Limited edition packages (LEPs) refer to temporal packages that are distinct from regular packages but include the same content. Because of their increasing use by brands, this research examines the effectiveness of LEPs compared to regular brand packages. Through two experiments conducted in the food and beverage industry, this research surprisingly demonstrates that LEPs lead to lower purchase intentions than regular packages and identifies emotional value as the underlying mechanism of this effect. Second, this research shows that consumers’ need for uniqueness (NFU) moderates the negative effect of LEPs on emotional value, with LEPs having negative effects only when people are not high in such NFU. Furthermore, this research identifies design typicality as a boundary condition, with only typical (versus atypical) LEPs leading to lower purchase intentions, but not when people are high in NFU. These findings are discussed in terms of managerial implications and potential avenues for future research.

限量版套餐 (LEP) 是指与常规套餐不同但包含相同内容的临时套餐。由于品牌越来越多地使用 LEP，因此本研究考察了 LEP 与常规品牌套餐相比的有效性。通过在食品和饮料行业进行的两项实验，这项研究令人惊讶地表明，LEP 导致的购买意愿低于常规包装，并将情感价值确定为这种影响的潜在机制。其次，这项研究表明，消费者对独特性 (NFU) 的需求会缓和 LEP 对情绪价值的负面影响，只有当人们的这种 NFU 不高时，LEP 才会产生负面影响。此外，本研究将设计典型性确定为边界条件，只有典型（与非典型）LEP 导致购买意愿降低，但当人们 NFU 含量高时则不然。这些发现在管理影响和未来研究的潜在途径方面进行了讨论。