Virtual choices: testing consumer preferences

So, what does all this information tell us? Sadly, not a lot, because all the separate factors, such as species, origin, sustainability, format or even ease of cooking were confused. Even the virtual store was unrealistic because supermarkets have to ensure maximum return from the space available, so shelves tend to be well stocked with several products, not just one or two. 

 

In real supermarkets, shoppers have to scan through a wide range of products and usually know what they want in advance. Promotions might persuade them to look outside their normal shop, but it is unlikely that they will dwell on packs looking at the available information. In fact, many shoppers never read pack labelling unless it is relevant to their own needs.

 

According to Nofima, most of the participants said that they were concerned about where their fish came from and that they considered Norwegian products to be more sustainable than foreign ones. However, such comments are more likely to be in response to questioning than actually what happens in store.

 

Nofima said that using VR gave researchers unique insights into how the participants used their vision and evaluated products and whether food labelling had any bearing on their choices.  The eye tracking technology showed that the participants focused most on the manufacturer’s brand, origin labelling and product image. However, it is clear from the images that the named brands dominated the packaging and other messages were less apparent, except perhaps the MSC label, but the participants would have to understand what the blue tick label meant otherwise they probably glossed over it as being irrelevant to their choice.

 

What is clear from this study is it didn’t matter where the participants looked on each of the products; they ended up buying the fish they were used to buying. The main packs chosen were salmon (12), trout (seven) and cod (seven). Four people chose prawns, two whale meat, two fish gratin, one the saithe and one the more expensive cod. No-one chose to buy the pickled herring. The participants did say that if the products had been priced, their choices might have been different.

 

As this study was virtual, it would have been much more interesting for the researchers to make up virtual packs and test the impact of the various factors. For example, identical packs of salmon could have been labelled with different countries of origin or no origin at all to see how the participants reacted. The same approach could have been taken with sustainability labels and other reputation labelling.

 

My own experience, from the UK, is that most consumers aren’t really interested in origin, sustainability or any other label. What drives most purchases of fish is that the fish looks nice and that it is the right price. As already mentioned, consumers might be persuaded to try other species but usually require some price incentive initially to do so.

 

Consumer behaviour is a very funny thing and works differently for different product groups but in the case of fish, it is down to appearance and price, even when using the latest VR technology.