The influence of unisex labels on consumers’ purchase intention

: a study in the cosmetic industry controlling for category involvement and familiarity

Abstract

Labels can have a great impact on consumers’ decisions and their willingness to try or to buy certain products. The focus of this study is in trying to understand how the presence of an unisex label on the packaging of an unisex product may affect consumers’ perception about the product and change respectively their purchase intention. Depending on the positive, negative or neutral effect on unisex labels on the purchase intention, companies may gain or lose advantage with the usage of unisex labels on their products. Because many brands in the cosmetic industry are starting to launch unisex products in the market, it is of extreme relevance to understand how consumers feel and react to unisex products, understanding, for instance, how open they are to these products and which product categories they are more wiling to try or buy. As the consumer decision is made based on product aesthetics (e.g. packaging size, color, shape), familiarity with the product and category involvement, it is also important to take these variables in consideration and control for them. Therefore, the variables familiarity with unisex products and category involvement will be added to the model of study, moderating for the effect of the presence of unisex labels on consumers’ purchase intention.

Date of Award	25 Jun 2019
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ishani Aggarwal (Supervisor)