How Consumers in the UK Value the Coexistence of the Claims Low in Sugar, High in Protein, British, and Instant Porridge

This study highlights the relevance of potential substitution and complementary effects for desirable food attributes. This issue has been overlooked by most of the existing research studies that used choice experiments to investigate consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay for food products with desirable attributes (e.g., “Low Sugar”, “Environmentally Friendly” and “Local”). In this study, we investigate the substitution and complementary effects for porridge oat attributes drawing on data from large choice experiments in the UK. Consumers were found to positively value the individual use of the labels “Low Sugar”, “Moderate Sugar”, “British”, and “Instant”. The results also showed that consumers in the UK positively value the use of the labels “Low Sugar”, “Moderate Sugar”, “British”, and “Scottish” on porridge oats that is also labelled as having high protein content. By contrast, consumers in the UK were found to discount the coexistence of the labels “Low Sugar” and “British”, “Moderate Sugar” and “Instant”, and “High Protein” and “Instant”. We think that the results will provide marketers of healthier breakfast porridges with insights applicable for labelling and pricing strategies that can help them better positioning their products and tailoring more efficient marketing campaigns to meet the needs of healthy minded consumers.