Packaging impact on consumer experience: voice of the E-customer

With the growth of e-commerce, understanding the nuances of packaging performance and consumer expectations has become essential to enhancing the customer experience. In e-commerce, packaging is a key component of the overall consumer experience, directly influencing perceptions and expectations. Despite its importance, packaging often remains overlooked and is significantly understudied. This exploratory study aims to bridge the gap by investigating the impact of packaging on consumer experience, using text mining techniques to analyse online consumer reviews. Drawing from a comprehensive dataset of Amazon reviews spanning from 1995 to 2016, the study identifies key packaging facets that influence consumer perceptions, including quality, aesthetics, and protection. The findings demonstrate that positive packaging experiences are associated with higher consumer ratings, enhancing the overall shopping experience. In contrast, negative packaging experiences, such as damage or poor design, have a disproportionately large impact, often leading to significantly lower ratings. The study also reveals that packaging failures tend to drive consumer dissatisfaction more than positive experiences drive satisfaction, highlighting the greater weight of negative experiences. Additionally, the research identifies nine distinct facets of the packaging experience, each contributing to the consumer's cognitive, emotional, and sensorial evaluations. When executed well, these facets serve as latent differentiators that support positive consumer experiences. This study provides an initial framework for businesses to improve packaging design, aligning it more closely with consumer expectations and reducing negative experiences. By enhancing the design and functionality of packaging, businesses can improve customer experience and influence purchasing decisions, underscoring the strategic role of packaging in e-commerce.