The Role of Sustainable Packaging Design for West Java Local

Products

Elizabeth Wianto

1,2

and Monica Hartanti

Universitas Kristen Maranatha, Faculty of Arts and Design, Bandung, Indonesia

National Cheng Kung University, College of Planning and Design, Industrial Design Department, Tainan, Taiwan

Keywords: Local Products, Msme, Packaging Design, Sustainability.

Abstract: Sustainability should become a concern in creative industries, including local food industries. Local food as

souvenirs from a specific area commonly produced from the natural resources combined with their local

culture, which directly affect their economy. To attract consumers and compete with other modern substitute

products then this local product arguably able to stand out by defining its unique features of the local culture

ingenuity. Local indigenous as the core of the unique character of local food products in this research will be

presented in packaging through sustainable aspects of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in

Indonesia. This experiment used two-sample of local food that represents authentic snacks from West Java:

Brondong and Wajit. Each snack is packaged into four types of packaging, which contain two contradictory

variables: traditional look-modern look and reusable-single use packaging. The non-parametric Mann-

Whitney U-test, Kruskal Wallis test and descriptive statistics were used to analyses respondent’s specific

souvenir food packaging preferences. A more detailed discussion explained the variables studied using the

ATUMICS theory, which divides macro and micro design elements. The research output revealed that most

consumers prefer traditional packaging combined with plastic, although it will have a higher price than single-

use cheaper packaging.

1 INTRODUCTION

Traditional local products made by a community

respond to the environment, interact with nature, and

adapt the community to everything in its

surroundings. The activities and the artifacts produce

as an identity for the local community become a

characteristic of their culture (Jung & Walker, 2018;

Zhang, 2021). The practice of traditional

manufacturing practice is an important element of

cultural heritage (Basic Texts of the 2003 Convention

for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural

Heritage, 2018) thus, greater efforts are needed to

maintain and make it sustain (Zhang, 2021).

Traditional food made using specific ingredients

and processing methods commonly found in local

communities. Foods as the tangible results reflect the

availability of raw materials found in the

surroundings, possibly produce the unique method,

and pass the local communities' taste approval.

Therefore, once these traditional foods sell as

Corresponding author

souvenirs, local communities' pride concern

represents in these products. Moreover, re-package

the local foods as souvenirs arguably empower local

people in terms of economic value as this activity acts

as an income generator, thus alleviating poverty

(Vencatachellum, 2019). Nevertheless, souvenir

packaging needs to have a local identity distinguished

from other products, competing with other substitute

modern products besides only fulfilling primary

safety purposes. In broader terms, the packaging of

souvenirs can support creative industry correlated

with the country's economy.

Attractive packaging is an initial approach to get

consumer attention. The most attractive packaging

enables increasing the product's appeal, thus

increasing consumer's buying intention (Mai &

Nguyen, 2018). Thus, the packaging is no longer used

only to wrap a product and protect it from damage as

safety measures and increase the potential product

sales in the market (Hamdar, Khalil, Bissani, &

Kalaydjian, 2018). Specific in souvenir context,

198

Wianto, E. and Hartanti, M.

The Role of Sustainable Packaging Design for West Java Local Products.

DOI: 10.5220/0010750100003112

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences (ICE-HUMS 2021), pages 198-204

ISBN: 978-989-758-604-0

attractive sight can be shown through the local

identity. Packaging design can act as media to

promote cultural identity. However, the promotional

tool is one of many roles that packaging design can

contribute—in broader terms, packaging can act as a

communication tools to effectively inform the

richness of national identity (Min, Idris, & Yusoff,

2018).

Nevertheless, local identity is not enough. It is

necessary to think about the sustainability of the local

product itself. A previous study conducted by

Mohede, Tumbuan, and Tielung (2018) related to

coffee packaging revealed that packaging functional

aspects, free sample/ bonus, sustainability factors,

and semi-disposable packaging also influence the

buying intention alongside the aesthetic aspects.

