The Impacts of Taste, Location of Origin, and Health Information on Market Demand for Sweet Potatoes

Location of product origin is an often-used marketing device by retailers. This approach is based on the assumption that location of origin signals something to consumers about the underlying quality (or other attributes) of the product. This can be an effective strategy if the signal matches the consumer valuation of the product after consumption. In the same vein, health advertising is used to increase demand for a product that exhibits “healthy” dietary attributes. While there have been numerous studies examining the potential impacts of these attributes on demand, there have been few rigorous studies that examine the consistency of consumer valuations of location of origin before and after they have actually consumed the product (or before and after health advertising). Results show that knowledge of location of origin of sweet potatoes does have an impact on consumer valuation. It was also found that both the information from the taste attribute (experience) and the health attribute (credence) played a significant role in participant valuation.