The Empirical Implications of Privacy-Aware Choice

This paper initiates the study of the testable implications of choice data in settings where agents have privacy preferences. We adapt the standard conceptualization of consumer choice theory to a situation where the consumer is aware of, and has preferences over, the information revealed by her choices. The main message of the paper is that little can be inferred about consumers' preferences once we introduce the possibility that the consumer has concerns about privacy. This holds even when consumers' privacy preferences are assumed to be monotonic and separable. This motivates the consideration of stronger assumptions and, to that end, we introduce an additive model for privacy preferences that does have testable implications

Appropriate Methodologies to Better Measure Consumer Preferences for Postal Services

This report summarises work undertaken testing the use of stated preference discrete choice experiments to measure consumer preferences for postal services. It discusses the importance of understanding and quantifying consumer priorities in the postal sector and presents different methods used for valuing non-market goods. We recommend the use of stated preference discrete choice experiments, and test the use of this approach in three member states. We provide the findings for these member states, as well as a “tool kit” for applying this methodology in other member states in future.Consumer preferences, postal services, discrete choice, two-sided market

Consumer preferences and the National Treatment Principle: emerging environmental regulations prompt a new look at an old problem

Should consumers’ preference for ‘green’ products help justify,from a WTO perspective, emerging regulations such as restrictions on trade in non-sustainable biofuels? Despite the role consumer preferences have played in WTO disputes, in association with the ‘ like ’ products concept, there has not been enough focused examination of their specific influence, particularly in disputes on ethical public policy issues, such as environmental or health regulations. To this end, this paper examines key GATT Article III disputes, pointing out that they included attempts both to measure, and also to interpret, consumer preferences. The latter approach becomes more tempting when consumer preferences are difficult to measure; import bans or restrictions associated with ethical public policy regulations can bring about such a situation. A hypothetical dispute about EC biofuels sustainability criteria demonstrates this problem. Options to make the concept of consumer preferences more coherent include limitations on how they can be invoked, and an increased commitment to capturing them through measurement

One size does (obviously not) fit all: Using product attributes for wine market segmentation

The intense competition affecting the wine industry in recent decades has forced wineries and retailers to reshape their marketing strategies on the basis of consumer preferences. The current study aims to identify such preferences and the effects they might have in influencing consumer decisions. Preferences for different wine attributes as well as the psychographic traits of respondents were revealed through a web-based questionnaire administered to 504 wine consumers living in the wider metropolitan area of New York. Best-worst scaling (BWS) was used to detect consumer preferences for eleven wine attributes. Based on individual best-worst scores, a latent class segmentation analysis was implemented to classify consumers into four segments on the basis of psychographic characteristics such as involvement, subjective knowledge, innovativeness and loyalty proneness. The four segments identified (i.e. experientials, connoisseurs, risk minimizers and price-sensitive) differ significantly in terms of their preferences towards wine and psychographic characteristics, suggesting that a mass marketing approach is no longer suitable. Accordingly, managers need to adapt their marketing strategies to meet the preferences of different target groups. The results provide broad implications for marketers, wineries and retailers interested in successfully targeting consumers in a highly competitive market

Consumer Preferences in Monopolistic Competition Models

This paper develops a novel approach to modeling references in monopolistic competition models with a continuum of goods. In contrast to the commonly used CES preferences, which do not capture the e¤ects of consumer income and the intensity of competition on equilibrium prices, the present preferences can capture both effects. I show that under an unrestrictive regularity assumption, the equilibrium prices decrease with the total mass of available goods (which represents the intensity of competition in the model) and increase with consumer income. The former implies that the entry of �rms in the market or opening a country to international trade has a pro-competitive effect that decreases equilibrium prices

U.S. Preferences for Fish and Seafood: An Evoked Set Analysis

This study used the concept of an "evoked set" to test hypotheses about the determinants of consumer preferences for seafood. Results indicate consumer preferences for seven major fish species (shrimp, lobster, catfish, cod, flounder, scallops, and salmon) are mainly a function of the consumer's geographical location and ethnicity. Consumer beliefs about fish product attributes (e.g., quality, flavor, nutrition) and product category use-experience (frequency of fish consumption) in general are not significant preference determinants, although important exceptions are noted. The composition of the evoked set may have different behavioral implications depending on whether fish consumption occurs in the home or in a restaurant setting.Evoked set, lens model, consumer preferences, seafood demand, marketing, aquaculture, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Consumer Preferences for Water Supply? An Application of Choice Models to Urban India

Water supply, Consumer preferences, Discrete choice, Lexicographic preferences

Consumer Preferences for Mass Customization

Increasingly, firms allow consumers to mass customize their products. In this study, the authors investigate consumers’ evaluations of different mass customization configurations when asked to mass customize a product. For instance, mass customization configurations may differ in the number of modules that may be mass customized. The authors find – in the context of mass customization of personal computers – that mass customization configuration affects the product utility consumers can achieve in mass customization as well as their perception of mass customization complexity. In turn, product utility and complexity affect the utility consumers derive from using a certain mass customization configuration. More specifically, product utility has a positive, and complexity has a negative effect on mass customization configuration utility. The effect of complexity is direct as well as indirect, because complexity also lowers product utility. The authors also find that consumers with high product expertise find mass customization configurations less complex than consumers with low product expertise and that for more expert consumers complexity has a less negative impact on product utility. The study has important managerial implications for how companies can design their mass customization configuration to increase utility and decrease complexity.marketing ;

Marketing implications of traditional and ICT-mediated leisure activities

This study investigates the role of traditional and information and communication technology (ICT)-mediated leisure activities in consumer behaviour. An online survey of 558 members and 1319 ex-members of an Australian DVD rental company gathered preferences for nine traditional leisure activities and seven ICT-mediated leisure activities. The results of a cluster analysis showed four clusters with significant cluster differences across leisure activities and across demographics and consumer behaviours. For practitioners, the study illustrates how profiling customers on their leisure preferences can increase advertising effectiveness, reflect loyalty and help predict customer lifetime value. For academia, the results reveal how another consumer dimension, leisure activities, relates to demographic and behavioural characteristics

Chemical and sensory analysis of commercial Navel oranges in California.

Seven lots of commercially available Navel oranges grown in California were evaluated with flavoromic, metabolomic, sensory descriptive analysis, and consumer testing techniques to identify sensory and chemical drivers of liking. Eight identified chemical clusters related to numerous sensory attributes and consumer preferences. Differences in adult and child preferences led to the discovery of six consumer clusters (four adult and two child). Sweetness, overall flavor, sourness, fruity flavor, and juiciness were identified as the main sensory drivers of liking for the consumers. Fructose, glucose, and proline were among the compounds that best explained perceived sweetness while sourness was correlated with citrate and ascorbate. Perceived fruity flavor increased with higher concentrations of ethanol. We conclude that consumers differ in their preferences for Navel oranges and desire fruit that is higher in both sweetness and sourness