The role of ritual communication in consumption: A consumer coffee experience

Rituals are part of the consumer experience of goods, especially food and drink, and can contribute to consumer enjoyment of and fidelity to a specific product. However, we lack detailed description of food/beverage-related rituals and their potential impact on consumer perceptions, in particular wh...

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Main Author: Nathalie Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Intellect 2023-11-01
Series:International Journal of Food Design
Subjects:
Online Access:https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/ijfd_00067_1
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author Nathalie Martin
author_facet Nathalie Martin
author_sort Nathalie Martin
collection DOAJ
description Rituals are part of the consumer experience of goods, especially food and drink, and can contribute to consumer enjoyment of and fidelity to a specific product. However, we lack detailed description of food/beverage-related rituals and their potential impact on consumer perceptions, in particular whether and how communicating those rituals to consumers influences their attitudes. Here we use coffee as an example of a ritualized product within the UK market to explore this potential relationship and identify opportunities for design. In Study 1, we identified rituals associated with coffee preparation and consumption. In Study 2, we found that several procedural aspects of the rituals identified in Study 1 were not consistently conveyed in coffee advertising, indicating a potential gap in communication with consumers. In Study 3, we showed that communicating such rituals to consumers resulted in significantly greater willingness to pay for coffee, mediated by perceptions of social attention. This work connects growing interest in the psychological mechanisms of ritual with work on consumer perceptions and behaviour and carries significant implications for the design of messaging around food experience.
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spelling doaj-art-e0de0026d945446a97feb87a070fbbf62025-08-20T02:41:18ZengIntellectInternational Journal of Food Design2056-65222056-65302023-11-019221924310.1386/ijfd_00067_1http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/ijfd/9/2The role of ritual communication in consumption: A consumer coffee experienceNathalie Martin0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2086-3773ISNI: 0000000110930349 Nestlé ResearchRituals are part of the consumer experience of goods, especially food and drink, and can contribute to consumer enjoyment of and fidelity to a specific product. However, we lack detailed description of food/beverage-related rituals and their potential impact on consumer perceptions, in particular whether and how communicating those rituals to consumers influences their attitudes. Here we use coffee as an example of a ritualized product within the UK market to explore this potential relationship and identify opportunities for design. In Study 1, we identified rituals associated with coffee preparation and consumption. In Study 2, we found that several procedural aspects of the rituals identified in Study 1 were not consistently conveyed in coffee advertising, indicating a potential gap in communication with consumers. In Study 3, we showed that communicating such rituals to consumers resulted in significantly greater willingness to pay for coffee, mediated by perceptions of social attention. This work connects growing interest in the psychological mechanisms of ritual with work on consumer perceptions and behaviour and carries significant implications for the design of messaging around food experience.https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/ijfd_00067_1experience designconsumer psychologycommunication designritual designadvertisingperception
spellingShingle Nathalie Martin
The role of ritual communication in consumption: A consumer coffee experience
International Journal of Food Design
experience design
consumer psychology
communication design
ritual design
advertising
perception
title The role of ritual communication in consumption: A consumer coffee experience
title_full The role of ritual communication in consumption: A consumer coffee experience
title_fullStr The role of ritual communication in consumption: A consumer coffee experience
title_full_unstemmed The role of ritual communication in consumption: A consumer coffee experience
title_short The role of ritual communication in consumption: A consumer coffee experience
title_sort role of ritual communication in consumption a consumer coffee experience
topic experience design
consumer psychology
communication design
ritual design
advertising
perception
url https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/ijfd_00067_1
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