SOFT PACKAGE MATERIAL BEARING INFORMATION AND DECORATION MEANS

Abstract: The invention relates to packing the goods supplied to retail trade, of, basically, non-food assortment, which are individually packed in the trade enterprises directly before its sale to a consumer. Images in the form of texts and/or pictures of attractive to the consumer nature are placed on a surface of the packing material or on a surface of the packages made of such material, for improving attractiveness of such goods and increasing consumer's demand for them. The images shall be not identical, and the degree of their inequality should minimize the probability of purchase by one consumer of packings of the goods with the identical images on its surface. The texts may be, for example, proverbs, sayings, aphorisms, wishes, parting words, fragments of literary works, and the pictures may be rebuses, mysterious pictures, or puzzles. Such images should cause consumer's positive emotions and should be attractive to him (her) by the semantic contents.

Description: SOFT PACKAGE MATERIAL BEARING INFORMATION AND DECORATION MEANS The invention relates mainly to the field of a light industry and concerns to the packing materials used in retail trade, and to methods of improve attractiveness of consumer goods at their sale and increase consumer's demand for them. Backgroung Art Any consumer may recognize, that his (hers) choice of the goods, as well as the choice of that trade establishment in which he (she) makes purchases, depends on a degree of service, including convenient and fair packing of the goods being purchased. The very fact of individual packing of the goods in certain shop causes in the consumer respect and trust to the given trade establishment. Soft paper or polymeric material in the form of separate sheets or rolls, and also packages of various sizes made of such materials are mosty used for individual packing of consumer goods in retail trade. The packing material itself, or packages of the packing material are used, depending on specificity of the goods, their sizes and amount. The large shops use packing materials and packages made of these materials, which have higher quality and can bear on a surface a symbolics of the firm, namely, images in the form of texts and/or pictures, or some images accociated with the firm symbolsics, to increase degree of service and to attract consumers additionally. Thus, the traditional and prevailing method of increase consumer demand on the goods of retail assortment consists in packing of separate commodity units by a soft packing firm (brand) material, or in selling the goods in firm (brand) packages. It is quite natural, that the firm symbolics of concrete firm - manufacturer and, / or firm - seller is completely identical on all packing materials and on all packages made of this material. However, such method of consumer demand attraction is not too effective. The available in sale packages which are used for the household purpose are made of a polymeric material. They are more various on external appearance and can bear on the surface the colourful images of the widest contents, including the ones not being the logos. The principle as such of placing images on the various goods, on their packings, or elements of the packings is known and is widely applied in practice. For example, images were placed on a surface of a soft material intended for tight packing of foodstuff. The images were used in the form of drawings or diagrams being instructions for the consumer for opening the packing (see United States patent US 5094863, IPC B 43 M 7/00, 1992). Various kinds of images were placed on surfaces of a toilet paper (see French patent application FR 2172929, IPC G 09 F 23/00, 1973), table napkins (see United States patent US 5573830, IPC D 04 H 1/64, 1996), single cloths (see French utility certificate FR 20951 15, IPC G 09 F 23/00, 1972), lottery tickets (see Russian patent RU 2093903, IPC G 09 F 23/14, 1997), post envelopes (see Russian patent RU 2099798. IPC G 09 F 23/10, 1997), cigarette packings (see European patents EP 0476882, IPC B 65 D 85/10, 1992, or EP 0646531, IPC B 65 D 85/10, 1997) and on other products. However, all afore mentioned cases do not relate to aspiration to increase consumer demand for the goods at the expense of its more attractive appearance. In overwhelming majority of cases the inventive plan consisted in dissemination of the advertising information, and this circumstance can hardly improve attractiveness of the goods which are carriers of advertising information. Besides, the images were placed on a surface of products or on separate elements of their rigid packing making together with the goods themselves a separate commodity unit in all afore mentioned cases. Actually, any images placed on packings of the certain goods or on its elements, were identical in all afore mentioned cases. Brief Description of the Invention The claimed invention has the aim to increase consumer's demand for the household piece goods of retail assortment, which is selling by a trade enterprise in the packed form, because of improving their attractiveness for the consumer. It relates basically to non-food and to some food articles, which should be packed in trade establishment, directly before its sale to a consumer. The aim in view is achieved because: - the separate commodity units are wrapped in a soft paper or polymeric material, which