Thinking inside the box: the effect of the unboxing experience on positive affect and willingness to share.

More beauty brands create unboxing experiences for their consumers. It would, for example, be able to elicit emotions of surprise and contribute to consumers’ willingness to share. However, scientific research on the emerging phenomenon of unboxing experiences is still lacking. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the effects of unboxing experiences on positive affect and willingness to share. A 2x2 experimental between-subjects design was conducted in which the complexity of the unboxing experience (simple x complex) and brand familiarity (well-known x fictitious) were manipulated. A total of 144 respondents participated in the experiment. The present study showed that the complexity of an unboxing experience can indeed influence expectations, emotions of positive affect and willingness to share online and offline. The theoretical and practical implications and future research topics are addressed.