E. Ginon, Y. Lohéac, C. Martin, S. Issanchou*

INRA-UMR-FLAVIC, Dijon, France;  Sylvie.Issanchou@remove-this.dijon.inra.fr

The aim was to assess the impact of fibre information on consumer willingness to pay for French baguettes with different hedonic scores.

During a first stage, 123 consumers gave an expected liking score for 14 breads based on the visual and tactile examination of the products then they gave a liking score after tasting each product. In a second stage, 4 of the 14 baguettes were used. Two of them had a high fibre content. The Becker, DeGroot, & Marshak (1964) procedure was used to elicit consumers’ willingness to pay for each baguette under different information conditions. Firstly, the baguettes were presented without any information about their composition and consumers gave their reservation price (i.e. the maximum price they are ready to pay) based on the visual and tactile examination and after tasting. Secondly, consumers were split into 2 groups. Both groups received a general information about bread making and sensory diversity. For each of the 2 baguettes with a high fibre content, it was mentioned ‘source of fibres’. One group also received an information about potential health benefits of fibres. Reservation prices differ between the 2 least liked and the 2 most liked baguettes.

Whatever the group, information has the same effect. Explanations about the potential health benefits of fibres do not increase the impact of information. As expected, price increased for breads with the mention ‘source of fibres’. This effect is similar after visual and tactile examination and, after tasting. However, for younger consumers this effect is smaller for the least liked bread. No decrease of reservation prices was observed for breads with no mention concerning fibres. This study illustrates that a price elicitation method allows to reveal the variability between consumers in the values they give to different attributes for a product with a low monetary value.

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