The Role of Design in Consumer Behaviour: How Design Can Influence Consumer Decision Making at a Point of Purchase

Abstract

Numerous disciplines are attempting to discover how consumers behave at a point of purchase (POP). One factor that is significant to the development of the content behind what influences consumers’ behaviour is design. Existing design and brand research will be explored; this literature review reveals that these traditional research methods do not produce the intended target behaviour. New forms of research that provide an interdisciplinary approach, such as the Design with Intent Method (DWI Method), Neuromarketing, emotional design or sensory design applications, may allow for more authentic results to help influence consumer behavior. If designers can design with the intent to change consumer behavior using more genuine methods of research, then behavior can be influenced and predicted. By exploring numerous examples of how design has provoked emotion and influenced consumer behavior, this literature review suggests that design influences consumer decision making at the point of purchase.