarians in India, who consume egg but not any other form of meat, India food standards require the marketers to mention it. Hence, American marketers may have to package and brand their products as vegetarian, eggetarian, and non-vegetaian separately for India market.
An important regulatory difference between America and
India/Pakistan may also require American marketers to package
products differently. For instance, given the recent
environmental concerns, use of plastic across the value chain of
products is being discouraged by Indian government, and a certian
grade of plastic with lesser environmental side-effects being
encouraged. Hence, American marketers nay have to deal with such
regulatory differences and accordingly alter packaging of products
to be able to successfully penetrate in India and Pakistani
markets.
(B) Regarding whether warehouse clubs like Costco and BJ's be successful in this part of the world, I believe they will be successful. Given the size and scale of their operations, they must have a good research division that can study destination country preferences, regulations, etc. in detail, as well as products and packaging of competitve products in India and Pakistan, to help them come up with unique but successful ideas of packaging.