Marketing textbook, chapter 4, chapter 7

Valrhona is a medium-sized manufacturer of cocoa products from France. The company would like to determine the willingness to pay for three variants of a new premium chocolate in Germany.

The aim of the market research study is to determine the correlation between the price demand for the new products and the potential sales volume for these products among the target group of German consumers of premium chocolate. The so-called Gabor-Granger test is used. Each respondent must first state their preferred variant and is then asked for five different prices (€1.99 / €2.99 / €3.99 / €4.99 / €5.99) whether they would buy the new product or not (nominal scale level). The specific question is: „Would you buy this new chocolate at a price of X? Figure 1 illustrates the information on the new products for which the willingness to pay is to be determined.

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The information is divided into three vertical columns:

Column 1: Kidavoa

• Cocoa content: 50 %
• Origin: Madagascar
• Profile: Aromas of dried bananas; first fruity, then spicy and malty flavours; milky taste with slight acidity; delicately bitter cocoa note in the finish.
• Illustration: A dark packet of cocoa next to a pile of small chocolate coins.

Column 2: Mananka

• Cocoa content: 62 %
• Origin: Madagascar
• Profile: Symbiosis of orange and cocoa; fresh, harmonious, slightly sweet notes; delicately bitter cocoa note in the finish.
• Illustration: The product pack next to two orange slices.

Column 3: Itakuja

• Illustration: The product packaging next to two sliced passion fruit.
• Cocoa content: 55 %
• Origin: Brazil
• Profile: Symbiosis of passion fruit and cocoa; typical Brazilian flavour palette; fruity notes through to the strong taste of cocoa.

The results of this price research study are shown in Figure 2. If we look at the two highest prices that most closely reflect a premium chocolate, it becomes clear that respondents are most willing to pay for the Itakuja variant. It is 22.1 per cent at a price of €4.99 (in comparison: 9.5 and 9.1 per cent for the other two variants) and 11.1 per cent at a price of €5.99 (in comparison: 0.0 per cent for the other two variants).

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Diagram structure:

• X-axis: Price points in euros (€1.99, €2.99, €3.99, €4.99, €5.99).
• Y-axis: Percentage probability of purchase (0.0 % to 100.0 %).
• Legend: Kidavoa - banana (green line), Mananka - orange (blue line), Itakuja - passion fruit (grey line).

Data history by cocoa type:

• Kidavoa (green): * Starts at 81.8 % (€1.99).
  • Decreases steadily over 63.6 % (€ 2.99) and 22.7 % (€ 3.99) to 9.1 % (€ 4.99).
  • At €5.99, the probability of purchase is 0.0 %.

• Mananka (blue): * Shows the highest acceptance of all varieties at € 1.99 with 95.2 %.
  • Falls steeply to 57.1 % (€2.99), then to 33.3 % (€3.99) and 9.5 % (€4.99).
  • Ends at 0.0 % for €5.99.

• Itakuja (grey): * Shows the highest price stability at higher prices.
  • Starts at 85.2 % (€1.99) and is well above the other varieties at €2.99 with 74.1 %.
  • Declines more moderately from 33.3 % (€3.99) to 22.2 % (€4.99) and is the only variety with a residual probability of 11.1 % at €5.99.