Expectation, liking and purchase behaviour under economical constraint

A panel of 123 consumers from Dijon and Nantes rated their liking for six orange juices (two pure juices, two juices made with concentrate and two nectars) in a blind condition, and then with information about the type of juice and packaging. Expectations induced by the information were also measured and the effect of this expectation on their evaluations were studied, as well as the role of the price on the purchase behaviour when the consumers were placed in a situation of choice under economical constraint. When discrepancy between blind rating and expectation was large, consumers generally moved their ratings towards expectation when they tasted a product in presence of information revealing an assimilation effect. We observed that even under the lowest economical constraint, consumers did not only choose their preferred product. The percentage of expenditure allocated to the first ranked product decreased as price increased and consumers partly transferred their choices to the second ranked product and even to the third ranked product.