5.7.1 Including the consumer in product design and process development

It is important that the experimental techniques and objective tests related to the consumer attribute standards are used to connect the study of the different levels of the processing conditions, or different proportions of raw materials, with the rating of the product attributes by the consumer (Saguy and Moskowitz, 1999). Sometimes, it is not possible to identify objective measurements for the consumers' ideals and it is necessary to have the consumers test the experimental products. As consumers may have problems remembering their ideals, they can score on how near the new product prototypes are to their ideal; this consumer testing during design may also identify any unknown factors that may be affecting their acceptance of the product.

There is consumer involvement in the packaging design, and in studying the relationship of the product prototypes to the food behaviour - what are often called 'use' tests. As the designer is reaching the stage of optimisation, the product prototype (or two to three product prototypes) is tested by a larger number of consumers in central location tests. From this the product is optimised and the final prototype developed. This is usually tested for acceptance in a large random consumer test. This building up of the consumer testing in product design and process development (Earle and Earle, 1999) is shown in Table 5.13.


Table 5.12 Consumer testing in product design and process development

Steps Activities Techniques ‘Getting the feel’ Consumer panels Ideal profiles Profile tests Descriptive sensory analysis Multivariate analysis   Product ‘Mock-ups’   ‘Screening prototypes’ Consumer panels Product comparison Difference testing Ranking   Elementary product prototypes   ‘Ball park studies’ Consumer panels Acceptability of attributes Acceptability of products Attribute scoring to ideal Preference panel Hedonic testing   Acceptable product prototypes   ‘Optimisation’ Central location test Consumer panels Product improvement Competitive comparison Food behaviour study Packaging testing Acceptance testing Hedonic comparison In-home use tests Ergonomic testing   Optimum product prototype   ‘Scale-up’ Random consumer test Small buying experiments Consumer panels Buying predictions Commercial product concept Acceptance testing In-depth interviews   Semi-commercial product

Source: After Earle & Earle, 1999.


This scheme is only an indication of the techniques to be used at each stage.

Generally the numbers of consumers taking part increase as the development progresses; there may be only 30 at the 'mock-ups' but gradually building to 200 or more at the last step of scale-up. At this time, samples can be made on pilot plant or semi-production plant so there is product for large-scale consumer testing. It is important that the knowledge about consumers is being built up with the design so that the large-scale testing is a confirmation rather than an unknown. It is possible to measure the design's impact on consumers' product perceptions as the design is developing, so that the product/consumer relationship is known and is optimised. As the product attributes are being built into the design, the consumer is reacting to them and is conveying their perception of them - which may be quite different from that of the designers (Veryzer, 1997)!