Identifying Unmet Demand

Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-2011

Abstract

Brand preferences and marketplace demand are a reflection of the importance of underlying needs of consumers and the efficacy of product attributes for delivering value. Dog owners, for example, may look to dog foods to provide specific benefits for their pets (e.g., shiny coats) that may not be available from current offerings. An analysis of consumer wants for these consumers would reveal weak demand for product attributes resulting from low efficacy, despite the presence of strong latent interest. The challenge in identifying such unmet demand is in distinguishing it from other reasons for weak preference, such as general noninterest in the category and heterogeneous tastes. We propose a model for separating out these effects within the context of conjoint analysis, and we demonstrate its value with data from a national survey of toothpaste preferences. Implications for product development and reformulation are explored.

Keywords

unmet demand, heterogeneous variable selection, conjoint analysis, Bayesian hierarchical model

Discipline

Marketing

Research Areas

Marketing

Publication

Marketing Science

Volume

30

Issue

1

First Page

61

Last Page

73

ISSN

0732-2399

Identifier

10.1287/mksc.1100.0589

Publisher

INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences)

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.1100.0589

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS