Understanding Color in Retail

UNDERSTANDING COLOR IN RETAIL: 3 Ways to Attract

Consumers The influence of color on our daily choices is undeniable. Understanding the role and importance of color in 1 the world of consumers and how Maintain consistent color is shaping the future of brands and packaging helps us to better color and identity understand, attract, and connect to our ideal customers. Each shade resonates with consumers at a unique level. In the To understand the use of color in world of branding, the use of color retail, we need to know how the retail improves brand recognition and experience impacts the consumer and customers make a subconscious how the current spectrum of color assessment about brands within came into being. 90-seconds of initial viewing. In the past, fewer products and International brands such as packaging types meant there were Coca-Cola, Pepsi & Cadbury have fewer colors to play with on the made their mark in the industry by packaging. As competition steadily maintaining a consistent brand color increased, there was an eruption of throughout all the brand marketing brands, resulting in availability of collateral, from logo to OOH wide range of similar products in each advertisements. category. The competition for brand identification expanded the color According to a survey conducted palette, bringing more colors to the by Reboot, color increases brand retail store. recognition by 80%, which is reciprocated by many influential Below, we’ve outlined three ways to brands. In the instance of Coca-Cola ensure the colors used in packaging and Pepsi, both brands produce the are relevant to consumers. same product. But only when the product is packaged under the respective brand color, consumers automatically recall the brand. Brand recognition retains the memory in brain and subconsciously that brand now becomes a personal preference when a customer is making a repeat purchase.

2

Adapt to geographical locations and culture

85% of grocery shoppers cite color as their primary reason for buying a particular product; therefore brands must follow their color palette to maintain a consistent brand perception. Color is the cue that is used by the brain to help identify and make predictions about the products such as taste and flavor.

Color creates a psychological expectation or associates a particular flavor with a specific packaging color.

STEVE JACKSON

Managing Director SGK AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

For instance, in the APAC region, a yellow bag of chips is immediately associated with cheese flavor, while the pink cultured bag is associated with salt and vinegar flavor.

However, packaging colors are also influenced by the brand’s target geographical location and culture, giving rise to different expectations. Taking chips pack as an example again, while the pink colored bag of chips is generally associated with salt and vinegar flavor in APAC, it is linked to prawn cocktail flavor in the UK. The difference of flavor for the packaging of the same color reflects the nature of the individual market’s recognized palette.

3

Create emotional connections with taste perceptions

Color can both mirror and influence our emotions. It can affect how shoppers feel about a product or brand. Brand color can evoke strong emotional associations and also influence taste perceptions. We are often triggered to imagine the taste of the food before our taste buds get a chance. This can predetermine how we will perceive the taste and flavor of the product to be.

In the case of 7UP, customers reported an expected lemon & lime taste for the regular 7UP packaging. Upon enhancing the color of the packaging by adding 15% more yellow to the green on the 7UP packaging, consumers reported that it has a stronger lemon & lime flavor before the drink is tasted. Modifying the color on packaging impacts the perception and can psychologically influence customers to perceive its taste differently.

Evolving customers and their needs spills over to the type of colors used by brands. Now more than ever, color is heavily influenced by the lifestyle, gender, culture, social interaction, social channels, globally trending issues and personal interests.

Color palettes are gaining more extensive vocabulary to match the growing needs of consumers. It is paramount for brands to maximize colors to create an impact and help the shoppers to locate them, simplify customers’ choice, be distinguishable amongst other brands and educate customers with the right brand messaging.

Steve Jackson

Steve has been with SGK since 2003, moving to Australia in 2012. He has wealth of experience working with global, regional and local brands from Coca-Cola, Mars, GSK, Nestle, Kraft Heinz, Mondelez and Woolworths to name a few. Steve leads the SGK Australia and New Zealand business based in Sydney and Melbourne.