Using sensory sciences help products succeed

Emotional responses elicited by foods are of great interest for new product developers and marketing professionals, as consumer acceptance proved to be linked to the emotions generated by the product in the consumers. An emotional measurement is generally considered an appropriate tool to differentiate between the products of similar nutritional value, flavour, liking and packaging. Novel methods used to measure emotions include self-reporting verbal and visual measurements, and facial expression techniques. This study aimed to evaluate the explicit and implicit emotional response elicited during the tasting of two different brands (A and B) of energy drinks. The explicit response of consumers was assessed using liking (nine-point hedonic scale), and emotions (EsSense Profile®—Check-All-That-Apply questionnaire), and implicit emotional responses were evaluated by studying facial expressions using the Affectiva Affdex® software. The familiarity of the product and purchase intent were also assessed during the study. The hedonic rating shows a significant difference in liking between the two brands of energy drink during the tasting session. For the explicit emotional responses, participants elicited more positive emotions than the negative emotions for both energy drinks. However, participants expressed “happy”, “active” and “eager” emotions more frequently for energy drink A. On the other hand, the implicit emotional responses through facial expressions indicated a high level of involvement of the participants with energy drink B as compared to energy drink A. The study showed that overall liking and the explicit and implicit emotional measurements are weakly to moderately correlated.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Reported Emotions and Facial Expressions on Consumer Acceptability: A Study Using Energy Drinks

Mehta

Sharma

Kanala

et al. 2021

“…To increase the odds of NPD success, many researchers recognized the need to consider consumer behavior and choice-based ideas from external global markets [ 9 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Sensory science and consumer research provide techniques to identify white spaces in NPD, support research and development, and contribute to minimizing the decision uncertainty [ 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generating New Snack Food Texture Ideas Using Sensory and Consumer Research Tools: A Case Study of the Japanese and South Korean Snack Food Markets

Kumar

Chambers

et al. 2021

Food companies spend a large amount of money and time to explore markets and consumer trends for ideation. Finding new opportunities in food product development is a challenging assignment. The majority of new products launched in the market are either copies of existing concepts or line extensions. This study demonstrates how the global marketplace can be used for generating new texture concepts for snack foods. One hundred and twenty-three prepacked snack foods from South Korea (SK) and ninety-five from Japan (JP) were purchased for this study. Projective mapping (PM) was used to sort the snacks on a 2-dimensional map (texture and flavor). Sensory scientists grouped snacks on similarities and dissimilarities. PM results showed, 65% (JP) and 76% (SK) snacks were considered as hard textures, ranging from moderate to extremely hard. Sixty-five percent of JP snacks were savory, whereas 59% of SK snacks had a sweet flavor. The PM 2-dimensional map was used to find white spaces in the marketplace. Thirty-two diversified snacks from each country were screened and profiled using descriptive sensory analysis by trained panelists. Attributes such as sustained fracturability, sustained crispness, initial crispness, and fracturability were the main sensory texture characteristics of snacks. Results showed how descriptive analysis results can be used as initial sensory specifications to develop prototypes. Prototype refinement can be performed by doing multiple developmental iterations and consumer testing. The study showed how white spaces are potential opportunities where new products can be positioned to capture market space. Practical Application: The methodology produced in this study can be used by food product developers to explore new opportunities in the global marketplace.

“…The growing demand for standards to describe products on a global scale makes it more important to define and understand sensory terminologies, either in analytical sensory description with trained panelists or with consumers to investigate human perception [1,2]. Sensory profiling can help to achieve better understanding of products and meet objectives [3]. However, cross-cultural sensory studies become complicated when understanding food perceptions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the Terminology for Snack Foods and Their Texture by Consumers in Four Languages: A Qualitative Study

Kumar

Chambers

2019

The choice of food products is affected by the combination of food properties, consumer motives, emotions, and context, especially in cross-cultural studies. The designs of cross-cultural studies involve several limitations such as conceptual perception and linguistic and cultural differences in response style. These factors confine the validity and generalizability of such study models. In this study, we have combined linguistic and contextual perception together to generate consumer texture terminologies. Four focus groups discussions were conducted with consumers from nine different countries in English, Hindi, Mandarin, and Spanish. Vocabularies for sixteen texture terms were generated. Consumers provided a single consensus term that they typically use to describe contextual sensory perception. The results show that consumers use several terms to describe texture, and terms are very specific to product and related perception. The English translation of words like “snack”, “texture”, and other sensory texture terms are meaningless for non-English speaking cultures. Researchers are encouraged to validate (test) the structure of cross-cultural study models before application. Practical application: The findings of this study present a model which can be utilized to conduct cross-cultural research studies. The results can contribute to generate accurate consumer responses, acceptance, preference, and addressing consumers concerns. Food industries could leverage these by using our methodology in product development, finding consumer insights, effective communication, and products testing in international settings.