Visual complexity versus visual simplicity: The effect of product presentation strategies on consumer meta cognitive experiences and purchase intentions
(R2024-122681)

AUTHORS

Polly Sokolova, University of Southampton; Paurav Shukla, University of Southampton

ABSTRACT

Brands adopt varying strategies to present their products online. Some use simple images, displaying products on a plain background, while others use complex images with contextual backgrounds. Recently, some brands have used incongruent contextual backgrounds. This paper examines the effectiveness of these strategies and the mediating effects of fluency. Three experiments demonstrate that simple images are more fluent than complex images (Study 1). Complex congruent (vs incongruent) images lead to higher (lower) levels of conceptual fluency and imagery fluency (Study 2), affecting purchase intentions mediated through fluency (Study 3). The paper makes several theoretical contributions and offers important managerial recommendations.