As visually-driven social platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat become more prominent, consumers are increasingly at the forefront of the visual presentation of products, given their constant picture-sharing online.
It has therefore become increasingly beneficial for brands to create products that are enjoyable and unique, visually appealing, and can ignite desire among consumers to share these products with their friends and communities online. In fact, according to GlobalData’s 2016 primary consumer research, the enjoyable or unique qualities of packaging often or always influence over half of consumers globally when making purchasing decisions in food, beauty and grooming, alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages.
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Global: consumers who find the following packaging features “exciting”, 2017
Source: GlobalData’s Q1 2017 global consumer survey
Bearing this in mind, packaging plays an important role in enhancing online ‘shareability’ credentials and should be designed to take advantage of the digital age. In particular, over a quarter (26%) of consumers globally find unique shapes and bright colours exciting, while interactive packaging excites 23% of global consumers.
Brands should therefore consider these types of favourable packaging cues as a key vehicle for digital marketing. Careful consideration should be paid to both the use of colour and shapes to create a memorable experience, which will drive visually-driven social sharing of products online.
