Insights of Brazilian consumers' behavior for different coffee presentations: An exploratory study comparing hard laddering and completion task

Coffee is one of the most appreciated beverages worldwide. However, little is known about the factors that motivate the consumption of coffee in the form of capsules (CC), roasted beans (CB), and powder (CP). Thus, qualitative methodologies such as of completion task (CT) and hard laddering (HL) were used in this study to help understand the motivations that drive the choice of different coffee presentations. The results obtained show that CP was perceived as traditional, practical, low cost, low quality generating less pleasure during consumption when compared with the others. CC was perceived as more practical, with the practicality and variety of flavors, although the higher price, lower sensory quality and the environmental impacts were relevant perceptions. Although CB was perceived as a high‐quality product, generating greater consumer satisfaction, its high cost and lack of convenience stood out. Therefore, both techniques were able to capture the consumers' perception with great similarity between the results; however, it is worth emphasizing that HL was able to achieve deeper values related to food choice and consumption of product. This information can be used by the coffee producers and the processing industries to develop effective marketing strategies to effectively reach market segments. Practical application As the demand for coffee consumption has increased over the years, driven by the diversification of commercial presentations of the product, it is of great value to understand the perception of consumers and the factors involved in purchase and consumption. Laddering is a useful in‐depth interviewing technique of qualitative research that unveils opinions, attitudes and beliefs that are part of consumers' cognitive structure. Projective methodologies as completion task use ambiguous and indirect stimuli such as images or stories encourage participants to project their own experience onto the stimuli, allowing that values, ideas, and need to be explored. We believe that the data obtained in such a deep and spontaneous way can be extrapolated to guide actions and can help several decisions of product development, labeling, packaging, and marketing.