Marija Banović

Consumers as co-creators of new product ideas: An application of projective and creative research techniques

Involving consumers in the process of modification and creation of new food products has been recently identified as a vital factor for new product development. However, little attention has been devoted to consumer-generated product solutions, and instead, researchers continue to view new product development process as a firm-centred activity. This study uses projective and creative research techniques to involve consumers in the process of modification and creation of new aquaculture product ideas. We provide guidelines for the use of these techniques in the new product development process, as well as managerial and practical implications for the future development of new aquaculture products.

Consumer perceptions of farmed fish: A cross-national segmentation in five European countries

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate possible cross-cultural consumer segments in the EU aquaculture market and provide direction and focus for marketing strategies for farmed fish products. Design/methodology/approach Selected psychographic constructs (i.e. category involvement, domain-specific innovativeness, subjective knowledge, suspicion of novelties and optimistic bias) are tested as segmentation basis with the objective of defining a number of cross-border consumer segments with distinctive and clear-cut profiles in terms of consumer perceptions towards farmed fish. Findings Based on the consumer psychographic profiles, three distinct segments are found: involved traditional, involved innovators and ambiguous indifferent, of which the first two constitute especially interesting targets for market positioning strategies for aquaculture products. Practical implications The results of the segmentation analysis opens new horizons in terms of positioning and differentiation of fish products from the aquaculture industry according to the most important potential market segments. Originality/value The current research brings insights into different pan-European consumer segments and their characteristics that allow for a corresponding differentiation strategy within the aquaculture industry. The fact that the segments tend to be uniform across all countries suggests a relatively homogeneous or converging European fish-related culture.