Consumer Sentiments and Emotions in New Seafood Product Concept Development: A Co-Creation Approach Using Online Discussion Rooms in Croatia, Italy and Spain

Abstract

Growing Mediterranean seafood consumption, increasing consumers’ awareness of food safety and quality, and changing food lifestyles are leading to the development of new food products. However, the majority of new food products launched on the market are expected to fail within the first year. One of the most effective ways to enhance new product success is by involving consumers during the first phases of New Product Development (NPD), using the so-called co-creation approach. Based on data collected through online discussion rooms, two new seafood product concepts—sardine fillets and sea burgers—were evaluated by a set of potential consumers in three Mediterranean countries—Italy, Spain, and Croatia. Textual information was analyzed by first using the topic modeling technique. Then, for each main topic identified, sentiment scores were calculated, followed by the identification of the main related emotions that were evoked. Overall, consumers seem to positively evaluate both proposed seafood product concepts, and three recurrent positive emotions (trust, anticipation, joy) were identified in relation to the main topics aroused during the discussions. The results of this study will be useful to guide future researchers and actors in this industry in the next development steps of the targeted seafood products in Mediterranean countries.

Consumer Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Clams with Sustainability Certification in Mediterranean Countries

“…The attributes and levels are shown in Tables 1 and 2. The attributes and their corresponding levels for this study were chosen based on a qualitative study conducted online with consumers from the three countries: Croatia, Italy, and Spain (PRIZEFISH project deliverable 5.2.1 "Consumer Analysis Report" (document available at https://programming1 4-20.italy-croatia.eu/web/prizefish/docs-and-tools (accessed on 8 June 2023) [61]. Participants were asked to rate a list of attributes that were particularly important to them when buying clams.…”