It’s still too hard to get prices of packaging products online, say respondents to the 2017 Packaging Buyers Online Behavior Study. And social media is not much help for facilitating a purchase. So what do most packaging buyers rely on the most when it comes to validating suppliers and solutions? A majority of respondents (60%) say “Recommendation/advice from a colleague or friend.”

These are just some of the highlights of our third annual packaging purchasing study—done in partnership with Fontys University of Applied Sciences—that identifies trends in how packaging professionals use the internet to research and buy packaging products and services.

New this year, a fully interactive online “story” using Tableau data analytics reveals the results of our exclusive research and allows you to manipulate pivot charts to uncover your own insights or customize the data that matters to you.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE INTERACTIVE SURVEY RESULTS.

You can also easily download and share static results below (site registration is required but allows you to freely download any other content, as well as to comment on any article).

More than 30 “story chapters” (tabs), with 30+ charts, present data on:

• Geographic locations of respondents

• Why the Internet was not used

• How easy is it to find online information about a product or service?

• Does the size of the buying team influence the effort to gather information online?

• Age of respondent versus ease of gathering all info

• Markets served versus ease of gathering all info

• How do buyer roles influence online buying behavior?

• Buy roles versus smoothness of the entire purchase process and distance searched

• Is it easier for some buyer roles to find purchasing information and pricing online?

• Is social media used by different buyer roles to facilitate their purchase?

• Why was it hard to gather information online?

• Length of purchase cycle for different kinds of products or services

• How easy was it to complete the entire purchase of the product or service?

• Does the frequency of the purchase influence the smoothness of the entire process?

• How does the length of the purchase cycle and budget effect the smoothness of the process?

• Purchase cycle length and budget versus smoothness chart

• Does the ease of gathering online information influence the smoothness of the purchase?

• Chart: ease of gathering information versus smoothness of purchase

• Does the distance searched for information online influence the smoothness of the process and ease of gathering information?

• Internet usage during different stages of the buying cycle

• Charts: internet usage during different stages of the buying cycle

• How hard is it to get pricing information online?

• Reasons why pricing information is hard to get online

• What kinds of online sources do buyers use to help their purchase?

• Interactive chart of online information sources versus various demographics

• Detailed look at online information sources versus frequency and smoothness

• Detailed look at online information sources versus various demographics

• Benefits of social media usage

• Conclusions 1

• Conclusions 2

• Research methodology

• Survey questions

• About the author and contact details

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS INTERACTIVE RESULTS OF THE 2017 PACKAGING BUYERS ONLINE BEHAVIOR STUDY.

Click these headlines to read the results of our previous studies:

Internet research aids decisions of packaging buyers – Oct. 2016

Online packaging information is relatively easy to get but not to share – Dec. 2015

Is the internet nurturing a new breed of packaging buyers? – July 2015

Or download the free, static results of the 2017 study below in a PDF version.

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Production efficiencies, ecommerce challenges, sustainability trends, new bioplastic technologies and more are among the topics on the agenda at the new Packaging Education Hub at EastPack 2018. This free educational program will have more than 15 hours of can’t-miss presentations and demonstrations. Register to attend today!