The power of symbolic packaging cues

Packaging can be considered as an element of communication in the marketplace. By communicating through packaging, marketers are able to appeal to consumers at the most crucial moment in the consumer decision journey: the point of sale. At the point of sale, consumers are able to consider the purchase of a product by evaluating the visual and tactile attributes of its packaging. Marketers increasingly become aware of the powerful role of packaging as a communication tool, which is reflected in the recognition of the capacity of packaging to create product differentiation and identity within product categories that are relatively homogenous, such as FMCG goods (Bertrand, 2002; Underwood, 2003).