POTATO CHIPS

About Our Experiment

Four brands of chips

Blind and non-blind taste tests

Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1 Consumers' taste

ratings for the same potato chips will
differ when the product brand is made
apparent and when not.

Hypothesis 2 The majority of

consumers will not be able to
distinguish the difference between
brands purely
through a taste
test.

Variables
Independent
Flavor
Brand
Packaging
Texture/Structure
of Chip

Dependant

Taste Preference

Brand Preference

Characteristic Preference

Procedure
Experimentation set-up: Samples were
placed on numbered paper plates
(numbers 1 to 4) in order from left to
right.
Pre-experiment debriefing:
Participants in groups of 4 or 5. Experiment
done.
Experiment execution: After concluding
the second tasting, surveyors were asked
to complete the final form.

Click icon to add picture

Surveys

Survey #1
1) How would you rate the aroma of the chip?
Very Bad
Very Good
Chip 1:

Chip 2:

Chip 3:

Chip 4:

2) How would you rate the thickness of the chip?

Chip 1:

Too thin

Just Right

Too Thick

Dont Care

Chip 2:

Too thin

Just Right

Too Thick

Dont Care

Chip 3:

Too thin

Just Right

Too Thick

Dont Care

Chip 4:

Too thin

Just Right

Too Thick

Dont Care

Survey #2
What brand of chips do you usually purchase? Why?
Lays
Old Dutch
Tims
No Name
Other, Please specify: __________________
_____________________________________________________________________

Rank the top 3 factors that would influence your purchase:

Physical Appearance of the ChipVariety of Flavors
Thickness
Crispiness

Packaging

Taste
Sound

Pricing

Smell

Convenience
Nutrition Levels
Others, Please Specify

Results
Results without seeing brand

Generally high scores

Scores are scattered

Difficult to distinguish

preference

Results with seeing brand

Scores are closer to each

other

Change in aroma and

thickness

scores
Pattern in the scores

Purchase Intention
Purchase Intention Chip 1 (Lays)

Purchase Intention Chip 4 (No-name)

4.5

4.5

3.5
3

3.2

3.28

Blind Test
Non-Blind Test

3.5
3

Rating 2.5

Rating 2.5

1.5

1.5

0.5

0.5

Blind Test

2.96
2.51

Non-Blind Test

Purchase intention scores are based on survey questions 6 & 9

Scores from the blind and non-blind test are compared
Slight increases in purchase intention for the Lays brand
Similar results for other branded chips such as Old Dutch
Intention decreases for generic branded chips
Respondents are less likely to purchase generic branded chips

Brand Identification
Brand Identification
(Of consumer-indicated favorites included in survey)

Incorrectly
Identified

38%
63%

Limitations

Population:

Participants:

Sample size
Population uniform
Hypothesis guessing
Un-isolated participants

Experiment set-up:

Variety of Brands
Tasting order
Flavor variety

Experiment Recap
Results

Increasing purchase
intentions for Lays,
decreasing purchase
intentions for Tims and
no-name

Participants could not

identify their preferred
brand when blindfolded

Inferences

Consumer preference
is heavily reliant on
the brand

Consumers cant
distinguish chip
brands by taste alone

Managerial Implications

Thanks for Listening!