Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide the first empirical evidence on how consumption-supportive packaging functionality influences consumers’ purchase intentions. Consumption-supportive packaging functionality implies that the packaging itself serves a function that actively helps users achieve their consumption goals and that supports the objectives consumers have in mind when using it.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve the research goal, this study presents four between-participant experimental studies. In the studies, this paper tests for the direct effect of consumption-supportive packaging functionality on consumers’ purchase intentions across different product categories. Moreover, this study tests for the mediating effect of perceived product meaningfulness to explain the underlying mechanism (Studies 2 and 3) and for the moderating effect of product complexity (Study 4).

Findings

This paper shows that consumption-supportive packaging functionality leads to higher purchase intentions. The findings also reveal that perceived product meaningfulness is one underlying mechanism that helps us to explain the positive effect of consumption-supportive packaging functionality on purchase intention. Moreover, findings reveal that the positive effect of consumption-supportive packaging functionality only works for low-complex products, but not for high-complex ones.

Research limitations/implications

This research offers a new perspective on package design, and thus advances the understanding of how to package functionality can influence consumer responses. Moreover, this study contributes to the Gestalt theory because it applies a holistic design view on the packaging that influences product perception.

Practical implications

For low complex products, marketing managers should consider integrating packaging functionality into their communication strategy to focus on the overall Gestalt of the product. Product designers should integrate consumption-supportive packaging functionality in the product design to evoke positive consumer responses.

Originality/value

The research gives first empirical evidence on how and when consumption-supportive packaging functionality influences consumers’ product evaluations.

中文翻译：

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支持消费的包装功能如何影响消费者的购买意图：感知到的产品意义的中介作用

目的

本文的目的是为支持消费的包装功能如何影响消费者的购买意愿提供第一个经验证据。支持消费的包装功能意味着包装本身具有一种功能，该功能可以主动帮助用户实现其消费目标，并支持消费者在使用时要牢记的目标。

设计/方法/方法

为了实现研究目标，本研究提出了四项参与者间的实验研究。在研究中，本文测试了支持消费的包装功能对跨不同产品类别的消费者购买意愿的直接影响。此外，本研究测试了感知到的产品有意义性的中介作用，以解释其潜在机理（研究2和3）以及产品复杂性的调节作用（研究4）。

发现

本文表明，支持消费的包装功能会导致更高的购买意愿。研究结果还表明，感知到的产品意义是一种基本机制，可以帮助我们解释支持消费的包装功能对购买意愿的积极影响。此外，研究结果表明，支持消费的包装功能的积极作用仅适用于低复杂度的产品，不适用于高复杂度的产品。

研究局限/意义

这项研究为包装设计提供了新的视角，从而加深了对如何包装功能可以影响消费者反应的理解。此外，这项研究为格式塔理论做出了贡献，因为它在影响产品感知的包装上采用了整体设计观点。

实际影响

对于低复杂度的产品，市场营销经理应考虑将包装功能集成到其沟通策略中，以关注产品的整体格式塔。产品设计师应在产品设计中集成支持消费的包装功能，以引起积极的消费者反响。

创意/价值

该研究为支持消费的包装功能如何以及何时影响消费者的产品评估提供了第一手经验证据。