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How dose product design contributes to the brand
value perceived by targeted consumers?
Dong Mi
MA Design Management 2012
Module: Research Methods for Practice
Module co-ordinator: Qian Sun
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Content
Abstract......................................................................................................................................3
Introduction............................................................................................................................3
Introduction to MUJI........................................................................................................4
Research Objections.........................................................................................................6
Literature Review...............................................................................................................6
Methodology...........................................................................................................................9
Result.........................................................................................................................................12
Discussion..............................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................17
Project Assessment........................................................................................................18
Reference...............................................................................................................................19
Appendix................................................................................................................................24
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How dose product design contributes to the brand
value perceived by targeted consumers?
Abstract
With corporate developing and increasing global competition, product design has become one of backbones to a brand. Good product design is playing a necessary
role in and contributes to the brand. Furthermore, to build a successful brand value, product design should be paid attention, which not only has clear function and attractive form; but also is related to the consumers’ perceptions and market
requirements. The relationship between the brand value and product design and those elements impact on target consumers’ perceptions have been the research report in Design Management. The main purpose of this research project is to
identify the different approaches that product design influences the brand value and consumer’s perceptions. The research project chose MUJI as a case study. Using interview as a methodology tried to identify the information hiding behind
the consumers’ behavior. The participants for the study were from different background, aged between 20 and 35, with or without income. All the participants were asked to answer the interview questions and explained why
they liked MUJI and their opinions to the items they have bought. The information and data collected by note or record. Results were compiled using qualitative research analysis method and displayed in text. The result pointed out
that a positive correlation between product design and brand value does exist. Product design is playing an important role in brand developing and is benefit to the brand value. What’s more, there is other factor affecting the brand value.
Keywords: product design, consumer’ perception, design management, brand value
Introduction
With intensely competition among all the brands, “brand value” serves as a key
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component of competitive advantage and companies can use as a main source of a future earnings (Artur et. 2003). As Artur describes the brand equity has a
positive impact on providing value to the consumers and to the companies. If a brand is with a strong value, this brand would be forced to improve new products and serves as a reminder in next purchases. Aaker (1991, p.17) claims that brand
value comprise brand associations, perceived quality, brand awareness and other assets. A company with higher brand associations would be considered and paid attention by more consumers. The entire things that consumer affiliate to a
brand, for example, their memories can define the brand association (Aaker, 1991). The development of products design will impact on consumers’ attitude to a brand which can become an important aspect of brand associations. A
successful product could be appreciated and recognized by the consumers and match consumers’ perceptions. Thus, the products is represented the brand, which is served as a significant factor influencing brand value. In other words,
from a corporate strategy aspect, product design is not only a fundamental element to brand associations, but also the key to increase the value of brand. The relationship between product design and brand value and how does value
design impact on the consumers’ perceptions has been reported in a number of studies in the field of brand management (e.g. Knowledge identification and management in product design, 2006; Journal of Product & Brand Management,
2010; Design driven innovation: Uncovering design success lessons, 2008). Based on previous researches, this study aims to investigate what the target
consumers considered about the interaction between product design and brand value. To explore this issue objectively, a real case offered a deeper understanding. This study chose MUJI and its products to uncover the attributes
of product design that impact brand value by interviewed people who have bought products in MUJI. The purpose of this research is intended to provide an idea to companies, that how to use product design as a strategy to increase brand
value when they want to dominate particular market segments.
Introduction to MUJI
MUJI (無印良品 Mujirushi Ryohin) is a well known Japanese corporate which
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sells a wide variety of consumer and household goods. The MUJI name is derived from the name Mujirushi Ryohin, translated as “No Brand Quality Goods”, as
shown in figure 1. MUJI’s initial slogan, “Lower Priced for a Reason” (MUJI holding AG, 2012), is positioned by a simplicity of items’ packaging, streamlining the manufacturing processes and careful selection of materials. There are more
than 7,000 items sold in MUJI shops from 1980. Its catalog ranges from stationery, clothes for man and woman, furniture, food items and even electronics. With the initial MUJI concept, all the products are high quality, but
low cost than usual prices. What’s more, MUJI is dedicated to trade on fair, recycling and sustainability.
