Search results

This study aims to propose and demonstrate a practical application of a new three-part holistic sensory evaluation (HSE) method for textiles and apparel based on the senses of sight, touch, hearing and smell. HSE method development was carefully documented, described and successfully applied to evaluate sensory characteristics and consumer perceptions and acceptance of bacterial cellulose (BC), a novel sustainable material for apparel.

In Part One of the HSE method, research participants described the material in their own words based on the senses of sight, touch, hearing and smell. In Part Two, they rated the intensities and their linking for 25 predetermined attributes describing BC. Part Three measured participants’ overall liking of BC and its perceived suitability for apparel and accessories.

Application of the HSE method resulted in an in-depth understanding of BC material. Areas for material improvements and positive characteristics were identified, providing direction for further development. Consumers found BC suitable for accessories and outer-layer garments but not for apparel.

Sensory evaluation of textiles and apparel has traditionally focused on the senses of touch and sight. The new HSE method allows evaluating the full range of sensory characteristics of materials/products and holistically assessing consumer perceptions. The method is especially useful for novel materials and wearable technology. BC has gained increased interests as a novel sustainable material, yet consumer studies have been lacking. This study reports a comprehensive evaluation of BC material from consumer perspective.

This paper aims to explore the impact of the origin of hops on the sensory and hedonic evaluation of highly involved craft beer consumers.

Data was collected through a between-subject tasting experiment, where the origin of hop was manipulated (imported vs locally grown). The craft beer samples used in the experiment were produced using hops of similar age but grown in two distinct places: USA (imported hop) and in the city of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, where the experiment was conducted (locally grown hop). The sensory and hedonic evaluations of highly involved craft beer consumers (n = 100) were collected after tasting the samples.

The origin of hop proved to be significant in affecting participants’ sensory and hedonic evaluations. It was observed that women were more sensitive than men to the origin information: when information was given, differences were found only on men’s scores of dryness/astringency; while in women, significant differences were found not only in dryness/astringency, but also in bitterness and refreshing, which are important attributes in the sensory profile of craft beer. It was also confirmed the effect of localness in hop cultivation, once men’ and women’s scores on liking were higher for the sample brewed with locally grown hop.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work using craft beer brewed with hops cultivated in Brazil and a sample of Brazilian craft beer consumers, therefore, providing a significant contribution to the field of consumer behavior. Furthermore, it adds to the discussion on sex-/gender-related differences regarding sensory expectation and perception of foods.

The symbolic presentation of products through images in online environments allows consumers to use or experience products only through imagination. Existing literature has demonstrated that providing sensory cues is an effective way to promote imaginative use or experience. However, such an approach seems to have been proposed for product that requires the use of body-related information (e.g. sensory information) for evaluation (high body-involving product). There is less literature on how to facilitate consumers’ imaginative use of product that requires relatively less bodily information (low body-involving product). Considering this, this research proposes a factor that influences the imaginative use of both high and low body-involving products, the character cues in the product image.

In this paper, two studies are conducted to verify the matching effect about presence or absence of character cues with product type (high body-involving vs. low body-involving) in facilitating imaginative use and the downstream effect.

The experimental results indicate that high (low) body-involving product display images are suitable for present (absent) character cues, which can promote the mental imagery of use the product, increase perceived image attractiveness and ultimately increase purchase intentions. The research also verified the influence of distance between the product and the character cues on the above effects.

We expand on the importance of character cues in product display images in an e-commerce environment and enrich the research about imaginative use in online environment.

The purpose of the study was to produce a healthier, convenient and traditional ready-to-eat (RTE) snack option with increased nutritional value, using spent hen meat, dietary fibre (DF) and simple technological methods. The product was designed to be stable without refrigeration and be easily adoptable by local self-help groups, rural women and youth and entrepreneurs in urban and semi-urban areas.

Conventional binder used for making snacks, i.e. rice flour was partially replaced by different sources of antioxidant DFs, i.e. oat flour (T₁ – 10%), finger millet flour (T₂ – 5%) and amaranth flour (T₃ –15%) to prepare spent hen snack sticks (SHSS). The snacks were then packaged in low density polyethylene (LDPE) pouches and evaluated for their storage stability at ambient temperature for a period of 35 days. Their physico-chemical, sensory and microbiological quality was evaluated at a regular interval of 7 days. The proximate composition of developed SHSS was compared to commercially available snack products (chakli/murukku – snacks without meat).

