The Impact of Honey’s Sensory Characteristics on Consumers’ Willingness to Pay

Perception of honey’s sensory characteristics is a topical subject due to the increasing competition in the Russian market. The external characteristics of honey have been well studied by previous authors, but the number of studies of the internal attributes, which are of greater value to consumers, is limited. The aim of the work is to assess the impact of honey’s sensory characteristics on the perceived quality of the product and the willingness to pay for it. To achieve the goal were chosen classical marketing methods (questionnaires and hall tests) and neurobiological methods (electroencephalography). The practical part of the study consisted of two stages: a behavioral experiment and hall tests using electroencephalography. Thanks to the data obtained during the behavioral experiment, we reduced the number of sensory characteristics from 21 to 8, which made it possible to conduct further stages of the study. Electroencephalography has made it possible to design neurometrics that reflect the positive or negative effect of packaging, and to identify a set of factors that affect consumers' willingness to pay. The results of the study will be useful to the employer’s company in order to test honey packaging options before placing them on supermarket shelves.