Figure 1
MUJI is using “no-brand” as a market strategy. It means MUJI is paying more attention to its products which attract consumers who prefer pure aesthetic and no-brand products (Martin, 2005). Offering a simple shopping experience to
consumers, rather than spend money on classical marketing and advertisement make MUJI become a more successful brand.
According to Ryohin (2009), “MUJI’s natural and simple design proposes and its rational lifestyle for today’s world”. All the MUJI products share something in common, like using simple color, avoiding useless pattern and details and lack of
splash. All the products are wrapped in simple and clear packaging forms with brown paper labels which describe the price and fundamental product information. During the debate process of quality and function, MUJI’s pure and
fresh products could be regard as an outcome of product development. What’s more, products of MUJI do not designed by few individual designers. There are many famous international designers working with MUJI, which makes MUJI
more multicultural and friendly.
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Research Objectives
The research aims to explore what feedback targeted consumers give to MUJI’s products and the brand. There are three precise objectives I intend to study:
1. What contribute to MUJI’s product design 2. How consumer perceive MUJI as a brand 3. The relationship between MUJI design and consumers’ perceptions
As a brand which promotes pleasant products and services, MUJI concentrates on creating products that are practical and fundamental in daily life. Functional and
elegant products are regard as commercial strategy to earn the consumers’ respect and appreciation. The products in MUJI have definite advantages to increase the brand value of MUJI in this competitive market. Those objectives
attempt to investigate how the products offer value and attractiveness from the consumers’ viewpoints; to understand deeply why consumers prefer to buy items in MUJI and what this brand mean to them.
Literature Review
Literature review primarily aims to critically recognize and assess context in relation to research issues (Hart, 2008). There is various and wide literature which relate to the issue of this research. Diversified books and academic
journals mention the value of design, brand associations and design relating to consumers’ perspectives. This literature review seeks to acquire a better understanding about the issue from three major intentions. First, it aims to
emphasize how product design contributes to the company, market and people. Second, it helps to draw attention to understand brand associations and soon after to recognize the relationship between design and consumers’ perceptions.
1) Value of design Product design plays an essential role in a company development, especially the
small one. Design as a cornerstone strategy is relied by most of companies. To the company, design has three targets: to strengthen a positive image, to promote the company’s credibility and to increase the persuasive power of the brand (Peter,
1999). As Yang and Wenjing (2009) pointed out, some companies keep
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competitive and difficult to be replaced because of brand value which has a close connection with design capability. When the company competes with other firms,
good design makes the company be more worthy to be paid attention (Rassam, 1995). The example of FSB Company shows that as a century brand, because of the recession in the building trade, FSB Company was forced to develop a high
and new image and create a new consciousness of its products. FSB Company took five years to improving and redesigning its products, with the systematic implementation of a holistic design development strategy. At last, FSB took up to
leading position on the market. At the same time, it thus moved up to occupy a pole position in the industry. The work paid off: FSB has used design to establish a high profile (Peter, 1999).
As Qiu Yuan, Yoon Ping and Martin (2006) concerned, on one hand, “the knowledge flows of market knowledge need to be identified during the product
design process”. On the other hand, product design will benefit to the market, satiating the requirements of customers and markets. For product designers, market knowledge is making them easy to know the objective. Product design is
seen as a marketing strategy in the view of the employees. Design shows growing importance of product usability, functionality and aesthetics development. At the same time, company’s culture and brand image system constitute the products
which offer a chance to the consumers to understand the brand of a company. People are inspired and influenced by the products around them, perhaps even
more than the cultural. Henry (2004) confirms that good design will rise in the level of public taste and consistently and appealingly express a brand experience to consumers. Design is not only design thinking, according to Eiren and Toni
(2010), but also a creative skill of service and experiencing. Generally, design keeps an eye on users and interaction of products, which represent the brand value. For instance, during the early of 20s’ century, household heating plant
should have to be hidden in a dark basement. Crane Company Sunnyday Boiler is the smallest unit of its type in the world. This product was very simple and designed with lines. Crane Company made household heating appropriate in the
family playroom or even in the first-floor utility area of the home. Mass product which is has created countless benefits through good design which is a
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remarkable rise in the level of public taste. 2) Brand Associations From the internal perspective, brand association is a fundamental element to a brand (Aaker, 1991). Brand association is anything which is deep seated in
customer’s mind about the brand (Management Study Guide, 2012), which can be seen as the attributes of brand. It is related with the explicit and implicit meanings, like a consumer can relate with an explicit brand name.
