IDENTIFYING PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES AND CONSUMER ATTITUDES THAT IMPACT WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR A NUTRACEUTICAL-RICH JUICE PRODUCT

The impact of participant characteristics and product sensory attributes on willingness to pay (WTP) for a nutraceutical-rich juice blend (75% Concord grapes+12% pomegranate+13% black cherry) was measured using sensory evaluations and a nonhypothetical Becker-DeGroot-Marschak mechanism. Participants (n=228) were placed into four treatment groups: Info (received a potential health statement), Taste (evaluated the sensory attributes of the juice blend), InfoTaste (evaluated the sensory attributes of the juice blend and received the potential health statement) and Control (neither tasted nor received the potential health statement about the juice blend). Participants evaluated overall liking and just-about-right (JAR) attributes and completed incentivized risk and time preference survey tasks. The participants' average WTP for the nutraceutical-rich juice blend was $3.45 per bottle. Risk preference did not affect WTP, but the time preference coefficient (-8.87) indicated that higher time discount rates (lower future orientation) were associated with lower WTP within the Info group. WTP increased by $0.25 for every unit increase in sweetness, $0.20 per every unit decrease in black cherry flavor and $0.29 per every unit decrease in bitterness toward JAR. Consumer questionnaires with additional measures of consumer attitudes (e.g. future orientation) could better identify target markets. Moreover, penalty analysis which calculates the cost of attributes not being JAR in monetary units could benefit product optimization. Practical ApplicationsPotential exists to use innovative methods from other fields to increase the breadth of sensory-oriented research. Using nonhypothetical willingness-to-pay mechanisms in parallel with sensory evaluation allows the identification of consumer characteristics, attitudinal factors (including risk and time preferences) and product sensory attributes that affect consumers' willingness to pay for products. Due to consumer trade-offs between health and taste, understanding consumer characteristics and attitudes that drive purchase behavior is essential for health-oriented product categories. Furthermore, understanding the cost (in terms of consumers' willingness to pay) of specific sensory attributes not being optimal may provide more concrete direction to product formulators because willingness to pay is less abstract than more common measures such as overall liking.