Seeking the Ideal Form: Product Design and Consumer Response

TLDR

Product form is a key determinant of market success, attracting consumers, communicating value, and enhancing usage experience, yet it remains underexplored in marketing literature. The paper proposes a conceptual model linking product form to consumers’ psychological and behavioral responses to stimulate research on design. The author outlines strategic implications and future research directions following the model.

Abstract

The physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success. A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the product by increasing the quality of the usage experiences associated with it. Nevertheless, the topic of product design is rarely, if ever, encountered in marketing journals. To bring needed attention to the subject of product design and enable researchers to better investigate design issues, the author introduces a conceptual model and several propositions that describe how the form of a product relates to consumers’ psychological and behavioral responses. After presenting this model, the author describes numerous strategic implications and research directions.