Business-consumer relationships are determined by the way how consumers perceive brands (Fournier, 1998). Correspondingly, according to Morris (1996), if the present associations cannot be managed, building strong brand perceptions
would be a top priority for many firms, which is valuable for a firm to know about it.
A specific product is recognized within the product category, which can define brand association in a certain extent. As a carry of visual symbol, the product represents the brand directly. Downward and upward product sales are decided
by whether the product design language is unique or not. Product design aims to establish brand recognition which pays substantial attention to process the brand awareness for consumers and product identifications. Due to attractive
design, corporations would increase confidence from feedbacks of consumers and enhance its overall value (Wang et al, 2008).Quality of the product, Products and schemes offered by competitors and Product class/category to which the
brand belong formed brand associations with other six bases (Management Study Guide, 2012). Product positioning of a brand should be formed by the brand’s benefit association and reinforce the important attitude and attribute of
the brand. Desirable, marketable and durable products could offer positive brand associations, which must persuade the consumers that the features and attributes of the brand can satisfy their needs. Then, consumers will be leaded to
have a positive impression about the product. 3) Design Relates to Consumers Perception Consumers evaluate a product or service along several levels. Consumer perception of value, price and quality are regarded as crucial determinants of
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product choice and shopping behavior (Bishop 1984; Doyle 1984; Jacoby and Olson 1985; Sawyer and Dickson 1984; Schlechter 1984). Rungtai and Chia-Ling
(2004) claimed that the product is the most direct medium that connects the designers and the consumers. And through product design, consumers could be influenced and recognize designer’s creativity. A successful innovative product
should have clear target markets, definite functions, and only when the product is accepted by consumers, the product could be commercial successful.
Every corporation has various brands characters, which can be identified from the product that is reflected by consumers’ perceptions and design principle. Those products build a correlation between consumers and brand. Then
consumers would be loyal and faithful to the brand after they know more about it.
In summary, the literature review indicates that the development of product design is influenced by the changing of consumers’ perceptions. In other words, good products design must exceed consumers’ expectations, make them repeat
to purchase items and keep them happy. What’s more, good design can add value to the products and keep products costs down at the same time. With those competitive products, it is possible to the companies to charge higher prices and
position their products apart from other competitors. Design makes positive brand associations and applies the power of the brand, which “encourages customers to trust existing products and to try new ones” (ANON, 2008).
Therefore, design, brand associations and consumers’ perception; these three areas in a contemporary market constitute the triangular relationship of mutual influence.
Methodology
To test the hypothesis, this study used case study and concentrated on one well-know brand ‘MUJI’ which has a specific and unique phenomenon. This brand occurs in a particular instance of design and brand value, which is with a wide
view to providing an in-depth account of events, relationships and experiences. Case study offers an explanation that can deal with subtleties and intricacies of complex life situations. The general can be illuminated by looking at the
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particular Denscombe (2010). I identified the issue and use case study of qualitative approach to address this issue and explore the correlation between
product design and brand value. From terminology aspect, this current proposal should be combined with two
suppositions. One is an ontological supposition. It requires describing a view on the nature of reality. As Schwandt (2000) points out, social actions, cultural norms and conversations construct the ontological reality. On the other hand is
an epistemological supposition. It is argues by positivism that external reality doesn’t rely on the researcher. From an epistemological perspective, people study human reactions and actions in social club (Richard, 2006). To the corporate, a
designed brand and products could be regard as “Ontology”, and consumers’ experiences and the brand value must be “Epistemology”. The current proposal would pay attention to those two suppositions to avoid not only focus on
one-side. As a research strategy, qualitative approach will be used in this project which
would assist me prepare to measure variables hypotheses. Using qualitative approach can demonstrate an unambiguous connection between this case and effect. Guba and Lincoln (1994) said that qualitative research offers an
opportunity either to the researcher or to the individual who the researcher wishes to interview. In addition, a qualitative method is especially skilled at collecting data which deal with issues in detail and in depth. On the contrary, a
