Typicality of package design

: investigating the variables that influence consumers’ purchase intention

Abstract

Designers and marketing managers agree upon the existence of visual cues in product and package designs. Visual cues characterise product categories and relate to the packaging elements that are most often repeated in a particular category, such as shapes, colours, and material. The idea of visual cues seems to be linked to the “perception of typicality” and “family resemblance”. In this research, the influence of perceived typicality in terms of visual design of a product on consumers’ purchase intention is analysed. Previously, the relationship between perception of typicality and purchase intention has been examined. Yet, existing literature on this topic yields different results. Some of the previous studies indicated a favourable choice for the package design that is more typical, while other researchers have illustrated that the somewhat atypical package design is favoured by consumers. These two divergent opinions can be explained by two different moderating factors. An empirical study using coffee as a hedonistic and laundry detergent as a utilitarian product category was carried out with 636 respondents. Findings of this research suggest that a linear and positive relationship between the perception of typicality and consumer’s intention to buy exists, with two individual variables having a moderating effect. Therefore, typical package design is preferred over the atypical package design. Moreover, consumers’ tendency to innovate and the kind of product category are significantly important. When consumers’ tendency to innovate is high and when the product category is a hedonistic one, consumers are more prone to agree upon atypical package design

Date of Award	21 Jul 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Paulo Romeiro (Supervisor) & Wilson Bastos (Co-Supervisor)