Modelling consumers’ choice of novel food

Overview

Who: Dawne Skinner, John Blake

Published: August 28, 2023

Where: PLOS ONE

Key Takeaway: Consumer demand for cultured meat will depend on product price and utility

Research Topics: other

Summary

Dawne Skinner and John Blake use a demand forecasting model to predict how consumer demand for a cultured ground beef product would vary based on a variety of factors, including product cost, utility, marketing, and word of mouth. Their model uses previous studies on consumers’ awareness of and willingness to try and purchase cultured meat. The model shows that price and the customer’s utility for the product drive consumer demand more than marketing strategies. Price, in particular, is found to dictate the speed of diffusion and adoption, with market saturation reached within the 32-week trial period only when the price matches traditional products. The authors acknowledge that limited consumer data exists to date and that all data is based on consumers who have not yet tried a cultured meat product. Therefore, the model should be updated as more data becomes available. However, the authors anticipate trends described by the existing model will hold true. This is the first model to consider the variety of factors that influence consumer decisions to try and buy novel foods.

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