THE ROLE OF PACKAGING IN THE CHOICE OF FOOD PRODUCTS BY CHILDREN AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON BUYING BEHAVIOR OF PARENTS

Iz dana u dan brojne kompanije, trgovci i marketinški stručnjaci prepoznaju ulogu djece kao jednog od najznačajnijih tržišnih segmenata te shvaćaju zašto im je važno usaditi kupovne navike od malena. Djeca su izložena oglašavanju putem raznih medija i na prodajnim mjestima, zbog čega su informirana i upoznata s proizvodima. Svoje kupovne zahtjeve već od rane dobi izražavaju pokazivanjem ili pogledom te razni zvukovi, slike i oblici privlače njihovu pažnju i stvaraju želju za određenim proizvodom. Time se ističe snaga ambalaže proizvoda, koju djeca uočavaju na prodajnom mjestu i koja poput “tihog prodavača” prezentira proizvod i stvara želju za kupnjom. Zbog nedostatka kupovne moći djeca ispituju i nagovaraju roditelje na kupnju proizvoda, što predstavlja veliku priliku za marketinške stručnjake. Kako bi doprijeli do djece, trgovci koriste zabavne elemente ambalaže poput dizajna raznih oblika, veličina i boja, crtanih likova te besplatnih poklona unutar pakiranja, čime stvaraju preferencije djece prema određenim proizvodima i markama hrane. Upravo zato uloga ambalaže u kreiranju preferencija djece pri kupnji prehrambenih proizvoda i njihov utjecaj na kupovne odluke roditelja postaju predmetom ovog diplomskog rada, na temelju kojeg je napravljeno istraživanje u empirijskom dijelu rada. Istraživanje je provedeno s roditeljima, čime je dobivena njihova percepcija o navedenim pitanjima. Korišten je elektronički anketni upitnik, distribuiran putem Facebook grupa, kojim je prikupljeno 174 valjanih odgovora. Rezultati potvrđuju da je uloga djece najveća pri kupnji slatkiša, ali i da djeca imaju značajnu ulogu pri kupnji voća. Ispitanici su pokazali neutralne stavove vezane za ulogu ambalaže na dječje preferencije proizvoda. Ispitana je uloga elemenata boje, specifičnih znakova, besplatnih poklona na ambalaži ili unutar pakiranja, crtanih ili stvarnih likova i oblika ambalaže. Prema odgovorima roditelja zaključujemo da zanimljiv oblik ambalaže ostvaruje najveći utjecaj na djecu. Djeca svoje zahtjeve većinom ostvaruju usmenim zahtjevanjem ili pokazivanjem, dok stavljanje predmeta u košaricu rjeđe koriste. Većinom ne dobivaju džeparac niti kupovinu obavljaju samostalno, čime se naglašava njihova potreba utjecaja na roditelje kako bi dobili željeni proizvod.Day by day, companies, retailers and marketing experts recognize the role of children as one of the strongest market segments and become aware of why they need to instill shopping habits from an early age. Children are exposed to advertising through various media and at points of sale, which makes them informed and familiar with the products. They express their purchasing demands by showing or looking, and various sounds, images and shapes attract their attention and create a desire for a certain object or product. This emphasizes the power of product packaging, which children notice at the point of sale and which, like a "silent salesman", presents the product and creates a desire for buying. Due to the lack of purchasing power, children question and persuade parents to buy products, which represents a great opportunity for marketing professionals. To reach out to the children, retailers use fun packaging elements such as designs of various shapes, sizes and colors, cartoon characters and free gifts inside the package, creating children's preferences for certain products. and food brands. That is why the role of packaging in creating food product preferences by children and their impact on parents' purchasing decisions become the subject of this thesis, based on which research was done in the empirical part of the paper. The research was conducted on parents, which has given their perception of the above issues. An electronic survey questionnaire was used, distributed through Facebook groups, which collected 174 valid answers. The analysis of the results confirmed that children have the greatest influence on the purchase of sweets, which supports the theoretical part of the paper, but also that they significantly influence the purchase of fruit. Respondents showed neutral attitudes regarding the impact of packaging on children’s product preferences. The influence of color elements, specific signs, free gifts on the packaging or inside the packaging, cartoon or real characters and shapes of the packaging were examined. According to the parents' answers, we conclude that an interesting form of packaging has the greatest impact on children. They mostly fulfill their demands by verbally requesting or showing, while they make little use of putting items in the basket. Most of them do not receive an allowance or do the shopping on their own, which emphasizes their need to influence their parents to get the desired product