Consumer perception of functional foods: A conjoint analysis with probiotics

The current study, performed on a sample of 600 respondents responsible of household food shopping, explored consumers evaluation of four attributes of probiotics functional foods: base product (yoghurt, orange juice and biscuits), health claim (generic, psychological and prevention), price (high, regular and low) and brand (familiar and unfamiliar). Conjoint analysis ascertained that consumers consider the base product as the most important attribute in selecting a probiotic functional food and asses prevention claim as the most valuable. In addition cluster analysis revealed that customer groups significantly differ in their evaluation of perceived healthiness of functional foods and in the importance attached to price and brand. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.