The conditional enjoyment-enhancing effect of shipping box aesthetics

Online retailers increasingly use aesthetically appealing shipping boxes to deliver products to their customers. However, little is known about the potential effects of delivering products in aesthetically appealing shipping boxes on customer responses. This study applies the Affective Expectations Model to propose that the effect of shipping box aesthetics on customer responses depends on customers' expectations. Three experiments provide evidence that delivering products in aesthetically appealing shipping boxes can increase customers' loyalty intentions and that the effect is driven by enjoyment of the product delivery experience. The authors further find that the enjoyment-enhancing effect of shipping box aesthetics manifests when customers purchase products from a value online retailer, when they purchase functional products, and when the delivered product matches the description on the retailer's website. The effect diminishes when customers purchase products from a luxury online retailer and when they purchase hedonic products. The effect reverses when the delivered product does not match the description on the retailer's website. These findings contribute to the packaging, e-commerce, and customer experience literature and provide actionable implications for online retailers.