Consumer Perceptions of Packaging Variables:The case of Gourmet Gifts

Companies have become ever more competitive. This reality has led to companies to focus on niche markets and on very specific consumers. In this sense, there are various examples of products designed to be Gifts. Businesses have seized this opportunity, and Gourmet Gifts are widespread on the market. Literature has not kept up with this trend, and in spite of wide research on consumer perceptions of packaging, there are few studies on the impact of purchase context on consumer’s packaging preferences and perceptions. This paper intends to contribute to fixing this literature gap. In this sense, we explore how consumers react to different packaging elements, when they are buying a product for themselves and when they are buying a Gift. Two studies were conducted on this issue. The first study, was an international quantitative study, figuring 317 participants from different countries like Portugal, Brazil, and the USA. A qualitative study was also conducted, in which 6 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. The quantitative study’s results indicate that consumer preference, when buying food Gifts, seems to be very similar to consumer preferences when buying Gourmet products for their own consumption. In spite of this, the same results indicate that there is a higher focus on every packaging element when buying Gifts than in other situations. These findings seem to be corroborated by the qualitative study, which produced similar results. In this sense, it is concluded that consumers buy Gifts using the same criteria they use when buying Gourmet products for themselves and that the importance of every element is magnified when Gifts are being bought