surface bears images in the form of texts and/or pictures of the contents, attractive to a consumer, and the images on packings of different commodity units are not identical; or - the separate commodity units of the large size, or the groups of the goods of a smaller size, are placed in a package which surface bears images in the form of texts and/or pictures of the contents, attractive to a consumer, and the images on different packages are not identical. Soft and flexible paper, or polymeric packing material, or packages of the various sizes made of this material, may be used at implementation of the invention. The goods which are packed by such a way are basically the non-food articles of retail trade, which are traditionally sold in the packed form (for example, perfume flacons or other perfumery products) or which shall be necessary packed (for example, sewing and similar products) or which packing is desirable (for example, groups of fine piece products). It is supposed that the afore mentioned objects of -.ale and purchase have small sizes in reasonable limits.. Images in the form of texts and/or pictures which are completed on sense, contents and form and which can attract attention of a consumer shall be placed on the surface of the packing material. The texts may have .in educational, entertaining, instructive or other character, it should carry the information, useful to a consumer, and cause his (her) positive emotions. It may be, in particular, proverbs, sayings, aphorisms, short poems or fragments of poems an prose, some information about the interesting facts and supervisions, advices, wishes and parting words. Pictures may, for example, be mysterious ones, rebuses, chess tasks and etudes, or puzzles. Patterns, vignettes, ornaments, other products of decorative art etc., may be used as additional elements of the images. The packing material may be in the form of separate sheets of various sizes, or rolls of a tape of required width. Separate sheets of the material, or their parts, separate pieces of a rolled packing material, packages made of this material shall bear unequal images which are placed, preferably, on their external surface. Requirement of "inequality of the images on a surface of a material" shall be considered as satisfied, if the images on the material separate parts, sufficient for packing a commodity unit, are not identical. The minimal requirement of the "images inequality" shall be considered as satisfied, when the image on, at least, one separate part of the packing material of one set of such material does not repeat. The optimum degree of the inequality of the images on the surface of the packing material should be such, that the probability should be minimized of the purchase by one consumer of commodity units with the identical images on the packing material. At purchase in one and the same time by one consumer of several commodity units, each of them shall be packed in a material bearing on the surface the different images. The images in each set of a sheet or rolled packing material shall be, preferably, logically interconnected, for example, by common idea, uniform subjects or in a similar way. The proposed packing material may have the various texture and/or various colour. The images on the surfaces of the packing material may be placed by any known method, for example, by printing or stamping. Thus, the basic distinctive feature of the proposed packing material is that the images in the form of texts and/or pictures of the contents, attractive to a consumer, are placed on the surface of such material. The basic distinctive feature of the method of increase consumer's demand for the goods which are packed at the sale, consists in that each commodity unit is packed in such a manner that the images on the surface of the packing material used for packing of separate commodity units, are not identical. The result which is achieved at the use of the present invention, consists in that the attractiveness of the goods at their sale is improved. It leads to increase of demand for these goods and in attraction of the potential buyers to the corresponding shops. Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention has the aim to improve attractiveness of, mainly, food articles which are supplied to retail trade and which are packed in trade establishment directly before their selling to a consumer, and to increase consumer's demand for these goods. The essence of the proposed invention consists in the following. Each separate commodity unit of any goods is packed at retail trade by a soft material and/or i; placed in -an individual package made of such materia-. External surface of the material or of the appropriate package bears images in the form of texts and/or pictures of the nature, attractive to a consumer. The images on the surfaces of the packing material or packages incorporating the separate commodity units, are not identical. The aim in view is achieved because: - the separate commodity units are wrapped in a soft paper or polymeric material which surface bears images in the form of texts and/or pictures of attractive to a consumer nature, and the images on packings of different commodity units are not identical; or - the separate commodity units of a large size or the groups of the goods of a small size are placed in a package which surface bears images in the form of texts and/or pictures of attractive to