CONSUMER ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR IN RELATION TO CRAFT BEER PACKAGE: FOCUS GROUPS AND CONJOINT ANALYSIS

The beer consumption in Brazil is expanding, as well as the consumption of craft beers. To ensure the success of the product on the market it is necessary to know consumer behavior and attitudes regarding craft beers, in order to guide the growth of Brazilian market for these beverages. The objective of this work was to understand consumers' thoughts and attitudes about craft beer packaging using focus group sessions and apply the modified choice-based conjoint analysis (MCBCA) to propose the optimal packaging for craft beer with added pink pepper. Three focus group sessions were held with 26 beer consumers to investigate consumer opinions on craft beer packaging. Then, three important factors in the decision process to purchase craft beer were selected as a result of the sessions, which were studied in two levels in the MCBCA, applied to assess the impact of these factors on consumers’ choice. Eight packaging images were created, based on a complete factorial design, which were shown to 144 consumers, and each of the consumers should choose to purchase only one packaging. The focus group sessions demonstrated that, for most participants, the most relevant factors on beer packaging and their levels were: label color ("yellow with writing in brown" / "brown with writing in pink"), label ("dished" / "rectangular") and label illustration ("pink pepper" / "barley and hops"). According to MCBCA, the "dished" and "barley and hops" levels were of importance so that the packaging was more likely to be purchased by consumers. The label color did not influence the choice of consumers, however, the observed and estimated choice probabilities of the packaging that contained the level "brown with writing in pink" was higher than that of treatment with the level "yellow with writing in brown". By using focus group sessions as a preliminary step of the study of beer packaging and by applying MCBCA, we concluded that the packaging for the craft beer which was the most likely to be chosen by the consumers would have the label containing the following characteristics: color "brown with writing in pink", format "dished" and "barley and hops" illustration.