2.4 The product

2.4.1 Packaging and positioning of a product.

• gift-wrapping including beliefs of giver and recipient: why gifts are wrapped, types of wrapping.
• food package design (exemplified by the following key study).
• Key study on food package design and taste perceptions: Becker et al. (2011).
• attention and shelf position including planograms; central gaze cascade effect, use of eye-tracking, including a study, e.g. Atalay et al. (2012).

This matters because —packaging and positioning of a product determines what can be inferred or chosen; begin with the stated conditions and keep the conclusion tied to the evidence.

Example: apply —packaging and positioning of a product to one small, clearly defined case, show the key step or comparison, and explain the result in words.

Boundary: —Packaging and positioning of a product is not a universal recommendation. Check the syllabus scope, assumptions, units and the limits of the evidence before generalising.

2.4.2 Selling the product.

• sales techniques focusing on customer-focused, competitor-focused, product-focused techniques including effect of each on buyer-seller relationship.
• interpersonal influence techniques; focusing on disrupt-then-reframe including the need for cognitive closure and factors affecting the need for cognitive closure, including a study, e.g. Kardes et al. (2007).
• Cialdini's six ways to close a sale.
• Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: application to everyday life, cultural differences, determinism versus free-will, idiographic versus nomothetic, field experiments.

This matters because —selling the product determines what can be inferred or chosen; begin with the stated conditions and keep the conclusion tied to the evidence.

Example: apply —selling the product to one small, clearly defined case, show the key step or comparison, and explain the result in words.

Boundary: —Selling the product is not a universal recommendation. Check the syllabus scope, assumptions, units and the limits of the evidence before generalising.

2.4.3 Buying the product.

• the Engel Kollat Blackwell model of buyer decision-making.
• deciding where to buy including reasons for store choice by demographics such as age and gender, including a study, e.g. Sinha et al. (2002).
• post-purchase cognitive dissonance including factors that can increase dissonance and ways to reduce dissonance, including a study, e.g. Nordvall (2014).
• Relevant issues and debates and methodology for this topic include: cultural differences, reductionism versus holism, idiographic versus nomothetic, objective and subjective data, validity.

This matters because —buying the product determines what can be inferred or chosen; begin with the stated conditions and keep the conclusion tied to the evidence.

Example: apply —buying the product to one small, clearly defined case, show the key step or comparison, and explain the result in words.

Boundary: —Buying the product is not a universal recommendation. Check the syllabus scope, assumptions, units and the limits of the evidence before generalising.