Är det insidan som räknas? Konsumenters smakupplevelse och beslutsfattande vid konsumtion av vanligt och sockerfritt godis

Sammanfattning: The market for sugar free alternatives is growing and the amount of sugar free candy available is increasing. Sugar free candy is not only tasty, but it also fills a function in counteracting today's overconsumption of sugar. As actors who produce and sell sugar free candy are facing several challenges, broader consumer insight and strategic recommendations are of importance. The purpose of this paper is to generate a broader understanding of consumers' taste experience and decision making in connection with the consumption of regular and sugar free candy. This is investigated by conducting a taste test with two candies of the same sort, where one of them is labeled as "sugar free" and the other one as "regular" in order to evaluate whether the labeling of products affect the perceived taste. The participants of the test thereafter get to decide which of the two candies they would have wanted to consume in different scenarios associated with different emotions, as well as answering a couple of accompanying questions to generate a broader understanding of the participants' decisions. The result from the taste test shows that regular candy is perceived as tastier than sugar free candy, which points towards the conclusion that the participants' expectations affect the perceived taste. The recommendation to actors within the market of sugar free candy is therefore to get consumers to familiarize themselves with sugar free products. Regular candy was further preferred in scenarios associated with positive and/or negative emotions, whilst sugar free candy was preferred in more neutral scenarios. The conclusion is that it varies, depending on the situation at hand, when a consumer wants sugar free or regular candy. Actors within the market of sugar free products should therefore exploit situations where the consumption of regular candy is more restrictive. Lastly, the taste is considered the most important attribute when it comes to candy, which indicates that actors within the market of sugar free candy should develop a candy with an equally as good or even better taste than regular candy, to strengthen their competitiveness.