MBA News

• Print
• E-Mail

When it comes to packaging, size matters.

In a research paper, INSEAD Associate Professor of Marketing Pierre Chandon and co-author Nailya Ordabayeva, an INSEAD PhD student, found that changes in the shape of packaging or portions can have a big impact on our consumption patterns.

As consumers, we tend to buy bigger packages or order bigger portions because we believe we're getting better value. However, this phenomenon leads to overeating and obesity because we fail to notice just how big these portions and packages are and hence underestimate how much we consume. The size and the shape of packaging play a key role in these misperceptions.

According to the recent study, forthcoming in the Journal of Marketing Research, volume changes appear smaller when all three dimensions (height, width, and length) of a product are changed, compared to when only one dimension (say, height) changes. This is because, to double the volume of any object, you can either double the size of one of its dimensions - and then people will notice - or you can just increase each dimension by 26 per cent - and then people will underestimate how big the change is.

For marketers, this means that if a company increases the size of its packaging in one dimension, consumers perceive it to be much larger and so assume they're getting a better deal and are more likely to buy it. If a company increases the product size by the same volume but the package is expanded in three dimensions not just one consumers don't perceive as big of a change.