The relationship between packaging uniformity and variety seeking

Abstract

This research explores the effect of product packaging uniformity on variety seeking. It is shown that the incidence of variety seeking is greater in product categories where packaging is similar among competitors, and thus the packaging display has relatively low arousal potential, as compared to categories where the packaging is less uniform across brands and therefore has higher arousal potential. Two experiments test and support these propositions.

Does variety seeking vary between hedonic and utilitarian products? The role of attribute type

“…Although several models of attribute‐level variety‐seeking behaviour have been proposed (Erdem, ; Inman et al, ; McAlister, ), these models offer little guidance on what product attributes are likely to stimulate and satisfy the consumer's need for variety. In addition, the existing literature on variety‐seeking behaviour has dealt mainly with hedonic products (Ratner et al, ; Ratner & Kahn, ; Roehm & Roehm, ; Van Trijp et al . , ) and paid very little attention to variety‐seeking behaviour in utilitarian product categories.…”

Atypical food packaging affects the persuasive impact of product claims

“…Although the number of participants in the experiment is comparable tot that in earlier studies on food perception (e.g., Becker, Van Rompay, Schifferstein & Galetzka, 2011;Roehm & Roehm, 2010), we would like to emphasize the importance of replication, especially for single studies like the present one. Direct and conceptual replications of our findings could serve to further enhance our knowledge on the strength of the obtained effects and (the limits) to their generalizability.…”

“…We did not investigate effects of atypical design on product evaluations in an environment where the consumer is presented with more (similar) products simultaneously, such as is the case in a retail environment (cf. Roehm & Roehm, 2010). Therefore, future research should focus on how atypical design affects product perception and product evaluations in such an environment, where several products compete for the consumer's attention.…”

How Social Media Marketing can Influence the Profitability of an Online Company From a Consumer Point of View

“…Ursula Hansen (1986) as cited in Clement (2007) describes, "Packaging as having specific influence on buying behaviour through three general packaging aspects: communication, functionality and environment" (p.918). Another intriguing path would be to consider the impact of specific shape and colour values in greater depth [Roehm & Roehm, 2010, p.1132]. In the colour theory, different colours are carrying different inherent meanings, for example red is an arousing colour where blues is more calming.…”