Cross-National Sensory Segments in the Organic Market Based on Stated Preferences for the Five Basic Tastes

ABSTRACT

Taste is one of the most important motivations for purchasing food. Studies regarding sensory preferences for specific product categories prove that consumers differ in their liking of sensory attributes. However, little is known about general consumers’ taste preferences that are not related to a certain product. Therefore, this study analyzes if patterns of general taste preferences exist, and how they can be characterized. To this end, 1,796 organic consumers from six different European countries, interviewed as part of an EU-funded research project between October 2010 and February 2011, were segmented based on their stated preferences for the five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. Seven consumer segments were identified. They differed in their size as well as in their distributions of gender, age, and organic consumption frequency. All seven taste patterns can be found in each of the six study countries. As an approach toward stronger marketing-oriented sensory research, this study shows that a consumer segmentation based on general taste preferences as a fundament for sensory marketing is meaningful and promising.

KEYWORDS:

• Basic tastes
• consumer segmentation
• stated preferences
• taste segments

Funding

Financial support from the Commission of the European Communities and organic SMEs of Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, and France for Project 218477-2 (ECROPOLIS) is acknowledged.

Notes

¹ An index based on the consumption frequency of organic products from eight different categories (i.e., fruit, vegetables, meat/sausage, eggs, milk/milk products, bread/bakery products, beverages, oil) was used to determine the organic consumption frequency according to the calculations in the National Nutritional Survey II (Max Rubner-Institut, 2008).

Additional information

Funding

Financial support from the Commission of the European Communities and organic SMEs of Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, and France for Project 218477-2 (ECROPOLIS) is acknowledged.