An attractive packaging design, local identity, and

also environmentally friendly are essential elements

that need to be considered in local marketing

products. A good packaging design is made based not

only on economic motivation but also on other

motivations such as social, cultural, and

environmental, which all work together to support

local products' sustainability.

The importance of packaging also increases with

the opportunity to change the traditional marketplace

into a virtual space enabled by an online shopping

support system. With the help of virtual marketplace

distance barriers being eliminated, head-to-head

competition based on 'online display' will become the

only way to interact with potential customers.

Previous studies revealed that traditional food

producers still prioritize economic motivation only in

packaging their products. To attract consumers and

compete globally, these local products need to be well

packaged, attractive and represent cultural identity.

In previous studies, the research team has obtained

opinions from producers regarding the above matters

(Hartanti, Nurviana, & Lukman, 2018).

This present study aims to analyze the

sustainability aspects of MSME products on the

packaging design side, characterized by culture in

souvenir food products from the potential consumer.

2 METHODS (AND MATERIALS)

2.1 ATUMICS: Method of

Transforming Traditions

This research follows Nugraha’s ATUMIC (2012)

approach suited to transform culture into a modern

product. The word 'transformation' comes from a

process of reshaping, modifying, or converting in a

variety of manifestations. This method views an

artifact, object, or product as having two main levels

of existence: micro and macro level. The micro-level

consists of anything tangible in the products, and the

construct contains (1) Technique (production

techniques, technology, skills, tools); (2) Utility

(functionality, usability, demand, needs); (3) Material

(natural ingredients, synthetic materials, smart

materials); (4) Icon (image, ornamentation, color,

graphics); (5) Concept (customs, beliefs, norms,

values); and (6) Shape (shape, structure, size, gestalt).

Macro-Level perceived the artifact as a consequence

and motivated by the cultural, social, economic,

ecology, self-expression, and survival aspects

connected. The ATUMICS model structure consists

of six essential elements and six motivation aspects

provided in Figure 1.

Figure 1: ATUMICS Model (Nugraha, 2012).

From the inventor of the ATUMICS model, it is

said that sustainability is supported by Cultural,

Economic, Social, and Ecology motivation aspects. In

this study, four mentioned aspects will be

implemented to describe the related constructed

elements for experimenting with local food

packaging. In general, sustainability defines as the

state of maintained condition at a specific rate or level.

Thus, if sustainability correlates with MSME

industries, in this case, refer to the state of continuity

of this industry as one way to preserve local people's

values.

Economic motivation is the first aspect to support

the sustain condition as it is arguably directly related

to the quality of life propagated by the capability to

provide basic needs to make life survive. Although

very powerful, the economy cannot be the only

motivation to produce products. In principle,

economic motivation must be balanced with other

motives such as culture, social, or ecological to create

an optimal balance. In individual artisans and

The Role of Sustainable Packaging Design for West Java Local Products

199

designers, the economy is primarily meant to make a

living by producing and selling products. The

economic issue always has a linear relationship with

income for the MSME industry; therefore, local

products' revitalization directly contributes to the

specific community's economic sustainability.

Social motivation refers to interaction between

individuals and society. Consideration of social

aspects becomes an advantage because of the

implication of social lives. Social motivation aims to

increase social interaction and collaboration in

supporting society sustainability, involving local

indigenous and creativity.

Culture is vital and becomes the main motivation

for various art creations, crafts, and design objects,

ranging from jewelry, eating utensils, and furniture to

buildings. Within the development complex, new

systems and new artifacts can effectively maintain

society if they can adjust to local customs, spirit,

norms, and culture. The strange objects might bring

resistance from local communities once the

traditional context was discussed.

Ecology motivation refers to the utilization of

existing resources without reducing the quality.

Almost every activity requires ecology motivation. At

the same time, the biggest challenge is creating

healthy ecological products without sacrificing

profits and economic value.

