Listen to part of a lecture from a business class.
(female professor) When consumers are buying a product, most of the time they're not buying just the product itself, they're also buying the container the product comes in. So the design of the container is very important. It can be the deciding factor when consumers are trying to decide which brand of the product to buy. So, let's talk about a couple of ways product containers can be designed to appeal to consumers.One important design goal is to make the container as user-friendly as possible, as convenient to use as possible. Take, for example, when companies started using plastic containers for condiments such as ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise. In the past, these products came in glass containers with lids you had to screw off. And then you had to either pour the ketchup or mustard on your food which could be messy or scoop it out with spoon. But flexible plastic containers were much more convenient to use and so they were more attractive to consumers. You just held the container over your food, gave it a little squeeze and out came the ketchup or mustard, uh, much faster and easier than having to remove a lid first. Another important design goal is to give the container a pleasing appearance so that consumers will feel comfortable displaying it in their homes. Take, for example, a company that sells cookies. Instead of selling their cookies in a plain cardboard box, they might sell them in a nice metal box. And they might decorate that nice metal box with beautiful pictures of some kind. That way when consumers present the cookies to guests, for example, they look nice, they look classic. Attractive containers like that can make a product much more appealing to consumers."
Using the examples from the talk, explain two ways that a product’s container can be designed to appeal to consumers.
The first way is to make the container as user-friendly/convenient as possible. For example, condiments like ketchup used to come in glass containers with lids that people had to screw off first and also needed to pour them down or to use a spoon to get them out, which often caused a mess. The companies replaced the glass container with plastic ones so that customers can get their ketchup or mustard out with just a squeeze. As a result，condiments in plastic containers are much more popular. Another way is to make the container look nicer. For example, cookie companies contain their products in metal boxes with beautiful pictures rather than in plain paper boxes, because in this way they look nicer. And the customers will therefore, be more attracted by the cookies because they'll feel more comfortable while presenting the cookies to their guests at home. (145 words)
