TY - JOUR
T1 - Contained
T2 - why it’s better to display some products without a package
AU - Szocs, Courtney
AU - Williamson, Sara
AU - Mills, Adam
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Academy of Marketing Science.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Across varying marketplace contexts (e.g., grocery stores, restaurants, e-commerce) managers display products with and without packaging, seemingly arbitrarily. Does displaying a product packaged as opposed to unpackaged influence consumers’ product responses? Six controlled experiments and an Instagram study address this question. We focus primarily on food products but show our results extend to non-food products that are natural (i.e., originate from plants, animals, or humans). We propose that, in addition to its physical function, packaging acts as a symbolic barrier that separates the product from nature, decreasing perceived product naturalness and leading to less favorable product responses. Consistent with our theorizing, the negative effects of packaging attenuate when product information or retail signage highlights the product’s connection to nature and are contingent on the importance of product naturalness. Our findings have implications for strategic use of packaging in physical and digital merchandising and sustainability initiatives aimed at reducing packaging.
AB - Across varying marketplace contexts (e.g., grocery stores, restaurants, e-commerce) managers display products with and without packaging, seemingly arbitrarily. Does displaying a product packaged as opposed to unpackaged influence consumers’ product responses? Six controlled experiments and an Instagram study address this question. We focus primarily on food products but show our results extend to non-food products that are natural (i.e., originate from plants, animals, or humans). We propose that, in addition to its physical function, packaging acts as a symbolic barrier that separates the product from nature, decreasing perceived product naturalness and leading to less favorable product responses. Consistent with our theorizing, the negative effects of packaging attenuate when product information or retail signage highlights the product’s connection to nature and are contingent on the importance of product naturalness. Our findings have implications for strategic use of packaging in physical and digital merchandising and sustainability initiatives aimed at reducing packaging.
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U2 - 10.1007/s11747-021-00800-3
DO - 10.1007/s11747-021-00800-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 34465928
AN - SCOPUS:85113657698
SN - 0092-0703
VL - 50
SP - 131
EP - 146
JO - Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
JF - Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
IS - 1
ER -