Willingness to pay for traditional ready-to-eat food packaging: examining the interplay between shape, font and slogan

Abstract

Purpose This paper investigates how to design traditional ready-to-eat food packaging by manipulating its shape, font and slogan to promote consumer buying intention and willingness to pay (WTP). Design/methodology/approach Two package designs, interplaying the square shapes (vertical vs horizontal), font formality (formal vs less formal/casual) and slogans (ethno-positioning vs short and catchy), were created and tested in an online experiment with 483 participants. Findings The results revealed that the differed package designs elicited relatively equal levels of attractiveness to consumers and their buying intentions. However, the designs significantly differentiated consumers' WTP. The results further show the significant direct and indirect effects on WTP of packaging attractiveness when it is moderated by package designs and mediated by buying intention. However, the varied package designs did not have significant direct or indirect impacts on WTP when mediated by packaging attractiveness and buying intention. Practical implications The vertical square-shaped packaging, written in a less formal font and highlighting a short and catchy slogan, is more financially promising for marketers to get a better price for local food products perceived as hedonic and bought impulsively on casual occasions. Furthermore, besides prominent package design elements such as font, color, size, material and picture, packaging designers or marketing practitioners should consider other supporting factors, such as shelf efficiency. Originality/value This study complements existing studies of “cue utilization theory” and “packaging design theory” by demonstrating the importance of extrinsic packaging cues, such as shape, font style and slogan, in improving consumers' WTP for traditional food products. The study also fills some gaps in the literature by exploring the direct, mediating and moderating relationships between package design, packaging attractiveness, buying intention and WTP, especially in an emerging market such as Indonesia.

The impact of anchor characteristics on consumers’ willingness to pay a premium for food—an empirical study

“…First, in terms of research perspective, this paper only explores the impact of different anchor characteristics on consumers’ willingness to pay at a premium, while the interaction of different types of anchors, anchor types and product types often also has different effects on consumer behavior ( 70 ). Second, although this paper focuses on the moderating role of limited-time limited-quantity, it does not make a strict distinction between such marketing stimuli ( 71 ). And although both limited-time or limited-quantity scarcity marketing stimuli can have an impact on consumers’ purchase intentions, there may be differences in the degree of impact between these two stimuli ( 72 ), future research could focus on this difference for a deeper exploration.…”

Can whimsically cute packaging overcome young consumer product unfamiliarity?

“…Impressions of fun, playfulness and whimsy derived from seeing whimsically cute product packaging can direct the “first moment of truth” to a restricted set of external cues, despite the fact that the product is probably unknown to the consumer (e.g. Hanoch and Vitouch, 2004; Suci et al. , 2021; Gavilan and Fernández-Lores, 2021).…”

“…Impressions of fun, playfulness and whimsy derived from seeing whimsically cute product packaging can direct the "first moment of truth" to a restricted set of external cues, despite the fact that the product is probably unknown to the consumer (e.g. Hanoch and Vitouch, 2004;Suci et al, 2021;Gavilan and Fern andez-Lores, 2021). Therefore, it is relevant that consumers with low product familiarity rely more heavily on extrinsic cues when evaluating products (Seo et al, 2020).…”

“…Different fonts generate specific subjective impressions, such as engaged/bored, pleasure/displeasure, reassured/unsettled, obvious/subtle, excited, sincere, competent, sophisticated, formal and informal/casual (e.g. Henderson et al, 2004;Grohmann et al, 2013;Suci et al, 2021), but how a font generates a sense of cuteness has scarcely been studied. While formal fonts, such as Times New Roman, usually elicit a neutral feeling (Serafini and Clausen, 2012), a font with more emotional engagement and a personal touch is needed for cuteness.…”

Determinants of Malaysian Urban Consumers’ Purchase Intention toward Ready-to-eat Food

“…There is a growing amount of literature on RTE food in various regions, including a study on consumer buying intention toward RTE products in European, South American, African and Asian countries (Adeosun et al, 2023;Suci et al, 2022;Aviles et al, 2020;Tunung et al, 2019;Sgroi et al, 2018;Mandelkar, 2018). Most of the studies showed that the purchase intention of RTE food is primarily driven by price, quality, and convenience.…”