Colour associations and consumer product‐colour purchase decisions

Abstract

This article describes a conceptual framework for understanding consumer product-colour purchase decisions. Building on previous work, a new primary factor, colour association, is introduced. The purpose of this study is to test whether consumers' colour-associations connect with their product-colour association, and whether colour-association affects consumers' intended product-colour purchase decisions. The study used two research activities (a laboratory experiment and an interview) and two research methods (multiple choice for 6-alternative-forced-choice and multiple choice for rank-order) to investigate which colour a participant would choose if asked to select a product to purchase when there is a range of colours available. Participants were also asked to provide a reason for their decisions. The study finds that the stronger a participant's preference for a colour, the more likely they are to purchase a product in that colour. The data from interviews suggests that, for some of the products tested, participants are highly influenced by the colour association that they would purchase a product-colour on their one of the colour association than other colours. The updated conceptual framework suggests that the colour association factor could be one of the product-colour decision primary factors that influence consumer product-purchase intentions in the absence of consumer personal colour preferences.

The influence of packaging colour on consumer expectations of coffee using free word association

“…Packaging colour may invoke a person's imagination of a product. Thus, choosing an appropriate colour for the packaging of a product is tremendously important because it may affect consumer decision making 38 . In this way, the coffee industry could use these results to design more attractive packaging aiming to increase consumer purchasing.…”

“…Thus, choosing an appropriate colour for the packaging of a product is tremendously important because it may affect consumer decision making. 38 In this way, the coffee industry could use these results to design more attractive packaging aiming to increase consumer purchasing. Moreover, further research is recommended in order to investigate the effect of two or more colours on coffee packaging and their effect on consumer expectations.…”

Understanding Color Associations and Their Effects on Expectations of Drugs’ Efficacies

“…Blue and white colors, often together, ranked the highest for sedative and anti-anxiety efficacy categories, following expectations because blue was associated with sedatives [ 13 , 22 ], calmness, quiet, water, and sky [ 5 , 19 , 20 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ], while white was associated with calm, peace and gentle [ 27 , 29 ]. This is also aligned with the results of most ethnicities, all age groups and geographical locations.…”

“…It is worth noting that green did not have any strong associations to any of the efficacies, except for being ranked least effective compared to all other colors for pain relief. Green is commonly associated with health, nature, fresh, and grass [ 5 , 27 , 28 ].…”

“…The results may be considered in context with previous research, per color. Looking at blue and its association with the word calm as per Part 2B, blue has been constantly associated with calm in the literature as well [ 19 , 20 , 25 , 28 ]. This in turn explains its association with the sedative efficacy, and being second highest color for the anti-anxiety efficacy, and the lowest for the stimulant efficacy (See Figure 9 ).…”