Does product packaging significantly influence consumer buying behavior?
I have no doubt whatsoever that packaging influences consumer behaviour. The question, however, asks whether the degree to which packaging influences consumer behaviour is significant. This makes for a more interesting debate. Let’s go back to the beginning. What is the function that packaging fulfils? If we consider packaging as a communications medium, which we surely must as companies spend as much money developing innovative new packaging solutions as they do on many other elements of the marketing mix, in order for it to be successful it must deliver on both a functional and an emotional level. Content without creativity is just plain boring, but creativity in the absence of content is simply noise! The role of packaging, as with any marketing medium, is to help move the consumer further along the buying cycle – it may simply raise awareness, help us to research alternatives, to form a preference etc. From a functional perspective packaging can influence behaviour – especially if
