Willingness‐to‐Pay for a Nutraceutical‐Rich Juice Blend

Abstract

As human life expectancy increases, the potential for nutraceutical products expands. Economic theory and sensory science were integrated to determine (1) consumer acceptance of potential health statements about a juice blend and (2) the relative satisfaction consumers derived from sensory and nutraceutical characteristics of a juice blend. Four nonhypothetical experimental auction sessions with 11–12 consumers/session were held (n = 47) to elicit willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for an optimized juice blend (87% Concord grape and 13% blackberry). Participants in two sessions tasted the product first and then received a potential health statement about the juice blend regarding positive benefits of anthocyanins before the third round (vice versa for the other two sessions). The WTP for the juice blend was higher when subjects tasted the product first and then received the potential health statement, which indicated a contrast effect caused by treatment order. Agreement with the potential health statement was not correlated to WTP. Nutraceutical product launch should be accompanied with in‐store taste sessions to introduce consumers to product sensory properties. Practical Applications Consumers' willingness‐to‐pay for nutraceuticals can be assessed through nonhypothetical experimental auctions. Nonhypothetical value elicitation methods use real money and products to advantageously eliminate hypothetical bias. Experimental auctions allow product attributes such as nutraceutical status to be assessed along with sensory characteristics; hence, auctions can more easily capture all product aspects that contribute to consumer liking. Understanding how consumers value all attributes can provide crucial information about a product's marketplace sustainability.

Identifying Key Attributes for Protein Beverages

“…These previous studies did not have priming statements of any type presented to consumers. Lawless and others () reported that consumers exhibited higher willingness to pay for nutraceutical juices when given positive priming statements after tasting the beverages. Additionally, when given information about great brands of champagne versus middle or low‐priced brands, consumers had a distinct preference for great brand champagnes whereas when the champagnes were tasted blind, there was no distinct preference (Lange and others ).…”

Identifying Product Attributes and Consumer Attitudes that Impact Willingness to pay for a Nutraceutical‐Rich Juice Product

“…Treatment group 1 (Info) received a potential health statement written based on a previous research on a functional juice blend, “This juice blend is rich in polyphenolic antioxidants, which are thought to support health” (Lawless et al . ). The statement was written to indicate that the literature suggests, but does not prove, the described benefit.…”

“…, ; Lawless et al . ); however, great potential exists to expand sensory analysis in WTP studies. Specifically, the combined use of sensory evaluation and nonhypothetical valuation tasks to understand product diagnostics (i.e.…”

Examining Extrinsic Factors that Influence Product Acceptance: A Review

“…Consumers were also WTP more for organic beef. Lawless and others () used auctioning to determine consumers WTP for a Concord grape and blackberry juice blend with a benefit statement about anthocyanins before (or after) tasting depending on the study group. Reading the health statement after tasting increased WTP more so than reading the health statement prior to tasting.…”