Complexity of Consumer Perception: Thoughts on Pre–Product Launch Research

Abstract The complexity of consumer perception of food products is still underestimated. Simply determining a product's averaged pleasantness in a single test may not be the best way to predict the product's future in the market. Not only is there a multitude of aspects and their mutual interactions that come into play, but the relationship between the consumer and the product also changes over repeated exposure, and these changes often determine the duration of the product's life cycle in the market. Predicting these changes over repeated exposure is probably more important than the momentary appreciation of the product on which most market research is based nowadays. The role of “collative properties,” like perceived complexity, in the development of liking over exposure is discussed, and methods for predicting these changes and for the introduction of the product into the market are described. The effects of these methods on the possibility of producing more durable products are indicated.