The Sense and Nonsense of Consumer Product Testing reviews the classic issue of product taste testing based on recent advancements made in psychology, neuroscience, and marketing, on how sensory cues affect product judgments. The authors: examine the implications that the five different sensory modalities (the olfactory, auditory, tactile, gustatory and visual systems) interact with each other, rather than exert independent influences, to define a customer's experience; propose that since consumers are unaware of the influence of a range of stimuli on their judgments and experience, they cannot explicate them, creating methodological challenges for managers to collect valid and reliable consumer insights regarding the consumers' experience; propose that the methodological paradigm of taste testing can be used to examine the effect of strategic and tactical marketing mix decisions. The goal of this monograph is to use the taste-test as a paradigm to understand how consumers make a range of sensory decisions combining intrinsic product information with the information available in the environment -- specifically the research testing context. The Sense and Nonsense of Consumer Product Testing yields reliable insights for managers that would be elusive using standard survey techniques, and adds to the nascent, but growing, literature in marketing on how sensory product experience is multi-modal.

Experts from around the world present changes in the global marketplace and developments in research methodologies underpinning new product development (NPD) in this essential collection. The business and marketing aspects of NPD, sometimes neglected in books of this type, are addressed alongside methods for product testing.Trends, processes and perspectives in consumer-driven NPD in the food and personal care product industries are addressed in the opening chapters of the book. Specific topics include evolution in food retailing and advances in concept research. Hedonic testing is the focus of the next section. Different viewpoints on consumer research methods and statistics for NPD are reviewed in later chapters. The final part of the book looks towards the future of innovation, covering the implications for NPD of topics such as human genetic variation in taste perception and neuroimaging.Several chapters are not standard scientific articles. Rather they are written records of conversations between two people on a particular topic related to consumer-driven innovation in foods and personal care products. In them the interviewees speak freely about their views and experiences in NPD, providing unique insights.Consumer-driven innovation in food and personal care products will broaden readers' understanding of the many approaches available to NPD personnel and ways in which they can be used to support innovation activities. - Provides expert insight into the changes in the global market place and developments in research methodologies underpinning NPD - Examines the business and marketing aspects of NPD, sometimes neglected in books of this type, are addressed alongside methods for product testing - Chapters review the different viewpoints on consumer research methods and statistics for NPD

This volume focuses on the abuse of statistical inference in scientific and statistical literature, as well as in a variety of other sources, presenting examples of misused statistics to show that many scientists and statisticians are unaware of, or unwilling to challenge the chaotic state of statistical practices.;The book: provides examples of ubiquitous statistical tests taken from the biomedical and behavioural sciences, economics and the statistical literature; discusses conflicting views of randomization, emphasizing certain aspects of induction and epistemology; reveals fallacious practices in statistical causal inference, stressing the misuse of regression models and time-series analysis as instant formulas to draw causal relationships; treats constructive uses of statistics, such as a modern version of Fisher's puzzle, Bayesian analysis, Shewhart control chart, descriptive statistics, chi-square test, nonlinear modeling, spectral estimation and Markov processes in quality control.

Practical reference on the latest sensory and consumer evaluation techniques available to professionals and academics working in food and consumer goods product development and marketing This unique manual describes how to implement specific sensory and consumer methods based on context and objective. Presented in a direct and straightforward language that will speak to the industry professionals and academics who are on the ground attempting to solve technical questions, it reviews, step by step, the various stages of a product evaluation. Included are practical examples from many industries that practitioners can relate to. The book also shows how to build a sustainable short-, medium-, and long-term product evaluation strategy, and guides readers on how to create customized methods, or even completely new approaches. Consumer and Sensory Evaluation Techniques speaks to management and decision-makers within organizations and addresses the main questions (eg: "How much will it cost?" and "How quickly can it be achieved?") that are faced when developing and testing new products before a launch. Chapters cover: the pillars of good consumer and sensory studies; sensory profile of a product: mapping internal sensory properties; the foundations of consumer evaluation; study plans and strategy—sustainable short, mid and long-term vision; real-life anticipation with market factors: concept, price, brand, market channel; and internal studies versus sub-contracting. Uses examples from multiple sectors to show how to build a sustainable product evaluation strategy Analyses the critical milestones to follow and the pitfalls to avoid Supports the decision-making process while developing fast yet robust test strategies that will increase the likelihood of a product's success Consumer and Sensory Evaluation Techniques is the perfect resource for students, faculty and professionals working in product development, including formulators and marketers.

My studies on the "uncertain consumer" began with a research project c- ducted by the Dr. Rainer Wild-Stiftung - Foundation for healthy nutrition - on the negative image of processed food. Ever since then I have been asked whether or not growing consumer uncertainty is linked to information po- cies of the food sector and if so, how. Intensive three-year research showed that industrial methods of food production are predestined to result in wayward fears and worry over its healthiness. This is due to the fact that during the process of industrialisation, we gradually passed responsibility for the quality of food into the producers' hands. This, in turn, has resulted in information gaps that we, as the addressees of diverse, often overwhelming and contrad- tory information supplied by varying sources, feel today. We exchanged the daily search for food for the daily search for information long ago. Con- quently, a practical concept for public relations stands at the end of my - search into the uncertain consumer. It accounts for uncertainty regarding processed food as a point of reference for public relations targeted towards various groups. Public relations oriented towards the future calls for the sharing of expert information with all interested consumers. It is the goal of businesses to actively build up trust among the consumers in order to be prepared for new causes for uncertainty appearing periodically. To this day the issue of consumer uncertainty has not lost its topicality.

What is sensory marketing and why is it interesting and also important? Krishna defines it as marketing that engages the consumers’ senses and affects their behaviors. In this edited book, the authors discuss how sensory aspects of products, i.e., the touch , taste, smell, sound, and look of the products, affect our emotions, memories, perceptions, preferences, choices, and consumption of these products. We see how creating new sensations or merely emphasizing or bringing attention to existing sensations can increase a product’s or service’s appeal. The book provides an overview of sensory marketing research that has taken place thus far. It should facilitate sensory marketing by practitioners and also can be used for research or in academic classrooms.