Product Labelling

Product Decisions

1. Product Labelling Dr. Pooja Assistant Professor Dept. of Commerce AMPGC, BHU Product Decisions

2. Introduction A label can be anything- a piece of paper, printed statement, imprinted metal, leather which is either a part of a package or attached to it, indicating the value of contents ,price of product, name, and place of producers or such useful information to be beneficial to the user. Labeling gives necessary information to the customers about the products .

3. What is Labelling? Label becomes helpful to sellers to sell out the product. It protects the customers from malpractices of the middlemen. Labelling is very important element affecting sales and distribution process of a product, which provides clear information about the grade, quantity, price, brand name, features etc. to the customers. In some countries, many products, including food and pharmaceuticals, are required by law to contain certain labels such as listing ingredients, nutritional information, or usage warning information. Labels are attached to the product package to provide information such as a manufacturer of the product, date of manufacture, date of expiry, its ingredients, how to use the product, and its handling. Many types of symbols for package labelling are nationally and internationally standardized. For consumer packaging, symbols exist for product certifications, trademarks, and proof of purchase. Some requirements and symbols exist to communicate aspects of consumer use and safety.

4. Definitions According to Mason and Rath , “Label is an information tag, wrapper or seal attached to a product or product’s package.” According to W.J. Stanton, “Label is the part of a product that carries verbal information about the producer or seller.” Thus, labelling consists of printed information pertaining to the product appearing on or with the package. In some countries, many products, including food and pharmaceuticals, are required by law to contain certain labels such as ingredients, nutritional information, or usage warning information.

5. Types of Labelling 1. Brand Label: A brand label is a brand alone applied to the product or to the package. The example of the brand label are some clothes “ Vimal and Raymond” or soaps carry the brand “OK”, Lux. MAUR, JUNELI, etc. 2. Grade Label: A grade label identifies the quality of a product by a letter, number or words. For instance, grapes may be labelled as A, B, or C and Corn and wheat may be labelled as number 1 and number 2. Some stores grade their products as good, better and best.

6. Types of Labelling 3. Descriptive Label: The descriptive label means placing on the label details such as component part of the products, chemical analysis, weight, size use of artificial colour , the percentage of wool, thread count, age, use of product, directions for its use etc. It can also be used on products impossible or difficult to grades, such as clothing, furniture, and mechanical goods. It gives instructions for washing, use, and care . 4. Informative Label: The informative label is a term which is used for labels. It carries a large amount of information. It is distinguished from descriptive labelling in the sense that it contains fuller instruction on the use and care of the product. Such labels may contain recipes, instructions for clearing and other information of similar nature .

7. Important functions of labelling 1. Describe the Product and Specify its Contents: A label helps to provide complete information regarding the product. It mainly includes ingredients of the product, its usage, and caution in use, cares to be taken while using it, date of manufacturing, batch number, etc. 2. Identification of the Product or Brand: Labelling helps to identify particular product among many. It makes easier to find out the product.

8. Important functions of labelling 3. Grading of Product: Labelling helps in the grading of the product too. When a product has different qualities, labelling helps to fund out which pack contains what type of quality. For example, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. manufactures three types of tea and to differentiate the each type of tea, the company uses Green, Red, and Yellow coloured labels. 4. Help in Promotion of Products: Labelling helps in the promotion of the products too. Sometimes a consumer gets encouraged to buy a product simply due to an attractive label. Nowadays, labelling is used as effective sales promoting tool.

9. Important functions of labelling 5. Providing information required by Law: Labelling helps to provide statutory warning required by law. To put ‘smoking is injurious to health’ on the package of cigarette and ‘Chewing Tobacco is Injurious to Health’ on the package of Pan Masala are the examples of statutory warning. Similarly, in a case of hazardous or poisonous products, appropriate statutory warning need to be put on the label. It provides important information of the product applied in the law. .

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