quantitative method would not advantage in producing the relevance data, which is not suited this research. Understanding meanings, beliefs and experience can be answered or understood better through qualitative data. This is an effective
method that would be essential to gain useful and practical data. Those data can represent the interpretations or perceptions of participants. As Martyn (1998) stressed qualitative method can study things in detail that quantitative normally
cannot. Interview as one of qualitative research approaches is an attractive method to
collect data for this project. Interview is not equal with a casual conversation which aims to identify understandings about the situation and assumptions
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(Martyn, 1998). According to Aaker (1991) an interview is often better to capture
spontaneous thoughts. I planned to use this qualitative approach to understand
and uncover the consumers’ motivations behind shopping phenomenon. During the researching progress, it is possible to come into contact the point of views of the interviewee. There is a chance to experience the interviewee subjective
realities (Pronterotto, 2002). Interviews can be regarded as a rewarding experience for the interviewee. There is a personal element to the method and this could be benefit to the researchers. They can collect more detailed accounts
from the informant (Martyn, 1998; Miles & Huberman, 1994). Only simple equipment and communicating skills are required by interview. There is no constrained by repertory grids. The interviewee has free to explain their ideas,
describe what they look as the essential factors, and expand their views. It is clear that quantitative method would not be suitable for me to use; it would make my research progress ambiguous and I have to more barriers to deal with.
In addition, quantitative method has an apparent limitation that not allows the interviewees to elucidate their views and ideas in depth. And it is challenging to exploit details to the researchers.
Previous studies explain that consumers’ perceptions of brands were influenced by product design (Gloria, 2009). It was possible to assume that consumers of
MUJI are affected by the products of the brand. Therefore, the researcher planned to choose one case within my interviews: the consumer. By the reason of only one side of the field I would research, this would allow me spend more time
to get aspects in details about the issue at consumer’s perceptions. Small numbers are easier to schedule. It would be wieldy and easy to control (Martyn, 1998).
My objective is to figure it out the potential reasons and to gain more information about the feedback of MUJI. Based on the research objectives and literature
review, all the interview questions were designed from three aspects (design, brand association and consumers’ perceptions) and aimed to find the answer to identify the reasons hidden behind purchase actions. Some questions are quite
open which don’t have an accurate answer in this interview. I didn’t want to force any interviewees, for the reason that personal data and their identities was
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benefit to this research.
The consumers were divided into two categories: age and income. I looked forward to gather accurate and objective data, so that I determined to use equal amount of female and male interviewees. I restricted participators to 20-35 year
olds, as this was a group of subjects that are familiar with MUJI and hold different perspectives to the products. For a qualitative research, I considered the sample size from 10 to 20 that I achieved sufficient meaningful data to analysis. Therefore,
I intended to recruit 12 participators. As Laurel (2003) claims, for qualitative research on feedback, only a small sample size is satisfied. A few participators can generate a large amount of data.
Result
The interview questions are based on three objectives. All of the interviewees have been to MUJI and know this brand. 10 of them have bought at least 1 product from MUJI. 50% interviewees will go to the shop even it is very far away
from the place they are living. Part of them will shop online or they would not go to MUJI specially.
1) What contribute to MUJI's product design? All the interviewees would like to buy products in MUJI. Some of them have
bought a lot of products and the rest bought at least one product. People preferred to buy stationeries, clothes, skincare products and etc. Furniture and electronics are not popular to the interviewees because of the unreasonable
price. In general, there are various factors contribute to the products in MUJI. In this part, I will distinguish different elements influencing product development that can be emerged from two different viewpoints. For a better comprehension,
I explored them from the aspect of consumers and the aspect of products. The reason why consumers bought products from MUJI:
i. Natural and simple design proposes and rational lifestyles ii. The color of the products is simple, mild and soft, as shown in figure 2. The
products don’t look like cheap. All the products are not over colored. They
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look calming and they will never destroy the color pattern of the original environment.