2.2 Method

2.1.1 Experimental Design

This study used two sets of a two (traditional vs.

modern insight) x two (re-usable vs. single-use

packaging) between-subjects experimental design

using an online survey to examine the preferred

packaging that leads their buying intention with

additional price and net weight of the products.

There are two types of products used in this study:

wait and brondong. Wajit is a confectionary type of

snack made of sticky rice, brown sugar, and coconut

milk. The uniquity of this sweet product is the way

corn leaves wrap it in a diamond-shape. Brondong is

a traditional snack similar to modern popcorn, made

of corn or rice but added with a traditional flavor of

brown or white sugar and rolled or shaped into ball

shaped. The diameters of brondong are varied, from

more or less three centimeters to more than 20

centimeters. Brondong is less crispy and does not use

butter as popcorn does. In this experiment, wajit

represents the authentic local product which does not

found outside West Java, while Brondong represents

the modified local product which internationalizes as

popcorn.

The manipulation of this experiment using four

visuals of each packaging as provided in Figures 2

and 3.

Figure 2: Wajit Packaging.

Each packaging was equipped with fictional (1)

brand (Pelem, in Sundanese language, means

equivalent to tasty, tasteful, or palatable); (2) halal

logos; and (3) iconic figure (Cepot from Sundanese

ethnic) as presented in Figure 4.

Packaging number one to four represents single-

use and modern look; Re-useable packaging and

modern look; Traditional look and single-use; and

Traditional look and re-usable packaging,

respectively.

To specify the information gathered, there are

specified information gathered in data collection as

follows: sex, age, origin, domicile, and education

level. This information then divides the group of

participants to (1) domicile: West Java vs. Not West

Java; (2) origin: West Java ethnicities vs. Not West

Java Ethnicities; (3) Preferred product: Wajit vs.

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Brondong; (4) Preferred Packaging I: 4 Type of

Packaging; (5) Preferred Packaging II: Traditional

Look vs. Modern Look; (6) Preferred Packaging III:

Re-usable vs. single-use packaging.

Figure 3: Brondong Packaging.

2.1.2 Sample and Procedures

The participants used convenience, snowballs, and

purposively selected to join this study in cross-

sectional data collection method from January –

March 2021 with inclusion criteria of Indonesian

adults and interested in buying local food as souvenirs

mementos of their traveling experience. Both of the

aspects will define as the potential consumer and

make them eligible to become respondents.

Respondents will be dropped out if they do not

consider local food as souvenirs. The second

screening is their wajit or brondong as their preferred

products to be picked as the better souvenir. Selection

of wajit or brondong, will lead them to different but

parallel packaging design features.

Due to this study's unknown population, we

follow the suggestion for minimum samples of 385

people with significant alpha 0.05, confidence level

95%, Margin of Error 5%, and Population Proportion

selected as 50% (LLC, 2008-2021; Smith).

The mean range was 3.68 – 4.81, and the range of

Standard Deviation was 0.0568 – 1.118 from a 5-

point Likert scale. Therefore, we get the result of 385

as the minimum sampling size needed in this study.

Figure 4: Fictional brand, halal logos and iconic figure use

in product manipulation.

2.1.3 Selected Elements based on ATUMICS

Theory

In the questionnaire, this study directly asking eleven

preferred elements based on ATUMICS theory, as

provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Selected preferred elements for packaging.

Descriptive Statistics

Micro/

Macro

Food safety inside packaging (utility)

Mandatory etiquette for packaging (BPPOM,

halal certificate, exp. date, nutrition facts,etc)

(utility)

Value for price (concept)

Packaging material (material)

Mi/Ma

Popularity of the food (Icon)

Packaging size and shape (shape)

Authenticity impression of packaging material

(material)

Persuasive statement in the packaging

(concept)

Packaging colour (Icon)

Cultural icon in the packaging (icon)

Re-usable packaging

*Micro = Mi; Macro = Ma

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Selected preferred elements then offered as main

questions to the participants with the answers to the

importance: 1-for not at all important to 5-very

important. The reliability of all 11 items is 0.802

using Cronbach’s alpha for 398 participants.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This study's total of participants is 398 participants

with an age range between 17 to 67 years old.

