Package Design: The use of informative and visual elements in package design

Abstract: Today, package has more obligations than just protecting the product. Consumers see the product and package as an integrated part and requires luxurious and prestigious package in order to attract them. This has forced companies to improve their package design to be able to sell their products. Both companies and consumers use it for different reasons but the visibility on the shelf remains the same for both actors. For companies, the additional possibility that package design provides them with is that the package act as a salesman and helps to communicate to the consumers. In regard of consumers, package design offers them opportunities to purchase a nice product with a nice package and helps them to recognize the product on the shelf. Previous research about package design, however, has in most cases only investigated how pictures on the package have influenced consumers’ expectation on taste and flavour. Therefore, this thesis aims at exploring what elements in package design that influence consumer’s purchase intention and how different elements influence consumers during the decision making process. In this thesis, a qualitative research approach is used together with a semi-structure interview form. To be able to thoroughly investigate the research question of this study, primary data is collected through two focus groups. The result reveals that the participants’ purchase intention is likely to be influenced by the informative or the visual elements and that these have a high impact when they search for an everyday good. However, in order to be able to choose which product to purchase, the participants stated a need to compare packages before deciding whether a purchase will be implemented or not. This could be done by looking on the picture on the package or by looking on the label that revealed information about what the package contained. Hence, the findings of this study might be of interest for companies to understand how consumers think about package design.