CONSUMER ATTITUDES TO 100% FRIUT JUICE

Contents 1. Executive summary 3 2. Problem definition: 4 3. Organization of the Study: 7 4. Approach to problem (literature review): 8 5. Research design (Methodology): 11 6. Ethical issues: 13 7. Data Analysis and Results: 14 8. Conclusion and recommendations: 25 9. Appendix A: Survey 27 10. Appendix B: Statistical tests results 30

1. Executive summary
A web survey was used in the UK to collect information for Tropicana fruit Juice Company to increase their sales. Descriptive research analysis was used to investigate which labeling attributes consumers consider significant when choosing 100% fruit juices, and to evaluate their willingness-to-pay for this specific label. The objective of this report is to inform Tropicana of the status of the current consumer’s attitudes to 100% juice to understand the customers and increase their sales.

2.Problem definition: I. Background:
Consumer habits of food consumption have changed greatly, in today’s society people are looking for healthier choices due to the increasing awareness surrounding health, nutrition and to improve the quality of the human life are reasons for the risen demand on fruit and vegetables.
“5 A Day” for example is a campaign supported by the World Health Organization made to encourage people to have five fruits or vegetables a day. The world fruit industry and manufacturers has responded for this demand by developing fruit based products with preservation techniques that extend the shelf life of the product. Food labelling plays an essential role on consumer’s intention to buying food since it is the first line of contact between the consumer and the product. To promote these products manufacturers try their best to make their product food label as attractive as possible, by using food claims, a portion of information and using labels such as 100% fruit, Pure, all natural frequently on fruit snacks, sweets and cereals, and fruit drinks and juices. Since there is no law that requires how much real fruit has to be included in a food that uses this claim, the sugary product could contain small percentage of real fruit or no fruit whatsoever. Manufacturers mislead shoppers using “Five a day” labels to promote high sugar and salt products as healthy food (The telegraph 2012).

II. Problem definition:
Managerial problem:
Our primary research revealed that Tropicana’s sales are dropping and one on the main reasons is the recession, high unemployment levels and low consumer confidence which made consumers switch to cheaper fruit juices brands such as own brand supermarkets 100% fruit juice.Therefore, a proper evaluation of consumer’s attitudes towards 100% fruit juices may provide valuable information for the managers of Tropicana. Based on the results of this study they may either choose to amplify marketing Tropicana as 100% juice (if this label is indeed important for customers) or change the company’s strategy completely and enter the blooming low-end market segment, probably with some new brand.
Market research problem:
The majority of fruit juices products in the market have a high sugar levels and low percentage of real fruits with misleading labels such as 100% fruit juice or 1 of your 5 A Day. This study will help to determine what the perception of these labels by the customers is and whether the labels indeed may mislead the customers. In the case when the strong positive attitude towards these labels would be discovered the action from the market regulators is required. III. Specific objectives: A. To investigate which labeling features consumers consider important when choosing 100% fruit juice products. B. To identify market segments based on consumers preferences, behavior, attitudes, and interests and analyzed differences between the segments.
Additionally, other objectives considered in carrying out this research were: C. To estimate if consumers pay more for specific labels, specially the 100% fruit juice label. D. To develop a better understanding of consumer preferences for 100% fruit juice labels.

3.Organization of the Study:
This report viewed some of the labels used on fruit juices such as 100% fruit juice, pure fruit juice, and one of your 5 A Day label. Fruit juices labels were chosen because it has been shown that products that use these labels claim it prevents the risk of several diseases and promote better health when used daily. Some attributes such as; health and nutritional claims, 100% fruit juice label, price were used to measure their relative importance to customers when buying fruit juices. Data was collected from approximately 110 respondents through a web survey. Descriptive research was used for the sample to analyze the consumer preferences. Followed by is the approach to the problem. Next is the methodology, which is our research design, this includes the hypothetical and empirical models, data collection process and the analysis measures. Then it is followed by a description of the results and discussion. The last section concludes with the conclusions, limitations, and suggestions for future research.

