Seminar to Vineland employees

1. Experimenting with the Senses
Isabelle Lesschaeve
Vineland campus seminar May 6 2010
© 2009 Vineland Research and Innovation Centre

2. Product=
Extrinsic + Intrinsic attributes
Extrinsic: presentation,
brand/variety name, information,
price, etc.
Intrinsic: appearance, smell, texture,
taste, nutritional benefits

3. Information and
Shopping 101 Experience
Expectations Prior Expectations Expectations
raised
lowered
Product: label,
package, ads,
price
low high
Expectations
rejection acceptance
Deliza and MacFie, JSens Stud 11,103, 1996

4. Product Use
Sensory properties
Confirmation or disconfirmation of
expectations
Positive Negative
selection
Repeated Use Rejection
Model for Illustrating the effects of expectations on product selection
and evaluation. Deliza and MacFie, JSens Stud 11,103, 1996

5. Our Research Focus
• Understand factors affecting consumer
interest, purchase and repeated use
– Non sensory
– Sensory

6. Methods
• Measure consumers’ hedonic responses
• Measure sensory attributes
• 2 “instruments”
– Consumer panel
– Trained sensory panel

7. What is a sensory panel?
• A group of
individuals, selected
and trained to
perform sensory
tasks

8. Why do we need a sensory panel?
• Large variation in sensory acuity among
individuals
– Sensory detectors need to cover a large spectrum
of sensations and have a normal detection
threshold
• Ability to describe perceptions
• Being available
• Not involved in the company
Screening

9. Sensory panel
• At the end of the training:
– Panellists are not naïve consumers anymore
– They are calibrated to provide objective, accurate
and repeatable measurements
– Panel
is similar to
a high tech
analytical tool

10. Sensory Panel’s roles
• Determine if products are perceived as being
different:
– Variety comparison
– Wines produced using different process
– Produce with different nutritional content
• If there is a difference:
– How big is it? On which attributes?

11. Sensory practices

12. Vineland panel
• Vinelanders are invited to participate to short
sessions
– Difference tests
385 279 897
– Pilot test questionnaires for consumer tests

13. Consumer panel
• Vineland database
– N=300+
– Active panel recruitment
in Niagara and Ontario
• On-line panel of 3rd parties
• Objective by 2012:
– Vineland database include representative samples
of Canadian hort consumers

14. Sensory preference
Observations (axes F1 and F2: 48.18 %)
15
6 Petroleum
10
Oak 14 10
14% 1
77%
5
3
Smooth
Burning
12 7
0
11
F2 (12.27 %)
5 18 9 Liking
-5
Sweet
9%
-10
16 Lychee
-15
Peas Pepper Floral
-20
-25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
F1 (35.91 %)

15. IdeaMap: Concept testing
How likely are you to CHOOSE this product? on a 9 point scale: 1 = Not at all likely ... 9 = Very Likely
How much would you SPEND on this product (per pound)?
on a 5 point scale: 1= $1.50 or less 2 = $1.51 - $3.00 3 = $3.01 - $4.50 4 = $4.51 - $6.00 5 = $6.01+
© 2010 Vineland Research and Innovation Centre

16. Role of consumer panel
• In-store test

17. © 2009 Vineland Research and Innovation Centre