A new national survey focusing on packaging for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food, just commissioned by specialist product presentation company The Boxes Group, reveals that the look of a gift is as important as what¹s inside to more than half the population.

Gift buyers may also wish to note that red is no longer the colour of true love - most people prefer a present in blue packaging!

The Boxes Group uncovered 43 per cent of men who felt luxury packaging was essential when buying gifts for their partners - and 51 per cent of women agreed. Research also showed that 60 per cent of people were more likely to buy a gift if it was beautifully packaged.

According to survey results, the most romantic men in the country are in Glasgow and Birmingham. Figures showed that twice as many men in Glasgow and Birmingham believed packaging was important when choosing a gift, compared to males in Manchester, Romford, Newcastle and Cardiff.

The most broken hearts are in Manchester where the least romantic men were revealed to live. Only one per cent of men interviewed thought that a gift for their partner should be presented in romantic packaging.

Lucy Rose, Boxes Group Marketing Executive, said: "It’s been really fascinating to discover that while only 20 per cent of people say that packaging is important to them when they are making a buying decision about food or pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, over 50 per cent think packaging is key when choosing a gift for a loved one.

"It shows that being in love and trying to please your partner is very important and overcomes normal buying behaviour. The element of surprise was also flagged up in the survey results - 66 per cent of men and women said they would rewrap a gift for their partner, whatever the original packaging."

Nationwide, the favourite colour for non- food packaging was blue....followed by pink, white and red. The least popular colour was lime green and then orange, mauve and lemon.

When it came to food packaging, most people were attracted to red cartons, closely followed by green, blue and white. Colours that turned people off buying food were lilac, peach, cream and brown.

The three most important factors people looked for in food packaging were
tamper evident labelling (60 per cent), the ability to see the actual product through a window (29 per cent) and the use of environmentally friendly materials (22 per cent).

Food packaging is more important to women in their purchasing decision than men, indicating that women are still the principal food buyers. Luxury packaging is also more likely to tempt women than men.

Finally, the survey revealed that we are still a ‘throw away’ society with 68 per cent of people disposing of all packaging and only 17 per cent making attempts to recycle it.

The Boxes Group, with a £50m turnover, consists of seven specialist companies majoring on product presentation in a wide range of fields. The business operates from five sites throughout the UK and has two companies in The Netherlands. The Group consists of Boxes Prestige, manufacturer of luxury cartons; Boxes Imaging, the reprographics division; Boxes GH, carton manufacturers of FMCG products; Boxes Kelvin Fenton, manufacturer of rigid boxes; Ditone Labels, designer and manufacturer of labels; Boxes Edson, carton and leaflet producer for the pharmaceutical, toiletries and cosmetics industries and Boxes Cakeboards, major supplier of cake boards, cartons and accessories to retailers and bakers.

The Boxes Group is part of Clondalkin, the international group of companies producing specialist packaging and printing products.


Further press information from Laura Crisp/Lesley Crosland
Crosland Communications
Tel: 01638 662188  Fax: 01638 665082
email: croscomm@dial.pipex.com