Consumer willingness-to-pay for packaging and contents in Asian countries

• Published in: Waste management (Elmsford) Vol. 68; pp. 724 - 731
• Main Authors: Kojima, Risa, Ishikawa, Masanobu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2017
• Subjects: Asia; China; Conservation of Natural Resources; Costs and Cost Analysis; Financing, Personal; Humans; Indonesia; International comparison; Japan; Marginal rate of substitution; Packaging waste; Product Packaging - economics; Public Opinion; Singapore; Taiwan; Waste prevention; Willingness-to-pay; Packaging waste; Willingness-to-pay; Marginal rate of substitution; International comparison; Waste prevention
• ISSN: 0956-053X; 1879-2456
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2017.06.042

•WTP for packaging and contents are evaluated.•International comparison is made for the first time.•By knowing the WTP for packaging, we will be better able to choose waste policies. This study was conducted using a hedonic pricing model to evaluate consumer preference for packaging and contents in five Asian countries: Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, and China. Results revealed that the marginal rate of substitution (MRS) of packaging for contents differs significantly among countries: 17.7 for Singapore, 8.58 for China, 2.71 for Taiwan, 1.65 for Japan and not significant for Indonesia. Share of Willingness-to-pay (WTP) for packaging accounted for 52.8% of the WTP for sales unit of a representative product in Japan and 46.2% in Taiwan, which were significantly higher than the results for Singapore (32.6%) and China (18.2%). Results showed that the higher the share of packaging in the WTP for a product, the higher the relative packaging weight per unit weight of contents. These results suggest that the relative demand for packaging to contents differs among countries. The results underscore the necessity of choosing suitable policy instruments and marketing strategies for different countries.