the consumer nature, and the images on different packages are not identical. The "goods" mean, basically, the non-food as well as the food articles which are traditionally packed (for example, perfume flacons or other perfumery products), or which shall be necessary packed (for example, sewing products or candies and sweets), or which packing is desirable (for exampe, groups of fine piece products) It is supposed that the afore mentioned objects of the sale and purchase have small sizes in reasonable limits. The "commodity unit" means, in framework of this invention, a separate product, a group of homogeneous or diverse products, or another measure of the goods which may be purchased by one consumer in one time. Material bearing images on its surface, which is used for packing the goods or making individual packages, is mainly the paper one, but it may be the polymer material. The images in the form of texts and/or pictures, which are placed on the surfaces of the packing malarial, shall be completed on sense, contents and form. They shall attract attention of a consumer and cause his (her) positive emotions. The images may be placed both on external and on an internal surface of the packing material. The "text" means hereinafter the independent images carrying the readable information and occupying, at least, a part of the surface of the material or package. The "picture" means all other, except for textual, independent images occupying, at least, a part of the surface of the material or package. The text may contain the information of educational, entertaining, instructive or other nature, which causes consumer's positive emotions and carries the information which is interesting and useful on the semantic contents. In particular, riddles, proverbs, sayings, aphorisms, short poems or fragments of poems and prose may be presented, interesting facts and supervisions may be reported, advices may be given, wishes and parting words may be expressed. Pictures may, for example, be mysterious ones, rebuses, chess tasks and etudes, or puzzles. Patterns, vignettes, ornaments, graphic figures, other products of decorative art, etc. may be used as an auxiliary elements of external appearance of the packing material or the package. Answers to tasks and key words may be placed on the back surface of the packing material. The packing material may be in the form of separate sheets of various sizes, which may be divided on parts intended for packing of the goods of the appropriate size, or in the form of a tape of required width. The packages made of such material, may have various sizes. Volumes of the texts and sizes of the pictures placed on the surfaces of the packing material .should correspond to the dimentions of the material pieces which are used for the single packing. Separate sheets, or separate pieces of a rolled packing material, or the packages, shall bear, preferably, unequal images on the external surface. The "images inequality" means the non-coincedence of the complete corresponding images, though the separate elements of the images may coincide. Requirement of the "images inequality" shall be considered as satisfied in framework of the present invention, if the images on the material separate parts, sufficient for packing one commodity unit, are not identical. The "material parts, sufficient for packing one commodity unit " mean the material separate sheets or parts of sheets, or pieces of a rolled material, or packages made of such material. The minimal requirement of the "images inequality" shall be considered as satisfied, when the image on, at least one separate part of the packing material in one set of such material does not repeat. By other words, this requirement shall be considered as satisfied in an equal measure, when: - the image on the surface of at least, one sheet one package in a set of the material, does not repeat; - the images on the surfaces of each sheet of each piece of the rolled packing material, of each package in a set of the material, do not repeat. The optimum degree of inequality of the images on the surface of the packing material should be such, that the probability should be minimized of purchase by one consumer of commodity units with the identical images on the packing material. At single purchase by one consumer of several commodity units, each of them should be packed in the material bearing on the surface the different images. It is necessary to update periodically the packing material, to decrease the probability of purchase by one consumer of the goods with the identical images on the packing material at repeated purchases. The images in each set of the sheet or rolled packing material shall be logically interconnected, for example, by common idea, uniform subjects or in a similar way. In particular, texts and or pictures on the surface of the packing material may have a seasonal nature and may have relation to the certain season. The proposed packing material may have the various texture and/or colour. The images on the surface of the packing material may be placed by any known method, for example, by printing or stamping. Thus, the basic distinctive feature of the proposed packing material consists in that images in the form of texts and/or pictures, attracting attention of a consumer and interesting to him (her), and causing his (her) positive emotions, are placed on the surface of such material; the completed images