Old-looking yet Usable!: An Investigation of Consumer's Usability Perception of Retro Products

As the market competition increases, brands are trying to come up with strategies that can establish a bond with the users. Using the retro style is rapidly becoming one of these strategies by targeting past emotions however, the perception of the usability of this style hasn't been investigated. The aim of this study is to investigate the user's perception of the product's usability features of retro consumer electronics from the appearance compared to non-retro products. A 5-factor scale was developed to measure the perception of the usability, including aesthetic, durability, reliability, serviceability, and learnability, was applied to 60 people. Paired samples t-tests and ANOVA tests were performed to explore the data. According to the results of the study, the scores of the perception of the usability were not significant between retro and non-retro products. However, retro products have been found to be more durable than non-retro products. In contrast, non-retro products were rated significantly higher for the factor of aesthetic. It was found that the effect of style on the perception of the usability was dependent on the type of the device that retro style didn't have any effect on the perception of usability for toasters while non-retro style was found to be more usable for refrigerators. All statistical tests involving gender or other demographics were not significant.