When colors betray flavors: how external cues interactively shift novel products from search challenges to preferred choices

Purpose Color-flavor incongruent packaging, as an innovative packaging design that violates consumers’ previous color-flavor congruent expectations, is an effective strategy for food brands to differentiate themselves and enhance their innovativeness in competitive markets. This research aims to explore whether, and if so, how external marketing cues facilitate consumer adaptation to incongruent packaging, thereby enhancing their search efficiency and choice preferences for novel product in the consumer-product interactive context. Design/methodology/approach Three studies were conducted to investigate how external cues impacted participants’ product search process and choice preferences within interactive shopping contexts, including 2D digital interfaces and immersive 3D virtual reality (VR) environments. Findings Results show that external cues signaling product novelty significantly improve participants’ product search efficiency for color-flavor incongruent packaging, with consistent effects in VR context. Additionally, novel shelf label cues actively enhance consumer preferences for innovative packaging. Originality/value This research uniquely contributes to interactive marketing theory by highlighting how external cues can optimize consumers’ engagement with novel product packaging, providing actionable insights for marketers to foster brand innovation in real-world interactive contexts.