packaged goods

English translation: items for sale which are pre-wrapped

07:53 Jul 28, 2009
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Marketing - Retail
English term or phrase: packaged goods
what goods are those? looks like it must be so obvious that the author does not say a single word of explanation. beats me.

here's the context
"One case, in which a marketing manager with more than 15 years’ experience in packaged goods and toiletries became marketing and sales director of a $110 million beverage division, illustrates
an outsider’s difficulties".
danya
Local time: 07:59
Selected answer:items for sale which are pre-wrapped
Explanation:
In a sense, this is just what it says - anything which is for sale in packaging, in contrast to items which are sold be weight (nowadays at the consumer level, really only fresh produce, but also items bought in bulk to be packaged before sale to the final consumer).

But the implications reach further. There is a good deal of legislation associated with packaging, mainly concerning the information which must be included on the packaging (product description, ingredients, use by date if applicable, weight etc).

See http://www.nmo.bis.gov.uk/content.aspx?SC_ID=258 for 2006 regulations on packaged goods in the UK.

So I presume the implication is not just that the person in question has experience in sales, but also in application of legislation.

I hope this takes you a little closer, although I agree that the tag is a bit throwaway, but not as self-explanatory as it should be.
Selected response from:

Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 05:59
Grading comment
thank you.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4groceries that are packaged for sale
Yasutomo Kanazawa
3 +1items for sale which are pre-wrapped
Noni Gilbert Riley
4chalk and cheese argument
Anton Baer
3liquid intoxicants (beverages)
Charlesp


Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
groceries that are packaged for sale


Explanation:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/packaged goods

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Note added at 11 mins (2009-07-28 08:05:08 GMT)
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Packaged goods are groceries which are packaged for sale, meaning all kinds of food, from packed meat, fish, chocolate, candies, breads, etc., anything edible which are already in a package or a box.

Yasutomo Kanazawa
Japan
Local time: 13:59
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: cannot wrap my head around how groceries and toiletries fit together 8(

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19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
items for sale which are pre-wrapped


Explanation:
In a sense, this is just what it says - anything which is for sale in packaging, in contrast to items which are sold be weight (nowadays at the consumer level, really only fresh produce, but also items bought in bulk to be packaged before sale to the final consumer).

But the implications reach further. There is a good deal of legislation associated with packaging, mainly concerning the information which must be included on the packaging (product description, ingredients, use by date if applicable, weight etc).

See http://www.nmo.bis.gov.uk/content.aspx?SC_ID=258 for 2006 regulations on packaged goods in the UK.

So I presume the implication is not just that the person in question has experience in sales, but also in application of legislation.

I hope this takes you a little closer, although I agree that the tag is a bit throwaway, but not as self-explanatory as it should be.

Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 05:59
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
thank you.
Notes to answerer
Asker: thank you, it set me thinking)


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jenni Lukac (X): agree. If item is not clear to your audience you could use the word "products".
25 mins
  -> Yes, products is probably better for comprehension. Thanks Jenni.
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29 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
chalk and cheese argument


Explanation:
Hi Danya, the writer is making a chalk and cheese argument: becoming director of a 110 million beverage division after working 15 years in something totally unrelated (chalk and cheese) shows that despite his lack of relevant experience he is still an "insider" and that that counts for more than having more pertinent experience in beverages. Packaged goods are easy to handle - they don't spoil, barring a direct nuclear attack, and neither do toiletries. The beverages division is a huge leap up in responsibilities. Beverages have a fixed shelf life and the drive to come up with new drinks calls for a lot more creativity: "How to repackage water? Let's add one drop of a kola nut to 100 litres and call it an eco-drink!" And up to now this guy was selling Kraft dinner?... Obviously it's not what you know but who you know. That's the implication. Maybe "packaged goods" is an allusion to this guy having it all wrapped up just by virtue of having warmed a seat in the next office for the last 15 years.

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Note added at 38 mins (2009-07-28 08:32:22 GMT)
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But that is just what I am saying. The writer feels that experience in packaged goods has nothing in common with selling beverages.

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Note added at 8 hrs (2009-07-28 16:03:50 GMT)
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I see now what I didn't see earlier -- that we are looking at "insider" /"outsider"differently.

I look at it the following way (remember Marxism?).

In the US, an executive from a chalk factory can start work the
next day at a cheese factory without so much as knowing the difference between cheddar and Stilton. This has come about as a resut of the proliferation of high-priced MBA colleges. The theory is (and it's sold, sold, sold by places like Harvard Business School) that an MBA doesn't have to know anything about the factory floor or what goes into the development of products. He just has to know how to maximise profit to the shareholders. His in-group are other managers, whatever firm they work for, and not the people below him in his own firm.

This former packaged foods manager is an insider in this sense, and not an outsider. An outsider would be a smart young person from the factory floor or lower management who knows everything about beverages but has no MBA and does not belong to the social and business network of the MBA crowd.

That's how I immediately understood it.



Anton Baer
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:59
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Notes to answerer
Asker: err, the author seems to be quite insistant that the guy IS an outsider in beverages, coming from the packaged goods' sector.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Charlesp: nice argument
10 hrs
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
liquid intoxicants (beverages)


Explanation:
Maybe he is referring to a "package store." -- a place where one buys alcohol. And the packaged goods is referring to vodka and other liquid intoxicants (beverages).

Charlesp
Sweden
Local time: 05:59
Native speaker of: English
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