A quantile regression perspective on consumer heterogeneity

The main objective of the consumer analysis is to analyze the heterogeneity of preferences with respect to a predefined set of products. In some cases, consumer preferences are also related to some specific drivers in order to obtain preference models to be used in planning marketing strategies. The aim of this work is to present a strategy that allows to estimate preference models taking into account the individual differences of consumers in the liking pattern. The proposed strategy consists in using quantile regression to obtain preference models for homogeneous groups of consumers with respect to the quantile that best represents them. The strategy will be tested on data deriving from a case study on consumer’s preferences for muscadine grape juices.