How often does it happen that you are looking for a particular product at the supermarket and you go around the aisle a number of times only failing to find that product?
A few days back, I visited a supermarket and was looking for my favourite brand of crisps. I walked around the dedicated aisle twice but couldn’t find them so I requested an assistant to help me with it. When we started walking towards the dedicated shelf of crisps and cookies, I wondered how these hundreds of products on the shelves fight with each other for our attention and what actually persuades us to choose one brand over the other. In that brief moment, I thought about the different elements of packaging - colour, typography, visuals and format that affect our buying habits and coming back to reality only to find out that the assistant was nowhere to be seen. Assuming he never found the crisps, I disappointedly started looking for a similar flavour and surprisingly, found my favourite pack of crisps at the corner of the shelf and thought how difficult it was to find something I actually wanted.
Today, we face an ever increasing number of options available to choose from. A regular supermarket has over 30,000 products, all competing with each other for our attention. In most cases, a brand gets roughly 30 – 45 minutes of a shopping session to attract, excite, and sell their products, proving to the fact that product packaging is considered to be the decisive point of communication in any retail environment.
It has been estimated that around 60-70% of buying decisions are made in the store. Packaging is considered as the final opportunity for marketers to communicate their brand’s message. Packaging plays a crucial role as it has been proven that 1/3rd of our decision making is based on how the product finally looks. It has a direct impact on how your consumer perceives the product.
Most of the times a consumer leaves home with a definite purpose in mind, but no loyalty towards a brand. The final choice depends on variety of factors. Some consumers go for household brands, some do an extensive research, while the rest of them (which forms the majority) buy on impulse. These decisions are often influenced by knowledge and reputation of a brand, consumer personality, but most importantly having a good and attractive package design that would intrigue and encourage the consumer to try the product.
We are all still guilty of instantly judging a book by its cover but still there’s no way around it.
A product only appeals to us when it looks attractive.
Such is the power of Packaging!
Read more here: 5 Golden Rules of Packaging Design
Article contributed by:
Riya Wadhwa, Brand Artisan - Marketing