Participants consisted of 122 and 276 male and

female participants, respectively, with their education

level varied from elementary school to doctoral

degree for 1, 50, 31, 207, 89, and 20 people,

respectively. There were 262 participants who

originated from West Java. However, there were only

289 participants resides in West Java. Interestingly,

among the two type of food proposed, wajit is

selected by the majority (253 participants), while

brondong is only preferred by 145 participants. This

is interesting because the preferences of wajit is

selected by across the domicile and origin of the

participants.

In order to understand the more specific answers

based on each group clustering and due to not

normally distributed data, we use non-parametric

Mann Whitney U-test to contradict two group (e.g.,

domicile, origin, preference of packaging re-

usability, and modern-traditional look of the

packaging), non-parametric Kruskal Wallis to

compare of group consist more than two groups (e.g:

preference provided packaging), and descriptive

statistics. All of the statistical test was conducted in

between subject test, with the following results:

Based on their domicile group, there are

significant differences for 'persuasive statement in the

packaging' (0.016), food safety inside packaging

(0.043); and 'packaging color' (0.024) see —Table 2.

Table 2: Between group comparison: Domicile.

Domicile

Group (N)

‘statement’

‘food

safety’

‘packaging

color’

West Java

(262)

Mean 3.99

SD 1.038

Mean 4.79

SD 0.597

Mean 3.96

SD 0.936

Not West

Java (136)

Mean 3.91

SD 1.071

Mean 4.85

SD 0.510

Mean 3.88

SD 0.997

Based on four type of packaging offered, there

are significant differences between four group for

‘Re-usable packaging’ (0.00); ‘Authenticity

impression of packaging material’ (0.014) and

‘Cultural icon in the packaging’ (0.14), see Table 4.

Table 3: Between group comparison: Packaging Type.

Packaging

Type (N)

‘statement’

‘food

safety’

‘packaging

color’

Packaging

1 (51)

Mean 3.10

SD 1.188

Mean 3.73

SD 0.918

Mean 3.82

SD 1.126

Packaging

2 (126)

Mean 3.93

SD 1.044

Mean 3.95

SD 0.893

Mean 3.80

SD 0.886

Packaging

3 (109)

Mean 3.41

SD 1.172

Mean 4.06

SD 0.921

Mean 4.13

SD 0.935

Packaging

(

112

)

Mean 3.93

SD 0.956

Mean 4.04

SD 0.766

Mean 3.75

SD 1.181

Based on modern or traditional packaging look,

there are significant differences between two groups

for ‘Authenticity impression’ (0.006) and ‘Cultural

icon in the packaging’ (0.45), see—Table 4.

There is no significantly different answer from the

two groups of origin, the participants, and the

preferred product (wajit vs. brondong). However,

significant differences do not perceived as important

as the other elements, as the rank of importance from

11 elements is provided in Table 5.

Table 4: Between group comparison: Modern vs

Traditional Packaging Look.

Packaging Look (N)

‘statement’ ‘food safety’

Modern look (177)

Mean 3.89

SD 0.904

Mean 3.81

SD 0.958

Traditional look(221)

Mean 4.12

SD 0.847

Mean 3.98

SD 0.988

Table 5: Rank of Importance elements in packaging.

Descriptive Statistics

Mean

Std.

