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Introduction
Product design is a critical factor of new product success, especially because technological and manufacturing innovations have made it challenging for consumers to differentiate between products based on features and quality (Hoyer and Stokburger-Sauer, 2012; Veryzer, 1995). Good design can differentiate products by attracting consumers’ attention, communicating information, and adding optical value (Bloch, 1995; Di Benedetto, 2012). So important is design, in fact, that it has been established as one of the most important antecedents to new product success (Bloch, 1995; Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1988). The value of design is not lost on marketing managers, of whom 60 percent consider design the most important determinant of new product performance (Bloch, 1995; Bruce and Whitehead, 1988). Multinational companies including Samsung, P&G, and Whirlpool leverage design as a competitive tool to gain market share (Fast Company, 2007). Design is thus an important influencer of consumers’ product evaluations and managers’ prediction of success. This research therefore examines the relationship between design and consumers’ willingness to purchase.
The design literature suggests that product design includes two intertwined dimensions: form and function (Khalid and Helander, 2004; Norman, 1998, 2004). Design form represents “a number of elements chosen and blended into a whole by the design team to achieve particular sensory effects” (Bloch, 1995, p. 16); it is the appearance and shape of a product. Function-based design refers to how a product works. It is characterized by benefits associated with the product and features that provide utility (Bloch, 1995; Luchs and Swan, 2011; Norman, 2004).
The centrality of design in marketing is well-established (see Bloch, 1995), and several empirical studies have examined how product design affects customers’ product perceptions (Dahl et al., 1999; Page and Herr, 2002; Veryzer and Hutchinson, 1998). Good design can attract consumers to a product, communicate benefits, and add value by enhancing the product usage experience (Bloch, 1995). Though marketers recognize the importance of design, the interplay of form and functional design in the context of innovation remains under-researched (see Chitturi et al., 2007; Mugge and Dahl, 2013 as exceptions) and marketing literature has paid limited attention to form-based design. By contrast, the design literature suggests that product design is intertwined with both form and functional design dimensions (Khalid and Helander, 2004;...