Encouraging Consumer Purchasing, Part I

In past blogs, our group has discussed the importance of providing food samples, mass customization, benefits of offering value-added products, and other strategies to encourage customers to purchase your products.  Each of these is designed to alert and remind customers about what you sell and increase consumer purchases.   In today’s blog, I wanted to provide a few more ideas that can also help increase purchasing.

How many different ways can customers use your products?

Your customers probably have a pretty good idea of how to use most of your products.  Fresh fruit are eaten without any preparation or they can be used as an ingredient in more common dishes, the same with vegetables.  The value-added products that you offer, such as jams and chutneys, can be spread on toast or crackers. 

There is at least a primary and a secondary food use for everything you sell.  But, there are probably many more ways that your products could be used, and the more ways that a customer can use your products – the more products they might purchase.

You might have noticed this strategy on packages of products you buy for your own household or in magazine advertisements.  For example:

• A well-know brand of an instant coffee drink suggests using the powder as a creamer in other drinks.
• “Gourmet” jars of peanut butter suggest uses that go well beyond sandwiches.   Peanut butter is a perfect ingredient for Thai food, African peanut stew, and what would be better than a peanut butter and chocolate s’more (though expect it to be a bit more “gooey”)?  
• Cereals are no longer just from breakfast - they can be used in casseroles, as breading for meats, and so much more.  
• Maybe your soy sauce bottle has been in your pantry or fridge for quite a while and only gets used to flavor rice?  A more prominent soy sauce company developed magazines and online ads with Thanksgiving meal recipes that listed their product as one of the ingredients. 
  
  
  

Of course some of these ideas are not new and novel; and consumers probably have a similar recipe already saved.  But, many times consumers need to be reminded about the multiple uses that a product can provide, or the recipe needs to be promoted at the right time of the year.  Might the turkey basting recipe appeal to consumers during the summer?  Maybe or maybe not, but when a consumer (who is not a vegetarian/vegan or one who doesn’t like turkey) thinks about the meal they will have on Thanksgiving, a majority think of turkey and how to give it flavor and keep the meat moist.  Soy sauce, apparently, can do just that.  

So, how many different ways can a consumer use fresh produce and value-added products you sell?  A search on recipe websites, review of any recipes you may have provided customers in the past, or just brainstorming can provide a fair number of ideas.  Another approach is to look at more traditional recipes and substitute one or two of the ingredients listed with your products to change the flavor, texture, or other attribute. 

Once your list of ideas is complete, think about the timing of when you should promote them on your website, via social media, in newsletters, and using in-store signage.

Next week I will take about a couple of other ways that can increase consumer purchasing.

Red, Green, Brown? What Colors Mean for Packaging

by Sarah Cornelisse, Sr. Extension Associate

If you send someone to the store to purchase something for you, how do you describe the product to them?  Brand name, size or shape of package, color?  Color is a critical design component for packaging.  Different colors elicit different meanings, feelings, perceptions on the part of the viewer.  "Color communicates psychologically by creating a mental association.  This mental association with color is what determines an individual's perception of an object or its surroundings" (Climchuk & Krasovec, Packaging Design: Successful Product Branding from Concept to Shelf).

Source: taitfarmfoods.com

When is comes to food products, color is widely used to illustrate flavors in food products.  We see this exemplified in the image to the left.  Each product, while having the same basic label, is differentiated by the use of a color meant to represent the flavor of the jam/preserve.

Since consumers rely heavily on color to identify products and make purchasing decisions, you should invest considerable effort to determining the color scheme that best and most effectively conveys and elicits the perceptions you intend.  Let's talk about what different colors can mean, or feelings that can be associated with them.

Do Bob's overalls make you hungry?

Red. Red can be associated with numerous meaning or feelings; heat, aggression, danger (Stop signs/light, anyone?), excitement, power, and love (it is the dominant Valentine's Day color!) are just some.  When associated with food, the color red has also been shown to increase appetite, hence the reason it is widely utilized in the fast food industry.