The fibre-enriched SHSS showed significant improvement in nutritive value, as they contained more fibre (p = 0.001) and protein (p = 0.029) than control SHSS. When compared to commercially available snack product SHSS showed three-fold significant increase in protein (p = 0.000) and ash content (p = 0.001) and only 11%–12% total fat as compared to 31% fat in the market-available product. The most acceptable treatment in terms of overall sensory quality and nutritional aspects was T₃; however, T₂ was more shelf-stable during the storage period. The study showed that fibre-enriched snacks can be stored at ambient temperature for up to 35 days without substantial loss in physico-chemical, sensory and microbial quality. Hence, substituting rice flour with DFs can lead to the development of products with better sensory attributes and improved functionality.

The simplicity of the product in terms of composition, machinery and low production costs makes it an easily adoptable one by small-scale entrepreneurs, especially those belonging to semi-urban areas.

Incorporation of spent hen meat, a relatively cheap but abundant source of protein, in RTE products can serve as an effective way to alleviate protein malnutrition, whereas addition of fibre further improves the functionality of the product. The methodology can be easily taken up by small-scale entrepreneurs and create a market for snack-based functional meat products.

The purpose of this paper was to examine consumer perceptions of aesthetic attributes of textile-based assistive devices (ADs) and the language used by consumers to express those perceptions and concerns. Previous investigations of user feedback for ADs have largely focused on functional attributes rather than aesthetics.

An interpretivist research philosophy was selected to investigate the meaning behind consumer perceptions and to understand their viewpoints on the aesthetic dimensions of ADs. Using product reviews for two ADs sold on Amazon.com as data, the researchers conducted qualitative data analysis through coding and interpretation of meanings behind reviews to determine consumers’ perceptions related to their ADs.

The authors identified consumer concerns linking to aesthetics evidenced as a multisensory integration of visual, tactile and olfactory cues. Consumer-preferred language used to address aesthetic preferences was found to supplement the literature. Aesthetic considerations were found to be impactful on avoiding stigma and encouraging or discouraging continued use of the devices.

Findings may contribute to the development of textile-based ADs with improved aesthetics to enhance user experiences. New ways of using consumer language to interpret user needs may assist in future research and design practice for consumer products.

The use of consumer product reviews as a rich source of user data is discussed in this paper. As previous research on assistive technology has largely focused on functionality, results of this analysis offer insight into consumers’ aesthetic judgments related to ADs and bring a sensory perspective to the research area.

The purpose of this research is to conduct a theoretical prediction study exploring the effectiveness of different content marketing strategies in expanding the second-hand market for fashion brands, comparing the costs and risks involved in these strategies in practice.

First, the expert interview method is employed to extract the content marketing strategies of the fashion second-hand market. Then, a descriptive space that is able to identify various fashion brand images is established. Then, experts' perceptions of the relationships between content marketing strategies and fashion brand image dimensions are obtained through a subjective evaluation procedure. Data of semantic evaluation were quantified and analyzed using the fuzzy logic method.

When fashion brands expand to the second-hand market, they not only need to focus on improving the individual differentiation of products but also give priority to the quality of products and services and the overall customer experience. Exploring the “social impact strategy” will become an important direction for the development of fashion brands in the future.

The research methodology employed herein exhibits a noteworthy degree of novelty. This study introduces a pioneering theoretical prediction approach utilizing fuzzy logic, marking the inaugural exploration of this emerging and captivating dimension within the context of the study. Simultaneously, the study provides comparative results among content marketing strategies for expanding the fashion second-hand market, offering guidance for market expansion.

In the wine industry, maintaining superior quality standards is crucial to meet the expectations of both producers and consumers. Traditional approaches to assessing wine quality involve labor-intensive processes and rely on the expertise of connoisseurs proficient in identifying taste profiles and key quality factors. In this research, we introduce an innovative and efficient approach centered on the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) signals using an electronic nose, thereby empowering nonexperts to accurately assess wine quality.