Deviation

Rank

Food safety inside packaging

(utility)

4.81 0.568 1I

Mandatory etiquette for

packaging (BPPOM, halal

certificate, exp.date, nutrition

facts, etc) (utility)

4.56 0.819 II

Value for

rice

(

conce

)

4.5 0.747 III

Packaging material (material) 4.47 0.729 IV

ularit

of the food

(

Icon

)

4.25 0.848 V

Packaging size and shape

(shape)

4.24 0.828 VI

Authenticity impression of

ackaging material (material)

4.02 0.879 VII

Persuasive statement in the

ackaging (concept)

3.96 1.048 VIII

Packa

colour

(

Icon

)

3.93 0.956 IX

Cultural icon in the

packaging (icon)

3.9 0.977 X

Re-usable packaging 3.68 1.118 XI

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The experiment showed that economic

motivation, social, culture, and ecology as four

factors in ATUMICS influenced traditional

packaging's sustainability and consistently affected

the buying intention. This argument is supported by

the fact that authentic foods gain more attention to be

preferred as souvenirs by potential Indonesian

consumers. Thus, cultural motivation consistently

appears to construct the cultural value itself.

Traditional wajit proved as the preferable product

if compare with the brondong which has the

modernization. Based on these findings, it is proven

that ecology motivation is influencing the sustainable

role. Traditional ecology quality appears in the

product arguably represented by the corn leaves wrap

in a diamond shape for wajit, authentic brown sugar

taste in both of the products, and also the participants

prefer ' traditional look' of bamboo weaving. Local

community as the producer of the local product has

direct implication to the sustainability, with their

knowledge to produce 'decent' product based on their

expertise will correlate with the tourism attraction in

the form of natural, homemade, handmade, with

traditional association of the place they are purchased

(Rolle & Enriquez, 2017). Tourists will buy the food

to learn the taste and imagine the local identity of the

area. Therefore, authentic local food needs to be

maintained, directly impacting local farmers, tourism

industries and integrating the whole economy into the

surroundings.

The majority of the participants also preferred Re-

useable packaging in terms of sustainability.

However, the level of importance is the lowest than

any other element mentions in this study.

Considering that each of the experiments shows

the net weight, price, and re-use value, it can be

concluded that souvenirs in terms of local food are

price sensitive. However, discussing the 'fair price'

does not mean that the price should be the lowest.

Tourists tend to get a positive response for a lower

price; however, positive emotion also motivates them

to experience so-called happiness (Rousta &

Jamshidi, 2019).

As principal utilities of the packaging, Indonesian

participants still take the safety measure for the

'physical condition' and 'food safety' most important

within the context of souvenirs. This makes sense

because the 'souvenir' will travel along with them

back home with all of the risk and consequences of

traveling (e.g., baggage for air flight), therefore easy

to carry, lightweight, compact, extra service for

special package and aesthetic appealing also became

further consideration, as this souvenir most likely will

become a gift for others (Horodyski, Manosso,

Bizinelli, & Gândara, 2014).

The preferred 'traditional look' does not have to be

using natural materials, as it can be replaced with

iconic local features.

This study discusses the potential domestic

tourist's perspectives on the case of local food serve

as souvenirs. Further study might expand with the

other type of MSME products, or with potential

international tourists as preference might be

influenced by cultural issues and personal taste.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Sustainability in local food industries means

considering social, ecological, and economic sectors.

As the vantage point, local cultural identity needs to

be 'translated into the packaging's understandable

appearance. Authenticity will be more valuable and

affect sustainability for other fields. This research's

main output is the understanding that domestic tourist

prefers authentic food as souvenirs even though they

never taste it before. In this study, all of the

respondents are Indonesian participants. Therefore,

we argue that they will be able to imagine the unique

taste of this product. Especially the usage of brown

sugar or palm sugar as one of the popular ingredients

based on coconut or nira sap commonly found in

Indonesia and the unique way of wrapping up wait

using corn leaves in a diamond shape. Arguably, the

uniquity of the shape gives an exotic that causes a

positive response to consumers to choose it. The

food's unique shape also contributes to creating an

attractive visual when packaged using only

translucent materials.

Even though price still one of their concern while

choosing souvenirs, they are not solely based on the

lowest price but also motivated by the culture

visualized through the packaging. Sustainability is

about our responsibilities for future generations.

Sustainability refers to a state of continuity and

sustainable development that maintains sustainability

in respecting human civilization.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to all of the participants to

support us with their valuable opinion.

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203

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