Consumers' Preference Mapping and Their Behavior with Regard to Traditional Halwa Using a Structured Survey Questionnaire

In this study, a structured survey questionnaire was used to determine consumers' preferences and their behavior with regard to halwa. Five types of consumer groups were identified thorough hierarchical cluster analysis based on ranked attributes. Color was ranked within the top three attributes for all the groups. In general, color, sweetness, appearance, and solubility were found to be the most important attributes for selecting the halwa. Five types of groups were identified based on their preference levels (i.e., intensity) of attributes. These could be recognized in terms of preferences for halwa with (1) black with high sweetness, (2) dark-brown with high-medium sweetness, (3) dark with low-medium sweetness, (4) brown with medium sweetness, and (5) dark with high-medium sweetness preferred consumers. The consumer segmentations identified could be used to develop retail marketing strategies and to develop store brands of diversified Arabian sweets and intermediate moisture fruit snacks, such as dates.