The authors identify and examine the effect of space-to-product ratio on consumer response; very generally, consumers perceive products as more valuable when more space is devoted to their display. In both lab and field studies, the authors find that this phenomenon influences total sales, purchase likelihood, and even perceived product experience (taste perceptions). More interstitial space increases perceptions of individual products as more aesthetically pleasing and the store as more prestigious. The authors find these effects across a variety of product categories and rule out a number of competing alternative explanations that are based on perceptions of product popularity, scarcity, assortment search difficulty, and messiness.

Abstract Just as good looks bestow an unconscious “beauty premium” on people, high aesthetics bestows an unrecognized benefit on consumer goods. Specifically, choosing a product with good design affirms the consumer’s sense of self. Choice of a highly aesthetic product was compared with choice of products superior on other attributes including function, brand, and hedonics to show that only aesthetics influences a consumer’s personal values. In study 1 a prior self-affirming task leads to a decrease in choice share of a highly aesthetic option. Studies 2 and 3 mimic prior research on self-affirmation with, however, choice of a highly aesthetic product replacing a traditional self-affirmation manipulation. Choosing a product with good design resulted in increased openness to counter-attitudinal arguments and reduced propensity to escalate commitment toward a failing course of action. There are numerous implications of this form of self-affirmation, from public policy to retail therapy.

AbstractWe observe the influence of aesthetic design on consumer behavior involving financial products—an area where financial decision‐makers say they do not take aesthetics into account. In a series of three studies we find that the look of a document in hypothetical investment decisions impacts stock valuation and behavior in some but not all situations. Specifically, our results show that calling attention to the influence of design on behavior moderates the effect, including the paradoxical finding that the effect of design is attenuated when investments involve entities for which aesthetics is of intrinsic value.

Manufacturers and online retailers are readily availing themselves of new technologies to present their merchandise using a variety of formats, including static (still image) and dynamic (video) portrayal. Building on vividness theory, the authors propose and demonstrate that presenting products and services using a dynamic visual format enhances consumer preference for hedonic options and willingness to pay for those options. The dynamic presentation format increases involvement with the product/service experience in a manner presumably similar to that of the actual product experience. The result is an increased preference for and valuation of hedonic options. This holds true for experiential and search products in single and joint evaluations and carries over to subsequent choices. Across all studies, the results demonstrate that a dynamic (relative to static) presentation format enhances choice of the hedonically superior (vs. utilitarian-superior) option by more than 79%.