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A Comparison of Hypothetical Survey Rankings with Consumer Shopping Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2015

Carola Grebitus ,
Gregory Colson  and
Luisa Menapace
Carola Grebitus
Affiliation:
Institute for Food and Resource Economics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Gregory Colson
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
Luisa Menapace
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
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Abstract

Hypothetical surveys are commonly used to elicit consumer behavior to guide product development, marketing, and labeling strategies. However, despite the prevalence of surveys in consumer food studies, previous work has not assessed the relationship between hypothetical responses and actual consumer behavior in real-world purchase situations. We explore whether attributes cited by consumers in surveys as being important to them when making decisions indeed factor into their product decision process in real-world markets. Evidence from a point of sale study of 702 pork purchasers indicates that there is a strong correspondence between hypothetical survey ratings and actual shopping behavior.

Keywords

attribute rankingconsumer shopping behaviorhypothetical surveysorigin labelingporkC8C9Q1
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , February 2012 , pp. 35 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2002

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