4. Approach to problem (literature review):
In this report, an analysis of consumer attitudes to food labels is provided. According to the existing literature on the topic, information presented on product labels can affect consumer decision-making process (Mihaela-Roxana & Cho, 2010). Also Wansink(2005) proposed a theory for why labels have an impact on consumers, the descriptive labels allow the consumers to concentrate more on their feelings and on the expected taste of the food during the decision-making process.Consumers who ignore or don’t understand the descriptions or labels are considered to be more likely to evaluate the product as “good” or “bad” in comparison to consumers who read and understand the labels of the product.The manner in which language is used on the labels,choice of words and terminology influence how consumers process and access information(Meyers-Levy,2010).Attributes such as taste and texture will be determined by the consumer after the product is purchased and consumed(Dimara and Skuras,2005).If the consumers attitudes of the sensory attributes is at odds with the information and labels provided by the grocery store the consumers could lose confidence in the product.The process of evaluating the alternatives depends on consumer’s attitude to understand the information given on the label.
While the primary purpose of food labels is to inform consumers about product quality and provide nutrition information, food labels may carry additional messages impacting customer perceptions of such foods. For example in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration permits only seven health-related claims on food labels, while Federal Trade Commission allows other claims as long as they are substantiated (Mazis& Raymond, 1997). Currently, no such regulations exist in the UK.
Multiple studies have investigated consumer perceptions of health-related labels on food items. A study by Mazis& Raymond (1997) investigated whether consumers believed health-related claims on food products when they were simultaneously presented with detailed nutritional information about a particular food item. The study found that health-related claims may positively affect consumer decisions only when there is no additional nutrition information provided. Another study by Mihaela-Roxana & Cho (2010) found that consumer attitudes towards sugar-free beverages that are marketed as being beneficial to one’s health and effective in weight loss depend heavily on social pressure. Thus, it can be suggested that consumer attitudes towards food labels on juices that state that a particular juice is “fresh”, “pure” and “real” are impacted by the association of such juices with health benefits, by social pressure towards healthy living, and by lack of other information about the product. Bonilla (2010) found that consumers are willing to pay more for juices packaged in PET bottles and are willing to pay a premium for the “no sugar added” claim. Consumer environmental interests affect purchasing decisions as well: customers with high degree of environmental consciousness are willing to pay more for fruit juices with organic ingredients. Younger people are willing to pay more for juices made from locally-grown products.
This particular study approaches the problem on which labeling attributes are most significant to the consumer when purchasing fruit juice. In the case of 100% fruit juices, labeling can affect the consumer to buy the product. Features such as labels of health and nutritional claims, 100% pure or made with real fruit can play an essential role on the consumer purchasing decision. In order to get an advantage in this competitive market, producers may try to use health claims to mislead the consumers to buy their products. Several studies have been carried out regarding labeling of fruit juice; however, few have examined the effect of lifestyle segmentation that incorporates consumer behavior and attitude about 100% fruit juices label.
Our primary hypothesis was that those customersperceive juices labeled as“100% fruit juice”as healthier choice. Moreover, we will test the assumption that such labeling affects buying behavior of customers, especially of those who claim that they follow a healthy diet.

5.Research design (Methodology):
A well-devised questionnaire can be used as a means to collect data regarding people’s knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour (Greenhalgh, 2010). This research was conducted by a designed survey that was published online, whereby respondents were divided according to their consumption of fruit juice and the attributes that affects their buying decision when buying 100% fruit juices. The survey obtained 19 questions and focused on consumers within the UK, A total of 110 surveys were completed.
Questions of the survey were mainly closed questions where they select answers from a given list of potential answers and respondents were briefed on the project objectives in the beginning of the survey. All those who took a part doing this survey were asked to choose which fruit juice labels they look for, in order to understand if consumer are willing to pay extra for products that display labels such as; 100% fruit juice or health claims.
Web questionnaire was used due to the convenience, cost effectiveness, quality of response and no interviewer bias. Nowadays the majority of the consumers use the Internet and rather taking a part in an online survey than doing face-to-face interviews. The aim of the questions was to give more information about our participants For example age, gender, occupation and how often do they buy 100% fruit juices, also the level of understanding of nutrition information and to identify what consumers expect of fruit juice described as “100% fruit juice”.