shall be placed on the material separate parts sufficient for packing one commodity unit; and the images on the packing material separate parts sufficient for packing one commodity unit shall be not identical. The basic distinctive feature of the method of improving attractiveness of the goods and increasing consumer's demand to the goods at sale consists in that each commodity unit is packed in such a manner, that the images on the surfaces of the packing material used for packing of separate commodity unit shall be not identical. The following Examples illustrate the essence of the proposal: they are not having, however, any limiting character. EXAMPLE 1. Packing material was used [or packing perfumes and colognes which are placed in original boxes. The material was in the form of a wide tape which external surface beared images such as colourful pictures of garden and country flowers, poetic stanzas, which are devoted to these flowers, and kind wishes. The roll of the packing material was designed for packing 100 commodity units and each image on the surface of the material was repeated in the roll 20 times. Each flacon was packed by a piece of the rolled material bearing the completed image, and the piece edges were fixed by a sticky tape. The probability was practically excluded of repeated purchase by one consumer of the goods with the identical images on the surfaces of the packing material of the given set taking into account rather rare periodicity of repeated purchases of such goods. EXAMPLE 2. Packing material was used for packing sweets which are sold on weight. The material was in the form of paper packages, which one external surface beared images such as ornaments and colour figures of the fantastic characters, and also aphorisms associated with the characters of the figures. The set contained 100 packages, and each image was repeated on surfaces of these packages 5 times. Each portion of sweets of one grade was packed into an individual package. The probability was insignificant of repeated purchase by one consumer of the goods with the identical images on the packages. EXAMPLE 3. Packing material was used for packing knitted products. The material was in the form of separate sheets which surface beared the images such as decorative patterns and also address and telephones of the state and administrative, or cultural and educational organizations located in the shop area. This set contained 100 sheets of the packing material. The information on the state and administrative establishments was placed on 50 sheets, and the information on cultural and educational establishments was placed on other 50 sheets. No decorative patterns were repeated. The probability was insignificant of repeated purchase by one consumer of the goods with the identical images on the packing material. EXAMPLE 4. Packing material was used for packing the New- Year's balls. The material was in the form of separate colour paper sheets which surfaces beared images such as vignettes and rebuses which answers were the New Year's congratulations and wishes, and which correct answers were given on the back side of each sheet. The set contained 100 sheets of the packing material, every 10 sheets had different colour, and the rebuses on their surfaces do not repeat. Each ball was packed separately, and all the packed balls were placed in the package which surface beared the New- Year's plots. In the set of 100 packages each image was repeated 4 times only. The use of the present invention should increase competitiveness of the goods which are made according to the invention, because of the variety of appearance of products, which packing is a source of the accessible, useful, interesting, various and constantly updated information causing positive emotions. There will be a stimulus for purchase of these goods, instead of goods bearing no such information.

Claims: C L A I M S 1. A soft packing material for goods which are supplied to retail trade by commodity units, said material bears images on its surfaces, characterized in that - the images on its surfaces are texts and/or pictures of entertaining, educational, instructive or other nature, attractive to a consumer, and - the images on separate parts of the material, sufficient for packing of one commodity unit, are not identical. 2. The packing material according to claim 1, wherein the material separate parts, sufficient for packing one commodity unit are sheets, pieces of the material, or packages made of it. 3. The packing material according to claims 1 or 2, wherein the image on, at least one separate part of the packing material of one set of such material, does not repeat. 4. A method of improve attractiveness of the goods which are supplied to retail trade, the method provides for packing the goods by a soft packing material which surface bears images, characterized in that - separate commodity units are packed by a material bearing on its surface unequal images in the form of texts and/or pictures of entertaining, educational, instructive or other nature, attractive to a consumer. 5. The method according to claim 4. wherein the separate commodity units are packed by the material of unequal colour and/or texture.

Inventors: STAVRULOV IGOR ANATOLIEVICH, STAVRULOV, IGOR ANATOLIEVICH
Applicants: STAVRULOV IGOR ANATOLIEVICH, STAVRULOV, IGOR ANATOLIEVICH
Application year: 1999
Main classification: B65D33
IPC codes: B65D33, B65D75