Louvain Research Institute in Management & Organizations (Lourim)
Centre of Investigation in Clinical Nutrition (CICN)

Challenges

Research has highlighted the significant influence that product packaging has on consumer perceptions and behaviour. This research project focuses on the influence of one particular element: the product’s visual complexity. It shows that greater complexity of the packaging can have a significant impact on consumers’ responses to the product on different levels, such as emotional reactions, the activation of thoughts and values (quality, authenticity, trust, etc.), and even its sensory properties (i.e., the perception that the product’s aroma, smell and taste are thus also complex and interesting). A first series of studies was then conducted, focusing on wine as a product category (interesting in terms of the types of reactions that could be studied). Other studies investigated this issue in relation to food products such as chocolate.

UCLouvain’s contribution

This project was conducted to assess the decisive (and generally underestimated) impact of consumer product appearance. Beyond its theoretical objectives (better understanding of this phenomenon and the underlying mechanisms), the project also had managerial and societal implications. It aimed to show that visual complexity can be used to trigger positive feelings (including on the sensory level) towards healthier product alternatives that are typically subject to negative inferences (alcohol-free wine, low sugar foods).