Speaker
Description
Keywords: alternative protein, potential early adopters, edible insects, food labelling, latent class logit
Introduction and Objectives
In the search for innovative and sustainable protein sources, the consumption of insect-based food (IBF) has emerged as a promising option, as they offer environmental benefits and nutritional value comparable to meat. However, commercialising IBF in Western countries has proved difficult in the face of high consumer resistance. Nonetheless, there are also consumer groups (“potential early adopters”) who are open to try them. To make IBF more appealing for these consumers, producers could provide diverse food labels to create informative and attractive product packaging. However, no study has yet investigated the heterogeneity of preferences for IBF labelling among the different segments of potential early adopters, which is necessary for creating targeted marketing measures. This is an important knowledge gap, as even potential early adopters vary significantly in their preferences and expectations of IBF. Thus, the present study aims to identify the different consumer segments for IBF and determine their product attribute preferences.
Methodology
This study is based on an online survey with 922 participants, considering gender, age and residence at state level to resemble the German population. Consumers who are (slightly) open to eating IBF, and are (partially) responsible for grocery shopping and/or meal preparation in household were eligible to participate.
To determine consumer preferences for food labelling, two discrete choice experiments (CEs) with real product packaging were conducted. In cooperation with the Swiss start-up Essento, we selected two products covering different meal situations from their product portfolio: insect-based meatballs and insect-based crackers. Based on the original product packaging, we worked together with professional packaging designer to create new packaging designs to include the following product attributes for the CE: nutritional information (Nutri-score; Reference Intakes; no label), sustainability claims (CO2 neutral; soy free [for meatballs] /palm oil free [for crackers]; no label), naturalness claims (100% natural ingredients; no additives; no label), trust indicator (Stiftung Warentest [institutional product recommendation]; ambassador endorsement [interpersonal product recommendation]; no label), insect labelling (with high-quality protein from mealworms; with high quality protein from insects) and price (1.99€ - 5.49€ [for meatballs] / 0.99€ - 4.49€ [for crackers]).
All participants received both CEs in randomised order, i.e. some received the CE meatballs first, others the CE crackers first. The experimental design was optimized using Bayesian efficient design. Each participant received six random choice sets for each CE, featuring two product alternatives and a ‘no-buy’ option in each choice set. The survey was concluded with socio-demographic questions.
The CE data was analysed using latent class logit model, as it recognises consumer heterogeneity and identifies consumer segments with homogenous preferences. The segmentation was determined based on participants’ choices in the CEs. To assess the socio-demographic characteristics of each class, the following covariates were included in the model: age, gender, prior experience of eating IBF, hometown size and income. Based on model fit criteria, the four-class model was identified as the optimal solution for both products.
Findings
Descriptive statistics indicate greater consumer openness to buying insect-based crackers than insect-based meatballs, with participants choosing the no-buy option in 37% of the total choice situations for the meatballs and 32.3% for the crackers.
The analysis for the insect-based meatballs revealed two price-sensitive consumer segments (1, 2) with a strong preference for the product, a sceptical segment (3) with some buying inclination and a reluctant segment (4). All three segments with a preference for the product attached the highest importance for naturalness labels, and tended to include more younger people, male consumers, people with prior experience and from big hometowns than the reluctant segment. All four segments showed a high preference for the institutional trust indicator. Sustainability claims and nutritional information were almost equally liked by all segments and were only more important than trust indicator for Segment 3. In terms of insect labelling, segments 1 and 2 with a strong preference for the product preferred specific insect species information, while the other two segments preferred general insect labelling.
For insect-based crackers, all four segments showed potential to buy the product, however, only consumer segment 1 expressed a strong preference, which consisted of the most number of young people and people with prior experience. Price was the most important attribute for segments 1, 2 and 4, but not for segment 3. Regarding food labelling, three segments attached the greatest importance to the naturalness claims, while segment 4 expressed no particular liking, except for the general insect labelling. While segment 1 attached almost equal importance to the other attributes, sustainability claims were the next most preferred attribute by segment 2 and 3, with segment 2 showing a clear preference for CO2 neutral and segment 3 for palm oil free. As in meatballs, Stiftung Warentest was the preferred trust indicator for all segments. Specific insect species information was, again, liked by segments 1 and 2 with a stronger preference for the product, while the other two classes preferred the general insect labelling.
Conclusion
The present study identified two distinct potential target groups for both products: The most promising group consists of two segments (1, 2), preferred insect species information and were price sensitive. Another group consists of sceptical consumers (3) with a tendency to buy high-priced products and a higher preference for general insect labelling. Compared to the main focus of IBF marketing, sustainability and nutritional information were not the most important purchasing arguments for all consumers. Instead, our study showed the key role of naturalness and institutional trust indicator, suggesting the need for marketing shifts to emphasise the natural aspect of IBF and provide consumers with reassurance about food safety and quality.
