Ellen Lueb,
Sr. Research Analyst, SKIM

Packaging is an important factor in consumers’ shopping experience: It’s the first thing consumers see when approaching an item of interest, and it’s what they can physically touch upon further inspection.

But to what extent does a product’s packaging really drive the decision to buy the product? Especially in the high-end beauty market, appealing packaging is considered a must.

To find out whether appealing packaging really does motivate consumers’ purchasing behavior, SKIM, an international market research agency, conducted a quantitative study among high-end cosmetics consumers in four key markets globally - the U.S., Brazil, China, and France.

As it looks into shoppers’ purchase decision making process, the study helps us understand the role packaging plays among a long list of purchase drivers such as price, store layout or the presence of beauty advisors. In addition, the study looked at different types of cosmetics, including foundation, mascara, lip products (gloss or stick), fragrance and moisturizer.

Packaging was found to be less of a purchase driver overall: in all four countries it ranks number 14-15 (China & France, respectively) to 20 (U.S. & Brazil) out of 22 purchase drivers. 

The influence of packaging is similar across product categories with only small differences: Packaging seems to be slightly less influential for moisturizers in France and in the U.S., and for foundation in China and Brazil.

Looking for lipstick container?

Both types of cosmetics are less socially visible, which may explain why the visual impact of packaging is of lower importance. However, this is not to say that a product’s packaging is just not relevant to consumers. To find out more about the actual influence of packaging on consumers’ purchase decision, one needs to dig a bit deeper.

Since this study was conducted in different retail environments, a comparison was made between mass retail, high-end retail, and online retail. Overall, factors such as product characteristics, credibility, and price appear to drive consumers’ choices the most, but when looking at the different retail channels we find that packaging does play a larger role in a high-end retail environment. With price becoming less of a purchase driver in this environment, brand-related factors (e.g. status, image, packaging) gain in importance.

Moreover, the influence of packaging is strengthened by consumers’ buying occasion. If a product is purchased for their own use, factors like price and product availability are main purchase drivers. However, if the product is bought as a gift for someone else, brand-related factors such as product status, image, and packaging again become more important in the purchase decision.

Though we cannot directly confirm that better packaging design positively influences customer satisfaction, it does appear obvious that a less premium package design negatively influences customer satisfaction. This is especially the case in the high-end cosmetics environment.

Though it may not rank among the top influencing purchase drivers, nice packaging is expected and a lack thereof will result in lower customer satisfaction with the product. Therefore, having nice packaging will not directly result in a more positive perception of the product, but not having nice packaging will trigger consumers to view the product in a less positive light, in comparison to the competition.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ellen Lueb is research manager at SKIM, where she specializes in pricing research in FMCG markets across the world. Starting her market research career in 2008 in San Diego, California, she joined SKIM in February 2012. After spending her first year with SKIM in the Geneva office, she is now based in the Rotterdam office. She’s currently (co-) leading SKIM’s Pricing & Portfolio Practice.