Orange. Falling between red and yellow, orange combines some of the associations from both those colors.  Feeling conveyed via orange include cheerfulness, energy,  and enthusiasm.  Orange can also be seen as a commanding color, as seen by it's use by road crew workers, so it can be useful as an accent color to draw attention.

Yellow.  Yellow is generally perceived as a positive color, conveying happiness, optimism, warmth, and wholesomeness. 

Green.  Green is increasingly being used on food packaging to denote healthiness since the color is closely associated with nature and the environment.  Compare the use of green in the two images below.  In the image on the left, we see very little use of green, while in the image on the right, Smuckers has replaced the traditional flavor-related color on the lid with green, in addition to incorporating a green background scene, in their effort to highlight the "natural" designation of that product line.

Source: Smuckers.com

Source: Smuckers.com

Blue.  Though not heavily used in food packaging (except for maybe skim milk and fat-free products), blue is the most popular color in the U.S.  Blue is often seen as a calm, cool, relaxing color, but may also denote sadness or solitude.  It is also a color that represents authority, dignity, and wisdom - think of blue suits worn by professionals. 

Purple.  Historically a difficult color to obtain naturally, purple is often associated with royalty, luxury, spirituality, and bravery.  Shades of purple are often used to denote berry flavors in food products.

Brown.  Like green, brown is also often identified with the earth and nature.  It's no wonder we see many products that want to be recognized as natural, organic, healthy, and the like, use these two colors in their packaging or labeling designs.

Source: deandeluca.com

Black.  Tuxedos, black tie and tails, black pearls...items that symbolize power, wealth, sophistication.  Black is often seen as a reliable color to indicate luxury or high-quality items.  The ice cream in the image to the right most likely would be viewed (from just the packaging) as being higher quality than your typical store brand ice cream.

As noted by the authors of Packaging Design, using black in packaging can enhance the use of other colors, making those colors "pop" out to the consumer.

White.  The last color we'll cover, white, is one that can easily work for you or against you.  Often symbolizing cleanliness, quietness, purity, or freshness, it can also come across as nondescript and generic.  If you're considering white for your primary package or label color, you may want to take into account how often you think the product will be handled or where it will be stored/located.  The last thing you want is for your product to appear dingy or dirty to the consumer.

For more information regarding color check out these resources:

• The Color Association of the United States
• Color Marketing Group

What Purpose Does Packaging Serve?

Take a minute to think about the last packaged product you purchased.  Was there anything about the package that drew you to it?  Perhaps the size, shape, color, or story about the business on the label?  Or, perhaps you prefer glass to plastic.  I know that when I'm traveling and stop for a snack, I'm usually looking for something in a resealable package (I don't want my snack getting loose in my bag or car, after all!).

I look for resealable packages,
like this one, when traveling.

When it comes to a package, it serves four principal functions:

• Containment - Obviously, with multi-item products, such as my M&Ms, they need to be contained in some fashion.  As do food products such as juices, jams, sauces, etc.
• Protection - There are many reasons we want our food products protected through the use of packaging - protection from the elements, from possible tampering, from shock, vibration, etc.  Packaging helps to ensure that food items are in the same condition when the consumer purchases it as it was when produced.
• Information - Packaging serves as a convenient place to provide a variety of information to the consumer about the product itself, as well as the company that produces it.  Information can range from legal requirements, such as nutritional information and ingredients, to stories about the company background or founders.  Product packaging also conveys information in the form of "trade dress," or the set of visual characteristics that help the consumer identify products from the competition.
• Utility of Use - Let's face it, packaging makes life easier when it comes to using the product, whether it be pouring, dipping, or storing the item.  The right package can make a big difference.

However, packaging also helps with the mental placement of a product in peoples' minds.  I saw this quote in the book Successful Food Packaging Design and wanted to share it:

"Packaging is people's perception of the brand; it's that core....When people think of your product - whatever kind of food it may be - they picture the package it comes in" (Mark Greene, Pecos Design)

Every mix of packaging material(s), color(s), size, and other characteristics sends unspoken messages to your customers about your product.  I'll discuss some of these elements in coming posts.  However, food entrepreneurs should first be concerned about these four functional aspects of packaging.