The shape of MUJI products is simple, not many details and very clean. The materials are comfortable, even some of the products are made of plastic.
iii. The products are high quality and humanized, which are worth to buy. The MUJI’s items are more steerable and flexible. Consumers could use the item in their way. For example, like a notebook, the pages are blank. So it is lovely
for doodle or sketch. The cover is blank as well. Consumers can design their own notebook.
To consumers, most of the price in MUJI is reasonable, especially food and stationary. But the price of some products is not cheap to the consumers. Even the price is not very nice; a few interviewees have bought some products because
of the design. Consumers like the product design (shape, color) of MUJI, and they cannot find similar product in other shops.
In MUJI, all the products are under an associative system. In other words, MUJI products share something in common: i. Shape-All products have clean lines and nice proportions; the shape is simple,
concise and so easy to be recognized even without a label. ii. Color-The color is common and simple, using white, grey, beige and black.
People felt calm and cozy when they were using the product.
iii. Material-Use natural materials. MUJI’s items are made of wood, plastic. All the clothes and home accessories are made of cotton.
iv. Usage-The products are functional and practical. They make the life easier
and natural.
Figure 2
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Just as the philosophy of MUJI is “no-brand”. Most interviewees used to buy products from MUJI for the products not only for the brand. At the beginning,
consumers were attracted by the products. Then after a time, they liked the brand. MUJI is paying more attention to its products and offering a simple shopping experience. All of the interviewees thought MUJI prefer to concentrate
on product design and product’ details rather than spend money on classical marketing and advertisement.
2) How consumers perceive MUJI as a brand? The interviewees recognized MUJI is a well know brand. All of them deemed
MUJI presents a kind of attitude-simple, sustainable and clean. 40% interviewees thought MUJI is influenced by the Japanese culture which they recognize or have a crush. Consumers were surprised and satisfied with the little things and details
they found in MUJI. 60% interviewees considered the products were the most part of MUJI. They thought the product is the brand.
Some of them paid their attentions to the designers who are famous and working with MUJI. It is easy to find the profile of designers in the catalog or brochure which made the consumers felt they knew something about the design, and not
only just buy products from MUJI. If some of them had no idea about Japan and eastern culture, they still like MUJI, because of the good designed products.
Label as the mark to a brand, most of the people would like to rip it off after they bought the products. On the contrary, consumers of MUJI would keep the brand label. For the reason that they thought MUJI’s label is nice and looks like a
signature. Every label is suitable to the product and it could be regard as an accessory, as shown in figure 3.
Figure 3
What’s more, target consumers of MUJI have common attitude and value. Most of
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people like design and pay attention to the quality of their life. On one hand, they would like to keep a low profile and share some opinions about MUJI with bosom
friends. On the other hand, they understand the brand natural and they have same attitude to life as MUJI advertising.
3) How MUJI design relates to consumers’ perception? All the interviewees assume the products combine the brand. They thought the
brand “MUJI” is the product. They do not think MUJI need other to identify the brand. The product is the direct method that connects the brand and the consumers. Consumers preferred to buy products in MIJI because of the good
design, not only for the brand. To them, good product design is the most attractive reason why they love MUJI.
Every product consumers have bought is efficient and effective to their needs and perspectives. Those products are easy to use and operate to achieve an expected output. MUJI design has added a function and unseen value to the brand and the
consumers. People recognize with MUJI easily and would be more loyal to the brand.
Discussion
The overall information of this study demonstrates that from consumers’ viewpoints, there is a correlation between product design and brand value.
According to the overall information participators offered, product design does influence brand value. Through this investigation, product design determines consumer behavior, although this is not a universal phenomenon. Comparing the
two groups (income or without income), the data showed no matter how much money they earned, people attracted by the product and would like to buy. People with income have bought some products even the price is not reasonable
to them. However, some products showed a very weak feedback, like bath tower and some products showed a moderate positive feedback, like food and stationery. Participators identified “no-brand”-the design philosophy of MUJI,
which formed a series of product styles. They preferred the MUJI products better
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than the brand, as the products represented the brand and more attractive to consumers. Then, after a time, participators fancy this brand and begun to try
more products. On the contrary, participators thought classical marketing and advertisement were not an important strategy to MUJI.
