Assessing the Impact of Nutritional Labelling on Buying High Quality Dairy Products; A Case Study at a Galgamuwa Supermarket

Abstract

Informational labeling can be viewed as a major attribute in determining the product quality. It can be categorized as an element of packaging which can be used to influence consumer buying behavior positively, either ethically or unethically. Recently, consumers’ confidence towards high quality dairy products in the market becoming reduced due to various crises emerged in food retail industry. Therefore, the present study intends to assess the impact of informational labeling on buying high quality dairy products by a case study at a Galgamuwa supermarket. Main objective is to assess the impact of informational attributes of a product on consumer purchase intentions. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used as the research instrument to collect data from the supermarkets. Most convenient supermarket in Galgamuwa DS division was selected as the study area and 200 consumers visiting supermarket at any time of shopping hours of 10 convenient consecutive days, while randomizing the time segments of shopping hours. Collected data were tabulated in spreadsheets and analyzed using Wilcoxon signed rank test. The results showed that both nutritional facts (Z= -9.040, p=0.000) and product facts (Z= - 9.048 p=0.000) affect significantly on consumer buying of dairy product at 95% confidence level. Further the study revealed that the product facts such as method of storing (Z=6.892, p=0.000), country of origin (Z= -6.646, p=0.000), brand name (Z= -7.575, p=0.000), manufacturing and expiry dates (Z= -9.376, p=0.000), method of preparation (Z= -8.691, p=0.000), contact details (Z= -7.823, p=0.000), ingredients (Z= -8.780, p=0.000) and certifications (Z= -8.864, p=0.000) showed significant impact on assisting a consumer to purchase high quality dairy product from the supermarket. Current study recommends set managerial implications, to use concise of ethical information when designing a label for a dairy product to win customer confidence towards a specific brand and to view it as a high quality offering in the market place.