Does packaging influence the consumer?

: the effect of packaging design on consumers’ willingness to pay and the mediating role of brand image

Abstract

Since self-service shopping was introduced in the 1950s and product variety is continuously growing, competition within the stores is steadily increasing. 90% of consumers decide whether to purchase products by only evaluating the packages’ front, highlighting the importance of packaging design and identifying packaging as one of the most relevant communication and marketing tools. This research aims to identify the impact packaging design has on the consumer. The interaction of visual and verbal packaging design elements is considered in order to indicate its influence on consumers’ willingness to pay and whether brand image mediates this relationship. An exploratory study is conducted through two online surveys. The first survey is run to define the stimuli used in the main survey. The main survey’s 2x2 research design assigned one of the four stimuli to each participant, displaying a hand wash product with either good or bad visual and verbal packaging elements, respectively. Results indicate that appealing packaging design is positively affecting consumers’ willingness to pay and their perceived brand image, representing a relevant finding for marketers in the FMCG industry. In addition, visual elements of packaging design have a stronger impact on brand image than verbal elements. In contrast, visual elements do not point out a significant effect on consumers’ willingness to pay compared to verbal packaging design elements.

Date of Award	14 Oct 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Paulo Romeiro (Supervisor)