ANALYZING CONSUMER VISUAL ATTENTION WHILE ASSESSING BEEF SPECIALTY LABELS

Specialized labels have become more popular on beef products in recent years as the emergence and growth in niche markets, i.e. hormone-free, organic, as the result of consumer concerns about current food and agriculture technologies and production methods (Lusk & McCluskey, 2018). Packaging in consumer marketing is important because it is the first thing consumers see when deciding to purchase. Information contained on packaging design provides knowledge of what the product is and what it is expected to deliver to the consumer. Several components can affect how a consumer pays attention to labels. With the use of eye-tracking technology, researchers are able to see what the consumer visually sees while making their purchases. Quantitative and qualitative data were used in this study to evaluate consumer’s visual attention, and understand why they made the purchase that they did. purchasing. This study should depict if beef consumers in the Texas Panhandle, within a 30-mile radius of Canyon, TX; are solely purchasing Striploin steaks based on specialty labels. This research should help marketing efforts across beef companies to better understand if the specialty label matters when it is placed on packaging. Each specialty label was analyzed, across 65 participants, some with Texas Cattle Feeder Association ties, and some without. In this study, the researchers looked to see if the specialty label was fixated on longer than the consistent price label.