Consumer Tradeoffs between Perishable Product Attributes

The present study investigates how consumers evaluate particular characteristics of grocery perishable products. Two important characteristics of perishables, the expiration date and price, and two value adding concepts, namely quality guarantees and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, are presented to consumers as perishable product attributes. Based on an experimental design, consumers are asked to evaluate perishable product alternatives with varying levels of these attributes. Using conjoint analysis, the relative importance that consumers place on each attribute is examined. Moreover, the effect of product category (milk and chicken), evaluation criterion (trust and purchase intention), situational factors (shopping trip type) and individual traits (price consciousness, trust disposition and CSR attributions) on the importance that consumers place on each attribute is examined. Results show that all four attributes are important for consumers and their importance is affected by different factors. Managerial implications regarding price discrimination and effective promotional strategies for perishables are provided.