Exploring Types and Characteristics of Product Forms
Wen-chih Chang, Tyan Yu Wu

Abstract


Incorporating emotional value into products has become an essential strategy for increasing a product’s competitive edge in the consumer market. It is therefore important for product manufacturers to understand how products affect consumers’ emotions. This study investigated the types and characteristics of houshold products which elicited pleasurable responses. The result of this study could suggest the dimensions to consider for developing pleasurable products towards young generational market.
An in-depth interview was conducted to collect the responses of pleasurable feelings from 30 participants. From 262 images, 19 were extracted as stimuli for the interviews. Data analysis was used to group key sentences obtained from the responses and the results produced 14 characteristics which could be categorized into five types of pleasurable forms: Aesthetic, Bios, Cultural, Novelty and Ideo. Among them, the responses related to Aesthetic and Bios forms were mentioned most frequently and could elicit a consumer’s pleasure. Moreover, it was found that Hi-tech products tended to highlight the characteristics related to Aesthetic type of pleasurable form, and kitchen appliances to Bios and Cultural forms.

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