The Role of Packaging and Presentation Format in Consumers’ Preferences for Food: An Application of Projective Techniques

Visual elements of food products can play an important role in determining food choice through shaping the attributes perception of consumers. Symbols and logos have the role of conveying information, but they can be interpreted in different ways. The product used as a case study is Extra‐Virgin Olive Oil. The elements tested are: color of the bottle, sensory quality claims, organic production logos, country of origin (COO), and cold processing. An online questionnaire was completed by a sample of Dutch and Italian consumers in order to have cross‐national results. Consumers' healthiness perception toward packaging alternatives with combinations of these elements were related to consumer traits through a contingent ranking method. Healthiness perception was enhanced by elements on the label such as: organic production, COO and by traits of the consumers such as familiarity and sustainability concern; while it was lowered by sensory indications of pungent properties. Somewhat unexpectedly, the color of container was the only element differently interpreted by the two nationalities. Practical applications Most of the packaging elements were perceived similarly by the Dutch and Italian consumers, this suggests that there is no need to create different labels for products sold in different countries. The exception relies in the indication to use dark bottles for products sold in Italy and transparent for products sold in The Netherlands. Pungent features, even if tied with superior healthy properties, are preferred by a small share of consumers. Label and packaging can be used to better communicate the healthiness of the products, so indicating the origin and the organic production can be useful for companies, regardless of the country in which they operate. A positive trend of preference toward olive oil in emerging consuming countries, as The Netherlands, is expected, as the use of this product is spreading within the population as healthy concerns about diet is becoming increasingly important.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual elements of packaging shaping healthiness evaluations of consumers: The case of olive oil

Cavallo

Piqueras‐Fiszman

2017

“…However, they showed methodological barriers that makes their routinely use harsher (Krueger & Casey, 2010). In a way to prevent these limitations, projective techniques have been successfully emerging in their applications (Ares, Gim enez, & G ambaro, 2008;Eldesouky, Pulido, & Mesias, 2015;Masson, Delarue, Bouillot, Sieffermann, & Blumenthal, 2016). They are characterized for providing an indirect approach of unrestricted access to the consumers' perceptions and attitudes (Donoghue, 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploration of gender differences in bottled mineral water consumption: A projective study of consumer's perception in Brazil

Pacheco

Kuriya

Capobiango

et al. 2018

The bottled mineral water sector is strategic to countries like Brazil and understanding the factors that guides the purchase and consumption by men and women becomes vital to the product's commercial success. In this context, projective techniques are important tools to comprehend the consumers' perception and to the development of target strategies of marketing. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the gender differences about the bottled mineral water's perception through using Word Association (WA) alongside with the Partial Least Squares—Discriminant Analysis (PLS‐DA). The results demonstrated that from the 12 listed categories for the product, the most common were: “necessity,” “well‐being,” “quality,” and “appearance,” and it was possible to identify through PLS‐DA the main differences (p < .05) between genders. The bottled mineral water consumption by the female public is possibly directed to necessity and well‐being, despite practicality, while the male public made the purchase and consumption of the product associated to brand and informal places. Yet, it was realized that the product's presentation and quality parameter were highly impactful in the consumers' attitudes from both sexes. It is highlighted that the WA and PLS‐DA tools, used together in an innovative way, contribute to the deep acknowledgment about the bottled mineral water's consumption, and their application can be expanded and adopted routinely in marketing research and in the new marketing strategies. Practical applications This study brings relevant information about the factors which should be considered by consumers at the moment of purchase and consumption of bottled water, emphasizing the differences by gender, with the advantage of the results being obtained using simple sensory methodologies, as the Word association task which taken in account the consumers' perception and evaluated for multivariate approaches, as Partial Least Squares—Discrimination Analysis. These findings should be considered to bottled water industry to elaborate marketing messages to increase their sales in an effective way.

“…Packaging is widely recognized as a crucial component in attracting consumers and thus persuading them to purchase products (Schifferstein, ). The success of a product is intrinsically linked to its packaging (Eldesouky, Pulido, & Mesias, ; Kobayashi & Benassi, ). Under self‐service conditions, packaging must attract the consumer's attention, seduce him and inspire him to purchase the product.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Packaging texture influences product taste and consumer satisfaction

Ferreira

2019

This article aims to understand how and when sensory congruence (and incongruence) between packaging textures and product textures affects hedonic food taste evaluations and consumer satisfaction. Involving chocolate tastings and following experimental protocols, two studies show the effects of sensory congruence (and incongruence). Two products (with two textures: smooth and granular) and two packaging forms (with two textures: smooth and granular) were used. The first study focuses only on the visual influence of packaging texture. The second study explores both the visual and haptic influences of packaging texture on perceptions of a product when the product was contained inside the packaging. The results indicate that the effects of packaging texture on product perceptions occur mostly in presence of both visual and haptic interactions with the packaging texture. If sensory incongruence exists between packaging texture and product texture, then the packaging texture might negatively affect evaluations of product taste and the satisfaction level. These findings are generated for a single product category using experiments designed to highlight consumers' attention on product taste and their satisfaction. This article provides preliminary guidelines on how to utilize packaging texture to congruently stimulate consumers' perceptions and satisfaction. Practical Applications These results are relevant to sensory scientists and packaging designers interested in how packaging textures interact with product. This research contributes to the literature on food consumption and sensory marketing by integrating the influences of sensory congruence between both textures. Although previous research supports the use of packaging features to stimulate consumers' perceptions and behaviors, none examine the interaction and effects of manipulating both packaging texture and product texture. Specifically, this research shows that texturing the packaging might induce lower product taste and lower consumer satisfaction if there is sensory incongruence between the packaging texture and the product texture. This negative impact occurs in the case in which the packaging texture induces expectations about product texture that are not present in the product's features.