Opening Mechanisms and Visual Configurations in Cosmetic E-Commerce Packaging: Effects on Purchase Intention

E-commerce packaging provides a physical touchpoint through which consumers encounter a brand and form impressions of its products. Guided by the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, this study examined how opening mechanisms and visual configurations incorporating brand logo information and printing approaches relate to consumer evaluations and purchase intention in cosmetic e-commerce packaging. A 2 × 3 fully within-subjects experiment involved 41 participants, each of whom opened and evaluated all six packaging conditions. Word associations and questionnaire ratings were collected, and the ratings were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA and within-subject mediation models with adjustments for multiple testing. Hand-opening elicited higher perceived opening fluency, perceived product quality, perceived brand image, and purchase intention than tool-assisted opening. For perceived product quality, perceived brand image, and purchase intention, the offset-printed configuration with a white logo on a black background received the highest ratings, followed by the watermark-printed configuration with a black logo on natural cardboard and the unbranded, unprinted configuration. These differences concern the configurations as tested, because brand logo presence, printing approach, and color were not independently manipulated. Mediation analyses suggest that consumers’ perceptions of the enclosed product’s quality may partly explain why hand-opening packaging is associated with higher purchase intention. The findings contribute to the contextual application of the S-O-R framework and provide guidance for cosmetic brands considering hand-opening mechanisms and printed brand information in packaging design.