Sensory Aspects of Package Design

- Packaging has become a key marketing tool toward making products more engaging.
- We review and discuss research related to the sensory aspects of package design.
- We introduce a taxonomy of packaging based on physicality and functionality.
- We identify the key stages of the multi-sensory customer-brand interaction.
- We discuss existing and new ways of thinking about package design for these stages.

Packaging is a critical aspect of the marketing offer, with many implications for the multi-sensory customer experience. It can affect attention, comprehension of value, perception of product functionality, and also consumption, with important consequences for consumer experience and response. Thus, while it was once viewed as being useful only for product preservation and logistics, package design has evolved into a key marketing tool. We introduce the layered-packaging taxonomy that highlights new ways to think about product packaging. This taxonomy has two dimensions: the physicality dimension, which is composed of the outer-intermediate-inner packaging layers, and the functionality dimension, which is composed of the purchase-consumption packaging layers. We then build on this taxonomy to present an integrative conceptualization of the sensory aspects of package design as they affect key stages of customer experience.

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