An Analysis of the Decision Structure for Food Innovation on the Basis of Consumer Age

Food innovations have high failure rates. One reason is due to not understanding what motivates consumers’ product selections. This study analyzes consumer decision making strategies according to age ranges and their preferences for novel food products. Utilizing the means-end chain theory, our results show age is not a factor in consumption decisions with familiar products. However, the structure becomes more complex in the case of novel food items, especially among young consumers