Bold Packaging May Hinder Long-Term Sales

BALTIMOREBold packaging have been proven to move products off the retail shelves; however, a new study published in the Journal of Marketing Research suggests powerful packaging my hinder long-term sales because consumers perceive they can use less of the product.

Building on an established link between strong marketing cues and consumer choice, researchers at Johns Hopkins University investigated the influence of those cues on post-purchase use. Six experiments were conducted with students from three U.S. universities as the participants. The aim was to determine how various packaging cues influenced perceptions of effectiveness and the likely use of three products: a teeth-whitening rinse, an insect repellent and a toilet-bowl cleaner.

In an experiment with the teeth whitener, participants were shown two packages, one that depicted a smiling face with a glittering smile and the other with no picture. While a significantly high number of the respondents said they perceived the product with the smiling face as more effective, they indicated that they would use it at a rate 42% below that of the product with no picture. A bug repellent packaged with a picture of a dead bug was judged more effective than one with a live bug on the box; yet the participants predicted they would use less of the dead-bug product, compared with the live-bug product they had deemed less powerful.

The researchers said the same process emerges when brand names are involved. Participants were asked to consider two fictitious toilet-bowl cleanersBalanceClean and BalanceGreen. The product with Clean" in its name was viewed as more effective, but its predicted use was 20% below that of the cleaner carrying the Green" brand.

The researchers concluded the results show the ironic effects" of packaging cues that can quickly move products off store shelves but cause them to sit longer on household shelves. Employing packaging cues that stimulate purchase without strongly implying effectiveness or using effectiveness cues in advertisements and outer packaging but removing them from the bottle or tube that contains the product, may be a solution.