How Colors Affect Your Customers’ Buying Habits

Today’s savvy retailers know that many customers can be persuaded to buy a product at the store (or online), even if they came to purchase an entirely different product. The undeniable fact is that impulse buys make up nearly 75 percent of today’s consumer spending. These “unscheduled buys” have many motivators.

A buyer’s “first impression” reaction to a product—be it a video, POP or model handing out samples—arises out of the visual cues being presented.  And one of the most powerful cues is color. 

Yes, color trends change along with packaging designs, but there are certain basics of color psychology that remain unchanged. A KISSmetrics infographic details how color psychology can influence your buyers’ purchases. 

If you’re introducing a new product, you should be aware that consumers regard color as extremely important—far more than texture—in the decision to buy. Color also supports your brand. In the US, colors create specific reactions in buyers. For example, blue engenders trust, which is why banks and financial institutions use it in their products and logos. Red, on the other hand, quickens the pulse and creates an urgency to buy, which is why you’ll see this color in discount stores and sales banners.

Color can also be used to attract different types of shoppers. For example, red, black and royal blue will draw impulse shoppers; whereas budget-minded shoppers will be “moved to purchase” by Navy blue or teal. Women’s clothing stores will often use rose, pink and sky blue to pull in customers.

Sometimes you can attract attention and go against the grain buy using unexpected colors to package a product.   Take the original Reach Toothbrush. It was the first and only toothbrush packed in a black box. Marketers overcame initial objections to black (it being associated with death) and realized that the color would stand out against the sea of blue and white that made up the toothbrush sections in drug and grocery stores. The gamble worked and Reach became America’s number 2 toothbrush, with double-digit “out-of-stocks.” And who can forget the iPhone’s introductory box? The black background created a strikingly graphic contrast to the device’s silver outline and multi-colored apps. 

So what are the hot colors that will boost sales in 2012 and 2013? Pantone Color Institute’s Executive Director Leatrice “Lee” Eiseman recently addressed the 2012 International Home + Housewares Show. There, she told the audience that “Fantasies and Realities” is the theme that will take center stage in 2013. She noted that retailers who want to boost sales will need to infuse a little “magic” in the marketplace, and use color palettes that will “coax and cajole,” “soothe and astonish,” “renew and replenish.” She added that today’s consumers want colors “that can be relied upon in unsteady times because of their steadying influence.”

Want to boost sales in this down economy? Perhaps it’s time to “think outside the box” about the colors you’ll be using for your products, online ads and POP displays.