Michael Katz, an M.S. candidate and research assistant with the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Connecticut has been looking into consumer preferences for local and organic labeling in certain specialty crops in Connecticut.
As part of his work towards his graduate degree, Katz is working on a research project with assistant professors Ben Campbell and Yizao Liu through a grant from the USDA/CT Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant program.
With a talk entitled, “How Local and Organic Labeling Influences Consumers,” Katz examined choice experiments in conjunction with eye-tracking technology.
“It is essential in business to understand consumer preferences and try to predict what the consumer will demand in the future,” he says. “Eye-tracking technology provides another data point for analysts to use in an attempt to capture consumer attention in a highly competitive environment. This is evidenced by the many firms currently using eye-tracking technology.”
Katz explained how eye-tracking technology works and how it can be a very useful tool in helping to understand the consumer and be used by industry professionals to expand their brand.
“Additionally, while my data was preliminary, both the choice experiment data and eye-tracking data show that labels do tend to have some positive effect on consumers,” he says.
Campbell, who is Katz’ faculty advisor, has been working with his student for close to a year on this research.
“Mike was chosen to deliver the presentation as this is his project, and I could think of no one better to give the talk,” he says. “The work focuses on understanding the consumers and how they make decisions. The first thing that has to happen is for a consumer to see a product. Given the drive by many shoppers to consume more local product, understanding how consumers see local labeling is extremely important.”
Part of Katz’ presentation also addressed future research that sparked interest from those attending.
“Studies using eye-tracking technology in the produce field have really just reached the tip of the iceberg,” he says. “Whether it be from continued funding through grants or working with industry professionals, we hope to continue researching important topics in the produce industry using eye-tracking technology.”
Other key talking points were that technology is becoming more prominent within not only research but also in how businesses use these technologies to make more informed decisions; and local logos are more eye-catching than words, which is important given consumers make purchasing decisions extremely fast.
“I hope that after my talk people felt more informed on what eye-tracking technology is and how it can be used to increase information on the consumer,” Katz says. “Additionally, while I hope they understood the structure and purpose of my research I also hope they started to form ideas about how they could use eye-tracking technology and research in their line of work.”
Source: PerishableNews.com
