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AFE researches what flowers young adults prefer |
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Written by American Floral Endowment
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Aug. 24, 2011 - Research conducted at the University of Florida and
circulated by the American Floral Endowment examined what combination of
flower fragrance and colour is preferred by young adult consumers.
Here's what the study found:
RESEARCHERS
Tracy
A. Irani, Professor, Department of Agricultural Education and Communication
Dave Clark, Professor, Department of Environmental Horticulture
Becky
Raulerson, Research Coordinator
Deidra Slough, Graduate Student
BACKGROUND
Consumer trends in the floriculture
market indicate that there is a need to introduce young adults ages 18-25 to
floral products. There is an
industry need to examine this audience segment, commonly referred to as
“generation Y”, not only in terms of buying trends but also to determine what
factors influence their purchasing and retail shopping behavior.
The purpose of this project is to look
at the relationship of two of the most important floral characteristics,
fragrance and colour, in order to determine the most appealing combination for
young adults, as well as assess how important flower fragrance is for these
consumers.
METHODS/MATERIALS
An innovation of this project was the
use of facial recognition software. Facial recognition software uses computer
algorithms and facial modeling to analyze facial expression on the basis of six
expressive states ranging from “happy” to “sad.” These states combine to create a measure of emotional
response, called hedonic response.
To complete this project, two studies
were conducted. N=86 college aged subjects were in the first study and N=121
were in the second. In study 1,
subjects were randomly assigned to one of ten experimental booths containing a
computer monitor that displayed a set of instructions for smelling a series of
four of the most common flower fragrances--sweet, spicy, rosy, citrusy—which
were derived from natural flower scents.
Subjects were asked to choose which of the four fragrances they
preferred, then the colour of flower they most preferred from a selection list
of five most commonly available choices. Next, subjects were asked to select
their preference from 20 possible combinations of fragrance and colour.
In study 2, subjects were again
randomized to one of the ten experimental booths. This time, they received a set of Styrofoam cups with lids
that contained five fragrance colour combinations (representing most and least
preferred) from the previous experiment and asked to smell them. Subjects were then asked about their
response to the treatments as well as which treatment they preferred.
RESULTS
It was hypothesized that subjects in
experiment one would prefer more novel combinations of fragrance and
colour. When asked, 66% of subjects
(n=57) had a fragrance preference for flowers, while 79.1% had a colour
preference. 20.9
% of respondents indicated that they prefer flowers that are red and the same
percent indicated that they prefer flowers that are pink. 17.4% indicated that
they prefer yellow, 16.3% prefer purple, 8.1% prefer white flowers, and 16.15
prefer flowers of other colours such as orange or blue. 44.0% of respondents indicated that
they prefer flowers with a sweet scent while 35.7% prefer rosy fragrances.
Citrusy fragrances, spicy fragrances, and other fragrances capture 8.3%, 6.0%,
and 6.0% of respondent’s preferences respectively. However, in
the second experiment, when provided with the actual standardized fragrances to
physically smell, data shows that respondents prefer rosy, sweet and citrusy
scents equally with 28.2% of the vote to each scent. The spicy fragrance lags
behind at 15.3%.
We then analyzed colour and fragrance
preferences to determine preferred fragrance/colour combinations, and used the
top five combinations, plus a control with no colour or fragrance to find out what
subjects responded to emotionally and what they preferred to purchase.
We hypothesized that subjects would be
significantly more likely to purchase a sweet/red combination and least likely
to purchase the control condition combination. We found that subjects had the
strongest hedonic emotional response, and were most likely to purchase the
rosy/red combination, followed by rosy/pink, sweet/purple, spicy/red, and
sweet/red and least likely to purchase the control condition combination. There
was also a significant relationship between hedonic response and purchase
behavior-the stronger the response, the more likely subjects were to say they
would purchase that combination of flower and fragrance.
SOCIAL MEDIA USE
Subjects were also asked about their preference
for online and social media when used to promote flowers. Facebook pages for a
leading online flower retailer were used as message stimuli for testing
purposes. Results to the
descriptive questions showed that the majority of subjects preferred to get information
about flowers from their florist, followed closely by search engines. Focusing on Facebook as the most widely
adopted and currently utilized form of social networking media by young adults
and retailers, subjects were asked a series of questions about their
perceptions of Facebook as a promotional tool. Interestingly, 39.7%, n= 48, said they would be unlikely to
purchase flowers based on seeing the retailer on Facebook, and another 22.3%,
n=27, said they would be very unlikely.
The great majority, 98%, n = 118, did not “like” any major flower
retailers on Facebook, and a similar percentage had not joined any retailers’
Facebook groups. When asked if they would respond to a posting on a Facebook
page, the majority said they would be unlikely to respond. When asked what specific additional
information should be on the Facebook pages of a major flower retailer,
analysis of the open-ended responses indicated that the common themes
representing the most important factors included price, special deals, shipping
information (speed, location, price) and variety of flowers and scents that can
be bought.
CONCLUSIONS
Results of this project show the
importance of fragrance and colour to young adult consumers, as well as the challenges
of using social media to market products to this audience. Given that young adults are more likely
to be novice buyers/non-purchasers, it makes sense that they would be more
likely to respond to “expected” fragrance/colour combinations and less likely
than core buyers to respond to novelty effects.
INDUSTRY IMPACT
Breeding decisions have often focused
more on breeding for colour, shelf life, etc., and less so on fragrance. Based
on the strong degree to which these subjects did prefer fragrance as well as
colour, it may be important to consider breeding for fragrance and colour
combinations that consumers respond to, as opposed to what is novel, and to
consider how social media is being used to market floral purchases to young
adults.
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