A juicy future for functional beverages

: analysis of the main drivers of the purchase intention for functional fruit and vegetable mixed juices in Italy : evaluating consumer attitudes, demographics and segmentation

Abstract

Consumer's changing beverage habits and their demand for healthier drinks with 'functional' benefits resulted in the launch of an innovative drink: functional fruit and vegetable mixed juices. Launching a new product in the food category is always challenging, and in order to be successful, product development needs to be guided by concept testing and consumer research. In this context, this study firstly investigates the socio-demographic and attitudinal factors able to predict Italian's purchase intention for this new product and secondly, it verifies the existence of homogeneous groups of consumers based on the importance given to different product features. Based on the review of the existing academic literature on Functional Food, in-depth interviews have been conducted as well as 152 responses to an online survey. Findings show that the main factors influencing the purchasing intention for this product are gender and attitude towards convenience. The analysis emphasizes that although the product is still unfamiliar, there is a high acceptance of the product idea with 51 % favorable answers of the concept testing. The work also provides a segmentation of the sample based on the different importance given to product-related characteristics.

Date of Award	18 Jul 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Miguel Fontes Casegas Correia Rita (Supervisor)