6. Ethical issues:
In our web survey participants won’t be required to leave any personal information, e.g. their names,home address or telephone number.Participants are not named in the report due to ethical and confidentiality issues.In order to keep their ethical rights we will preserve the confidentiality, anonymity and privacy of the participants and the questionnaire will be used for this study only.Also we have ensured that neither the participants nor the researcher have been exposed on physical or psychological harm or risk.Participants have been recruited voluntarily and have consented to take part in the research and that all collected information will be kept confidential and only accessible to those directly involved in the study.

7. Data Analysis and Results:
I. Demographic characteristics of the sample The obtained dataset consists of 110 survey responses. The survey contained a number of demographic questions (for the full survey, refer to the Appendix A). The gender break-down of the sample is almost equal (52%-48%). As it is shown in the Figure 1 the two largest age groups in the sample are 18-24 (38%) and 25-35 (48%). Moreover, Figure 2 shows that more than a third of the respondents are students. Thus, we should note that any conclusions of our study are applicable primarily to younger population.

Figure 1: Age groups characteristics of the sample.

Figure 2: Employment characteristics of the sample. The absolute majority of respondents (93.6%, Figure 3) claim that they are health conscious which implies that health consciousness is currently a trend among the young individuals.

Figure 3: Response to the question on whether participant is health conscious.
II. Relation between 100% juice and healthy life style Figure 4 shows that the absolute majority of respondents in the sample think that consumption of 100% juice is associated with better diet. In particular, 32% of respondents have strongly agreed with this claim and 52% agreed which in total makes 84%. Thus, 100% juice is indeed precept by people as healthy.

Figure 4: Response on whether consumption of 100% juice is associated with better diet. At the same time, only about a half of respondents have answered that they strongly agree and agree that consumption of 100% juice reduces risk of diseases (see Figure 5). Moreover, two-thirds of the respondents think that freshly squeezed juice is healthier than 100% juice (Figure 6) which implies that the majority of consumers are sophisticated and label “100% juice” has only limited influence on them.

Figure 5: Response on whether consumption of 100% juice is associated with less disease risk.

Figure 6: Responses on which of the juice types is the healthiest. Thus, we conclude that irrespectively of the buying choices, respondents consider 100% juice as a healthy option, but not the best one for their diet.
III. Frequency of 100% juice consumption As it is shown in the Figure 7 the majority of respondents consume juice once (46%) or twice (29%) a day. At the same time, more than 80% of respondents buy 100% juice at least once a week and 29% of the respondents buy it every day. This statistics shows that juice is an important part of the diet for the participants of this studyand that 100% is popular.

Figure 7: Daily consumption of juice.

Figure 8: Frequency of 100% purchase. In order to assess whether there exist difference in the frequency of 100% juice purchase between genders we conduct one-way ANOVA test which had shown that on average males purchase 100% juice more often than women (see Appendix B for test results). Similar test for the difference in age groups has shown that this difference is insignificant. Moreover, ANOVA test for the difference in the purchase frequency between different employment groups has shown that there is no significant difference between students and employed individuals which means that 100% fruit juice is a quite universal product and it is popular among different social groups.
IV. Labelling and other factors that affect choice of 100% juice Figure 9 shows that the two main factors that consumers consider when they choose 100% juices are price and quality. Therefore, to make consumers choose their brand of juice, manufacturers may try to create image of a high-quality for a lower-priced product. This image creation is possible since quality perception is subjective and can be influenced by advertising and labelling. Therefore, next we consider consumer attitude towards 100% juice labels.

Figure 9: Factors that affect type of 100% juice choice. As it is shown in the Figure 10, only about 37% of respondents has claimed that they always or usually refer to the 100% juice label. At the same time only 40% of respondents claimed that it was it is easy to understand 100% juice labels (Figure 11). Moreover, less than a third of respondents claimed that they often pay attention to the labels (Figure 12).Thus, we conclude that the majority of consumers are indifferent between fruit juice labels.

Figure 10: Referring to 100% juice label.

Figure 11: Response on whether it is easy to understand 100% juice labels.

Figure 12: Response on how often consumers compare labels.
However, this indifference is only partly explained by the level of belief in the nutritional information provided by the labels since two thirds of respondents believe this information (Figure 13).

Figure 13: Belief in the nutrition information on the labels.

