On March 28, the China Consumers Association released the "Report on Excessive Packaging of Commodities and Consumer Perception Survey". The report shows that 80.7% of consumers are opposed to excessive packaging; among consumers who encountered excessive packaging and defended their rights, 69.5% of consumers expressed satisfaction with the results of rights protection; There are many blind spots in the perception of over-packaged goods by consumers. only 34.0% of consumers understand the correct definition of over-packaged goods, and only 7.8% of consumers are familiar with the criteria for judging over-packaged goods; it is difficult and easy for consumers to judge over-packaged goods by themselves. Misjudgment.
In the second half of 2022, the China Consumers Association will carry out a research on the problem of excessive packaging of commodities and a survey on consumer perception. During the survey, the China Consumers Association analyzed the packaging of 6,160 commodities through offline visits and searches on mainstream e-commerce websites; collected 474 photos of 238 suspected excessively packaged commodities from consumer rights protection volunteers and the public; 7443 valid questionnaires. In order to deeply analyze and summarize the impact of excessive packaging on consumers' rights and interests, the reasons for its existence, and clarify the focus of work on over-packaging, the China Consumers Association analyzed the hot topics and cases of excessive packaging released by the media on the Internet in the past six months; organized a In the seminar attended by representatives of the excessive packaging standard formulation department, industry association representatives and university experts, consumer representatives were invited to conduct in-depth interviews; at the same time, the investigation adopted a comparative research method to collect and analyze laws and regulations, policies, standard etc.
The survey shows that in terms of the current situation of excessive packaging of products, 51.4% of consumers feel that there are many problems with excessive packaging, and 34.3% of consumers believe that they have bought products with suspected excessive packaging. Among consumers who think they have bought products with suspected excessive packaging , 71.3% felt deceived, indicating that excessive packaging is deceptive, misleads consumer behavior, and seriously infringes consumers' right to know. 43.5% said that they "know that it is excessive packaging, but they still choose to buy if they have no choice", which shows that excessive packaging forces consumers to pay unnecessary packaging costs, which in a certain sense violates consumers' right to choose and fair trade. In consumers' minds, products with suspected excessive packaging are more concentrated in large-scale supermarkets and brand e-commerce channels, and luxury goods, moon cakes, health care products, packaged tea and cosmetics have a higher proportion of suspected excessive packaging. The data shows that although consumers have a strong awareness of deceptive excessive packaging rights protection, their actual rights protection actions are weak. only 14.7% of consumers who bought products suspected of excessive packaging made complaints for rights protection. 69.5% said they were satisfied with the rights protection process and results.
In terms of consumer blind spots related to excessive packaging, although 82.6% of consumers have heard of excessive packaging, 66.0% of consumers do not know the correct definition of excessive packaging, and 92.2% of consumers are not familiar with excessive packaging The criteria for judging whether a product belongs to excessive packaging mainly depends on personal feelings, and whether it is "deceptive packaging" or "luxury packaging" is the method with the highest usage rate; the calculation of packaging void ratio in national standards is very important for ordinary consumers It is difficult to say that the professionalism is too high, and it is difficult to popularize it. It is difficult for consumers to judge the excessive packaging by themselves and it is easy to misjudge.
In terms of consumers’ attitudes and reasons for excessive product packaging, the survey found that 80.7% of consumers have an attitude of “mostly opposed” to excessive product packaging. Unhealthy consumption atmosphere, causing environmental pollution, waste of resources and other hazards”; 64.1% of consumers believe that excessive packaging of goods is acceptable under certain circumstances, such as some consumers for “excessive packaging with practical value”, “luxury, real Products requiring enhanced protection” and “some gift-giving occasions” have excessive packaging is acceptable; consumers pay attention to the management of excessive packaging of food, tea, edible agricultural products, electronic products, toys and other products; Opening the "skylight" (with transparent display function) or expanding the scope of the "skylight" in the packaging of edible agricultural products is more conducive to consumers' intuitive judgment and choice.
In terms of the perceived effects of commodity over-packaging control, the survey results show that consumers have a high degree of recognition and expectations for the national level to control over-packaging. With the implementation of the No. 1 revision of the National Standard "Restricting Excessive Packaging Requirements for Commodities Food and Cosmetics" on mooncake packaging from August 15, 2022, 54.9% of consumers believe that the price of mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2022 is "reasonable", 41.0% of consumers believe that the moon cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2022 are "not over-packaged"; for other food and cosmetics, the effect of over-packaging can only be seen after it is implemented on September 1, 2023. The overall evaluation of the effect of packaging governance is not too high.
based on the results of this survey, the China Consumers Association put forward eight suggestions for further control of excessive packaging of goods: First, according to consumers' cognitive blind spots on excessive packaging of goods and the difficulties of self-identification of excessive packaging, increase consumer education and guidance in a targeted manner. Publicity; second, it is difficult for consumers to accurately judge excessive packaging of products and it is easy to misjudge. It is recommended to mark the packaging void ratio and other indicators on product packaging to let consumers know; third, it is recommended to refer to consumer judgment subjective standards and new standards that have been implemented, and restrict products in stages The number of packaging layers, packaging void ratio and packaging cost ratio; the fourth is to convey consumers' reasonable demands on the packaging functions of different product categories to the relevant departments that formulate standards; the fifth is to guide enterprises to follow consumers' packaging preferences and optimize packaging in combination with product characteristics; Sixth, learn from foreign packaging producer responsibility extension systems to guide enterprises to actively adopt green packaging; seventh, promote packaging innovation, advocate green packaging, improve packaging use experience, and expand packaging functional uses; eighth, improve the effect of consumers on excessive packaging of goods Perception, clear channels for rights protection, investigation and handling of cases should be more down-to-earth.
It is understood that the research on the problem of excessive packaging of commodities and the survey of consumers' perceptions are China Consumers Association's follow-up to the investigation of excessive packaging of moon cakes in the target supervision, in order to implement the "Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Further Strengthening the Management of Excessive Packaging of Commodities" (National Office [2022] No. 29), further understanding of the current situation of excessive packaging of goods, consumers' cognitive blind spots related to excessive packaging, consumers' attitudes towards excessive packaging, packaging consumption concepts and reasonable demands, overseas experience of excessive packaging and current governance Work carried out by overwrapping effects.
