Research On The Influence Of Product-background Color Combination On Consumer Purchase Intention

Color is one of the most vital visual elements that affects product evaluation,with62-90% of consumer decisions solely determined by color.The existing studies tend to focus only on product color or background color,with less research on the combination of product and background color.In addition,product color and background color appear together in real life,and each plays an essential role.However,there is no research that has investigated the influence of product-background saturation combinations on consumer purchase decisions and the underlying mechanisms.Based on this,three experiments were designed in this study to investigate the influence path and mechanism using both behavioral and EEG experimental methods.Experiment I explored the difference in perceived heaviness of color patches in high versus low saturation backgrounds using a behavioral experimental method,in terms of simultaneous contrast in color saturation.Following this,Experiment II explored the influence of the interaction effect of product-background saturation combination and product type on consumers’ purchase intention with a behavioral experimental method and revealed the mediating role of perceived heaviness.Furthermore,Experiment III investigated the neural mechanisms during the influence of product-background saturation combination and product type on consumers’ decision making from the perspective of decision neuroscience using event-related potentials(ERPs).The findings and innovations of this study are as follows.(1)The simultaneous contrast of color saturation induced a difference in perceived heaviness.Specifically,for the same color patch,placing it against a low-saturation background made the color patch appear heavier,while placing it against a high-saturation background made the color patch appear lighter.This finding firstly extends the study of simultaneous contrast of color saturation and relates it to the physical properties(heaviness)of objects.(2)The interaction between product-background color combination and product type influenced consumers’ purchase intention and was mediated by perceived heaviness.Specifically,for heaviness-positive attributes,a low-saturation background increases consumers’ purchase intentions compared to a high-saturation background,while for heaviness-negative attributes,there is no significant difference between the high-and low-saturation background conditions.Of these,perceived heaviness fully mediates the effect of both on consumer purchase intentions.This study assigns color saturation combinations to both product-background vehicles for research,complementing and improving the theoretical system of color marketing.(3)The neural mechanism by which product-background color combinations and product type jointly influence consumer decision processes can be responded to by N2 and P3 components.Specifically,for heaviness-positive attribute products,a low-saturation background makes the product look heavier and more in line with consumers’ purchase expectations compared to a high-saturation background,thus eliciting less conflict(smaller N2 component)and greater decision confidence(larger P3 component),further enhancing purchase rates.For heaviness-negative attribute products,the results are reversed.To summarize,this study used a combination of traditional behavioral experiments and EEG experiments to comprehensively investigate the effects of the interaction between product-background saturation combinations and product type on consumer decision-making behavior from the perspectives of consumers’ subjective reports and objective physiological responses.The findings of the study provide some implications for online merchants to formulate reasonable marketing strategies.