Cutting through the clutter: purchase intentions as a function of packaging instrumentality,aesthetics, and symbolism

This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the impact of packaging in marketing, and confirms the importance of perceived instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism in this process. This study examined two types of packaging used by a firm that makes chilled meals. One package had a transparent cover showing the food inside and the other had an opaque wrapper showing a picture of the food. Sales for the product with the transparent cover were 30% lower than for the same product packaged in the opaque wrapper. An experimental study examined the effects of packaging on buying intentions. Supermarket shoppers (n = 100) were shown the same product in one of the two packages and answered a survey about the mediating variables: perceived instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism, and the dependent variable, purchase intentions. As predicted, participants expressed more interest in buying the product with the opaque packaging. In addition, the transparent packaging was perceived as more instrumental, less aesthetic, and less symbolic of quality than opaque packaging. Perceived aesthetics and symbolism, but not instrumentality, were documented to mediate this process. Analyzing packaging using the instrumentality, aesthetics, and symbolism model can help marketers and designers develop more effective packaging for various products, contexts, and consumer groups. The study views packaging as a critical marketing tool and not merely a logistic tool, and identifies one psychological mechanism that underlies the impact of packaging on purchase intentions.     

Packaging as Vehicle for Mythologizing the Brand

The theoretical contribution of this article lies in the domain of marketplace mythology. By examining stories printed on the food packages that make use of a popular claim of naturalness, we offer a conceptual framework showing how corporations attempt to graft new myths onto old archetypes. We propose that by revisiting traditional mythology, contemporary commercial storytellers collectively create a grand postmodern marketplace myth—that of an empowered and ennobled consumer. We treat packaging narratives as cultural productions and explore them as vehicles for mythologizing the brand. Our findings reveal mythical themes exploited by companies in their packaging stories and messages they convey.     

Marketing “Frankenfood”

ABSTRACT

Most visual package research in marketing to date tests only the main effects of certain visual package elements in artificially isolated experimental contexts, though, in the store, these elements are presented to the shopper in active visual circumstances. Most food packages are highly cluttered with a number of visual and text elements all competing for the shopper's limited attention; this calls into question the external validity, and therefore the usability for practitioner purposes, of these results. Given that marketers often rely on a single visual element as the sole carrier of some particular promotional message, it is critical to ascertain whether single visual elements can break through such visual clutter to effectively deliver their promotional messages to the shopper. In this study, we manipulate the level of background activity of packages while testing the ability of one visual package element—its overall shape—to affect one particular piece of package information of concern to food shoppers— appearance of size or volume. Surprisingly, our results show that the main effect of package shape type on volume perception not only remains robust under visually cluttered conditions, but that the effect is actually heightened for certain, more geometrically complex package shape types. Managerial implications are discussed.     

桂北地区苗族服饰纹样在包装设计中的应用研究

桂北地区苗族服饰纹样展现了苗族人民的信仰和文化发展进程。在将苗族服饰纹样元素和现代包装设计进行融合时,我们要充分认识到苗族服饰纹样的深层内涵,利用其色彩搭配技巧、纹样设计和纹样寓意,确保包装设计突出民族化、地域化特色,提高包装的文化价值,更好地传承和保护苗族服饰的艺术资源。     

政府和快递包装供应商在绿色技术创新中的演化博弈分析

建立政府和快递包装供应商之间的演化博弈模型,分析两者在绿色技术创新中的演化稳定策略,对参数赋值后用Matlab进行数值仿真。结果表明:政府监管时获得的社会收益及监管成本是影响其行为的关键因素;快递包装供应商进行绿色技术创新的增量收益和增量成本是影响其策略的关键因素,加大政府监管和补贴可以促进快递包装供应商进行绿色技术创新,但政府补贴并非越多越好。最后,从加强政府监管、促进快递包装供应商绿色技术创新动力等方面提出建议。     

机器人技术在物流业中的应用

针对机器人技术在物流作业环节中的应用展开研究,首先分析了国内外机器人技术的发展及其在物流作业中的应用现状;然后探讨了机器人技术在物流业中的推广应用遇到的问题,并提出了相应的解决措施和建议;最后,对机器人技术在物流作业中应用前景进行了展望。     

有关包装机械设计的方法探析

目前我国制造业发展迅速,但是包装机械上仍然限制了生产效率的有效提高。本文首先从现代机械设计方式在包装机械设计中的使用和包装机械设计新趋势分析以及包装机械的创新设计等几个部分分析了包装机械设计的新思路和新方法。     

论“质量剩余”与资源可持续利用

质量剩余普遍存在于工程经济与社会生活中。在质量竞争中,市场机制存在"柠檬市场"等制度缺陷,而政府监管又可能导致矫枉过正。人们过度追求高质量导致资源不合理配置及巨大浪费,而发达国家利用国际技术性贸易壁垒对发展中国家质量提出了过高的要求。随着社会经济转型时期的到来,经济发展越来越受到资源约束与市场约束为主的系统约束。寻求资源消耗、经济发展以及环境保护之间的平衡刻不容缓。在消费、生产和设计中减少质量剩余,避免资源刚性约束,为新技术新方法的诞生争取时间,是可持续发展研究中的重要课题。     

节约型食品快递包装的创新研究

从食品快递包装现状分析快递包装现行问题及发展趋势,以调查分析为基础,食品包装节约理念为依据进行创新研究,从而有效避免其弊病。对于食品快递包装的重新定位,可以采用六大创新要点在节约型食品快递包装中应用,在节约环保、实用方便、健康卫生等方面满足人与环境对于食品快递包装的发展诉求。     

Influence of Language of Packaging Labels on Consumers’ Buying Preferences

Can packaging labels of three different foreign languages (Korean, Japanese, and English) affect consumers’ preferences? In a month of field experiment involving 203 Chinese undergraduate students, this study used coffee as an experimental product and created a fictitious brand “7 AM COFFEE.” Using analysis of variance (ANOVA) as a statistical tool, the results of the experiment show that the English language represents the strongest effect for (1) consumers’ attention, (2) trust, (3) perceived quality, (4) taste perception, and (5) purchase intention. Moreover, consumers with high or low frequencies of drinking a coffee do not have a specific preference in relations to their attitude. The findings and discussion of this research provide better direction for marketing managers of beverages in establishing market strategies to promote products and generating appeal among coffee drinker.