Does packaging matter? Private labels' dress codes and consumer choice

This chapter provides an overview on the impact of private labels' trade dress code on consumers' productchoices and attitudes, assessing to what extent the adoption of different type of packaging increasesthe likelihood of purchase of private labels, specifically when retailers opt for a copycatting packagingstrategy. Few prior studies have systematically examined the implications of this strategy often adoptedby retail marketers. This chapter offers an empirical perspective of this problem, analyzing it in a simulatedsupermarket experiment, across multiple product categories. Findings suggest that with exceptionof a few product-categories, copycat strategies have a positive impact on PLs likelihood of purchase.In certain product categories as groceries and pet food, the differential between likelihood of purchaseof PL when following a copycat strategy vs a own-packaging strategy can go up to 15 p.p., highlightingthe powerful effect that copycat packages can have on consumers' PLs choice.