The results indicate that good product design is contribute to a brand and can enhance the brand value. There are several reasons for this. The most apparent explanation is that the products in MUJI are humanization and participators liked
the sustainable and simple attitude MUJI presents. Some respondents spontaneously commented that a lot of details and little things could be found during using the product, which made users surprised and satisfied. MUJI
provided high quality products with affordable price in current market. One participator spontaneously commented that she fancied a MUJI fragrance diffuser for a long time which she could not find an attractive and high quality fragrance
diffuser like this. During this research, all the participators with different nationalities have
dissimilar necessities and requirements. They liked MUJI products and thought the items are more effective and flexible to use. It was uncomplicated to know how to manipulate the products without a specification and use in their own
ways. What’s more, the participators shared common attitude and value to design of MUJI and their life. The products of MUJI influence the level of public taste and stand for simple life style, which catch the attention of consumers.
This is consistent with the study of Peter (1999) also looked at the advantages of design to a brand and a company. He demonstrated design can increase brand
value and make a brand strong, showing example of several companies which used design to establish high profiles. Design keeps an eye on users and interaction of products, which represent the brand value (Eiren and Toni, 2010).
In terms of the consumer, products in MUJI are more attractive. Because with the high quality the products look like not cheap and more structured. All the products under unified system use the mild color and simple shapes. MUJI as a
brand is designable and paid attention. For instance, part of the products in MUJI used plastic as materials which people do not prefer because of unsustainable
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and low quality. However, comparing with other plastic products, participators pointed out better design capability made MUJI’s plastic products keep
competitive and popular. And participators thought the products are hard to be replaced (Yang and Wenjing, 2009).
Almost consumers would create a perception of product’s function when they attracted by the appearance. Subsequently, consumers might doubt and give negative information about function (Heogg and Alba, 2011). However, opposite
views were demonstrated by the results of this current research. Participators claimed the function of products exceed their expectations after attracted by concise and clean shape. In terms of consumer, every product in MUJI can be
tried out in shops before consumer purchase, even the furniture and electric items. MUJI offers a lot of samples to consumer checking out the material and function. Thus, good design does not just mean attractive forms but good
function. A successful brand must have “a method to meet customer needs through
tailoring goods and services for small markets” (Stanton et al, 1991) and they likened this to niche market (Kjell and Trond, 2010). For MUJI used in this current study, this product design might focus on consumers with distinct sets of
needs and avoid markets with many dominant competitors (Hezar et al., 2006). Product positioning of a brand reinforce the important attribute of the brand and make the brand more competitive and irreplaceable.
Conclusion
The purpose of this paper is to explore perceived product design capabilities and to identify the benefit to brand value. MUJI as the examined case in this research bases on the use of high-quality products, strong consumer associations and
specialization. The product design capabilities which were identified in this paper can be placed
and described at different aspects contributing to the brand value. These aspects are: importance of design, positive brand associations, and satiated consumer perceptions. For the company, successful brand should have strong brand equity,
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high brand value and target market which is hard to achieve without a good design. Base on design and market background, both the product design
advantage and product design effect are discussed. The result of this project can be summarized as follows: 1) The factors contribute to MUJI’s product design
i. If products have similar price, consumers are likely to choose the functional and attractive ones
ii. Small details and alterations in design might improve a brand’s
competitiveness in the market 2) MUJI as brand in the eyes of consumers
i. A brand connected with good design capability is difficult to be replaced
and undoubtedly recognized by consumers ii. Product design is an essential factor to a brand. Consumers regard
products as the brand from some extent
3) Consumers perceptions about design i. If products consistent with consumers perceptions, consumer may
become more loyal to the brand and determine the shopping behaviors
ii. After consumers attracted by the product appearances, they would create a perception of the function
Project Assessment As the interview questions were objective and the researcher incorporated interviewees’ own objective assessment of MUJI products, this research project carried out a valid and fair trial. Using open questions and avoiding giving hints to participators aim to achieve accurate assessments and results. All the information proves that product design is an effective tool in increasing a brand value perceived by consumers. Ideally I would choose more products and ask participators to talk about details and experiences, to explore any difference in the way they use. This would enable to ascertain the feedback on assessment of products in MUJI precisely. In addition, to further studies should interview more people to attain more objective data and results.