V. 100% juice and buying behaviour As figure 14 suggests, despite the fact that previous investigation has shown that consumers are mostly indifferent towards labelling of fruit juices, they are ready to pay more for 100% juice. In particular, 72% of respondents answered that they are ready to pay more.

Figure 14: Readiness to pay more for 100% juice. Curiously, but at the same time only 54% of respondents admit that their buying behavior is influenced by the “100% juice” label (Figure 15).

Figure 15: Response to whether “100% juice” label affects buying behavior. Thus, we conclude that consumers often may underestimate the influence of product labels on their buying behavior.

8. Conclusion and recommendations: The survey that was conducted in this study has made it possible to make several conclusions. Firstly, the majority of consumers perceive 100% juice as a component of healthy diet, but not many believe that it can actually help to prevent diseases. Moreover, the majority of consumers regard freshly squeezed juice as a healthier alternative to 100% juice. Secondly, it was discovered that juice is an important component of regular diet for the majority of respondents. Moreover, more than 80% of the respondents buy 100% juice at least once a week which means that this type of juice is popular, probably due to the optimal combination of price and quality. It should be also mentioned that no significant differences were discovered in the frequency is 100% juice consumption between the different social groups. Thirdly, it was discovered that, although absolute majority of respondents admitted that that the two main factors that influence their decision of juice are price and quality, the respondents claimed that they are mostly indifferent about nutrition labels and 100% labels. Moreover, about a third of the respondents do not even believe the information in the nutrition labels. Finally, it was discovered that the majority of consumers are ready to pay higher price for the 100% juice, although only a smaller share admitted that their choices may be influenced by such label. Thus, we conclude that 100% juice label does not have significant systematicinfluence on theconsumer choices. The two factors that have highest importance for juice choice are price and quality while branding and nutrition labelling have only limited influence. However, it was also discovered that consumers are ready to pay more for 100% juice which implies that this label may have influence on occasional choices of juice. In terms of managerial advice we would recommend Tropicana to lower prices for its juices to make them a better deal for consumers since they are already percept as of high quality. In terms of marketing advice, we believe that no action from market regulators is currently required. Finally, to mention the limitations of this study, we note that it has primarily considered young population. Moreover, further studies on the topic may consider comparing different types of juices rather than concentrating on only one type.

9. Appendix A: Survey 1. What age category applies to you? 18-24 25-35 36-45 46 or over
2. What is your gender?
Male Female
3. Please tick if you are :
Student Full-time employed Part-time employed Unemployed
4. Would you consider yourself as a health conscious person? Yes No 5. Do you think 100% fruit juice consumption is associates with better diet? Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree None
6. Do you think drinking 100% fruit juice lowers disease risk? Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree None
7. How many times do you take juice daily?
Once Twice More than twice None
8. Which type of juice do you think is healthier ?
From concentrate Not from concentrate Freshly squeezed
100% fruit juice
9. How often do you purchase 100% fruit juice?
Every day Once a week Once in a month Never

10. How often do you refer to 100% fruit juice labels? Never Occasionally Always Rarely Usually 11. Please select the 5 main factors influence the type of 100% fruit juice you buy:
Being branded Price
Being supermarket own brand Quality
Nutritional value Appearance Contains juicy bits Does not contain bits 12. Will you pay more if the nutrition label is stated “100% fruit juice”? Yes No 13. Do you compare product information labels to decide which juice to buy? Never Always Occasionally 14. Do you think is ethical to use labels such as “100% fruit juice” on products that does not contain any real fruits in them? Yes No 15. How easy to understand do you think the labels of 100% fruit juice are? Easy Neither easy nor difficult Difficult Don’t know 16. Is the level of sugar important to you when looking at fruit juice labels? Yes No

17. What information is most important when looking at fruit juice labels?
Fiber Contains vitamins Energy Fat Sugar Protein 18. Do you believe the nutrition information provided on fruit juices labels? Strongly agree Agree None Strongly disagree Disagree 19. Does the nutrition information on the 100% fruit juice label affect your buying behaviour? Yes No

Thank you for participating in our research

10. AppendixB:Statistical tests results ANOVA test on difference in the frequency of 100% juice purchases between genders: ANOVA test on difference in the frequency of 100% juice purchases between age groups:

ANOVA test on difference in the frequency of 100% juice purchases between employment groups:

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