To devise an optimal algorithm for this purpose, we conducted four computational experiments, culminating in the development of a specialized deep learning network. This network seamlessly integrates 1D-convolutional and long-short-term memory layers, tailor-made for the intricate task at hand. Rigorous validation ensued, employing a leave-one-out cross-validation methodology to scrutinize the efficacy of our design.

The outcomes of these e-demonstrates were subjected to meticulous evaluation and analysis, which unequivocally demonstrate that our proposed architecture consistently attains promising recognition accuracies, ranging impressively from 87.8% to an astonishing 99.41%. All this is achieved within a remarkably brief timeframe of a mere 4 seconds. These compelling findings have far-reaching implications, promising to revolutionize the assessment and tracking of wine quality, ultimately affording substantial benefits to the wine industry and all its stakeholders, with a particular focus on the critical aspect of VOCs signal analysis.

This research has not been published anywhere else.

This article explores the scientific construction of library olfactory space, based on the case of the olfactory space in the Jiangsu University library. It specifically focuses on understanding the interaction between the physical architectural space of the library and users’ olfactory perception and behavioral activities, with the ultimate goal of creating a deeply integrated olfactory experience in the Jiangsu University Library.

In this article, an empirical research method was used to gather perceptions from 30 university student users regarding the library olfactory space and to understand their olfactory preferences and requirements for its construction. Through qualitative analysis of the interview texts, the study identified correlations between user perceptions and elements of the library olfactory space.

The qualitative analysis of user interview texts and results from the library olfactory space design experiment contributed to the design proposal for the Jiangsu University Library olfactory space. The design proposal for the Jiangsu University Library olfactory space is provided and includes library architecture, activity context, functional services, olfactory experience design and technological applications.

This case study takes the environment, development strategy and user needs of the Jiangsu University Library as its unique research background and as such is not universal or generalizable to other libraries.

This article differs from others by advocating for the innovative architectural spatial design of libraries through olfactory experience, breaking the traditional perception of libraries as solely through visual and auditory senses.

Customer experience management (CXM), which aims to achieve and maintain customers' long-term loyalty, has attracted the attention of many organizations. Improving customer experience management in organizations requires that, first, their relevant capabilities be evaluated. The present study aimed to offer a set of key performance indicators for evaluating customer experience management in commercial banks.

The study, first, attempted to identify the components of evaluating customer experience management by reviewing the related literature and conducting interviews with experts. Then, the extracted components were transformed into assessable metrics using the goal question metric method, and the key performance indicators relevant to customer experience management in commercial banks were selected according to the experts' opinions and the Fuzzy Delphi method.

According to the findings of the study, 21 key performance indicators were identified for customer experience management in commercial banks, and customer satisfaction, the mean number of calls to resolve an issue in customer journey touchpoints, the NPS, and the ratio of the budget allocated to the CXM department to the budget of the marketing department were found as the most significant performance indicator according to banking experts.

The present study was among the first research projects intended to evaluate CXM and offer key performance indicators that could help the managers of commercial banks assess the maturity levels of their CXM.

This paper aims to uncover patterns of Mexican craft beer consumers and guide companies’ decisions in the creation of new products, marketing strategies, advertising and promotion to increase craft beer sales and contribute to faster growth.

This is a conjoint analysis with a selection of attributes for new or renewed products, marginal disposition to pay for particular characteristics through brand-specific choice-based design, and market simulation.

This paper clearly demonstrates consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay in Mexico, with a cutting-edge market research technique combining the prioritization of preferred craft beer characteristics, and the price consumers are willing to pay for such product characteristics.

The study's sample size of 501 responses is relatively small compared to the total number of craft beer consumers in Mexico. To enhance the validity and reliability of the findings, future studies should aim to obtain larger samples and compare their results with those of this study.

This study has important implications for craft beer producers, allowing them to develop targeted craft beers with appealing attributes for Mexican consumers, such as color, aroma intensity, alcohol degree intensity, bitterness, foam level and price.

This study's market forecasting simulation technique is based on assumptions of consumer behavior and market dynamics. Although relevant variables were considered, unanticipated external factors or market changes could impact the forecasts' accuracy. This will allow for a more comprehensive understanding of craft beer consumer preferences in different markets and enhance the reliability of forecasting techniques.

This paper informs craft beer producers by providing valuable knowledge on customers’ preferences and willingness to pay to enhance craft beer companies’ product development processes.