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Appendix 1: Interview Question
This study aims to explore how product design influences the brand value perceived by targeted consumers, using MUJI as an example
-Do you go to a MUJI shop? How often? -Do you want to buy MUJI product even the store is very far away from the place
you are living?
What contribute to MUJI's design products? -Have you bought a MUJI product? What did you buy? Why you buy it? -What do you like about these products? (impression of the product: shape/color/usage) -When you bought these items, did you feel the price is reasonable/ good bargain
or over priced? -yes, why do you think it is worth? -No, why?
-Do you think MUJI products share something in common? What are they? -Do you consider design as a USD for this brand?
How consumers perceive MUJI as a brand? -Do you like MUJI as a brand? Why? -What do you think about the brand? -Will you rip off or will you keep the brand after you buy a MUJI product? Why? -Who would buy MUJI? What commons among consumers?
How MUJI design relates to consumers’ perception? -Do you feel the design of MUJI products contributes to the brand? How? -Do you think MUJI products represent the brand? Could you tell me more? -When you buy a MUJI product, do you go for the brand or the product? -Do you like the aesthetics of MUJI? MUJI is an attitude?
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Appendix 2: Feedback
General Questions How often you go to MUJI store? Hard to say. When I go shopping, if there is a MUJI shop in that shopping mall, I will definitely go there. Almost 4 or 5 times a year Do you want to buy MUJI product even the store is very far away from the place you are living? Or just when you go shopping you go to the store? They both happen. The latter one is always happening due to the happiness from wandering in the shop What contribute to MUJI's design products? Have you bought a MUJI product? What did you buy? Why you buy it? Yes quite a lot. Food like snacks, self-making with recipe (cookies); stationary like bullpens, file, notebook, bedding products, shoes, skincare products like lotion, and the essential oil for aromatherapy. I am really fond of MUJI's design of the squared salt. Because I do not cook so I did not buy it but I really like the idea, so humanized. I usually buy the chocolate puff and chocolate wrapped peanut. The bag is transparent u can see the food inside. It usually cost 20 HKD each and I like to have them when I feel hungry after shopping. I bought the self. Self-making food for V's day one year and baked the cookies myself. The products are made really attractive and feel simple to do it. Humanized. When you bought these items, did you feel the price is reasonable/ good bargain or over priced? In Hong Kong, stationeries are not cheap, if u want to buy some good ones with brand, like PILOT, they cost not any cheaper than MUJI. I can say it has reasonable price, the notebook is blank and lovely for doodle or sketch, the cover is blank also! I can design my own notebook. I fancy the Fragrance steamer for a long time. Candles cannot satisfy me anymore. The colors of MUJI is always mild, they look calming and they will never destroy the color pattern of the original environment What do you like about these products? (Impression of the product: shape/color/usage) Simple concise make the life easier and natural, but the price is not very lovely sometimes This brand has such a wide line of products, including foods, clothes, stationeries, there must be sth they are good at and sth not that good at. Relatively, I buy the stationary the most frequently.
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Do you think MUJI products share something in common? What are they? They are so easy to be recognized even without a label. The color the shape is common and simple. How consumers perceive MUJI as a brand? Do you like MUJI as a brand? Why? Yes and my friends around all know it. I think the designer from MUJI are much more famous than the ones from emoi. They have the profile of designers in the catalog or brochure. This makes us feel that we know sth about the design, rather than just buying products. Vanity What do you think about the brand? I think it becomes a kind of attitude. Maybe I really have a crush a Japanese culture and I love the brand more than others. The little things and details make people feel happy. Will you rip off or will you keep the brand after you buy a MUJI product? Why? I think for stationeries, the bar code label is almost the brand label. We usually do not tear them off. And the transparent "outfit" is a signature. the little things and details make people feel happy Who would buy MUJI? What commons among consumers? I think the customer would like to keep a low profile and appreciated by the bosom friend, even strangers. How MUJI design relates to consumers’ perception? At the very beginning I am attracted by some certain products then I love the brand and try something else.
