A reference-price-informed experiment to assess consumer demand for beef with a reduced carbon footprint

Accurately reflecting expected prices in stated preference designs can be challenging for foods like ribeye steak, which exhibit stark fluctuations in prices across time and space. To address this issue, we introduce a novel price vector design, the reference-price-informed (RP-informed) design, which directly incorporates individual's reference prices into discrete choice experiments. By presenting consumers with posted prices that align with their expected prices, this design reflects real-world food markets. We test this design in a discrete choice experiment evaluating consumer preferences for “low carbon” beef. Our results project a very small market share of low-carbon ribeye (3%–5%) with conventional meat taking up most of the market. Our results also show that a reference-price-informed design reduces reference price uncertainty and leads to more conservative market share estimates than traditional designs, thus preventing the potential overestimation of product's market potential.