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Abstract
Even with kombucha’s rapid market growth, how its consumers understand this beverage has never been studied systematically. This research's main objective was to explore the kombucha drinker’s perspective of kombucha and how it is viewed by the different segments in this population. An online survey (n = 300) targeting kombucha drinkers in the United States was used for data collection. To find the consumer segment differences, chi-square analysis followed by the multiple-correspondence-analysis (categorical data) and analysis-of-variance (ANOVA) (numerical data) were used. The first study focused on kombucha consumers’ overall understanding of kombucha. Along with kombucha's main characteristics, fermented, healthy, and refreshing, kombucha consumers also included product aspects such as– cold/chilled and packaged in glass bottles – as characteristics as well. Various health benefits of kombucha, probiotics, and gut health, was introduced to consumers via word-of-mouth. Depending on the segment groups, kombucha was perceived differently: healthy functional beverage (female and boomers), alternative beverage (male and Gen X), and cold and flavored beverage (millennials). The second study looked into the idea of healthy eating and the kombucha label and ingredient usage. In general, kombucha drinkers take action to have a healthy diet. Especially females, the older generation, U.S. west region residents, and higher-educated consumers were the groups who maintained their healthy diet for a longer time. The idea of a healthy diet among kombucha drinkers was homogeneous and they agreed that kombucha fits into their view of a healthy diet. Sugar, calorie content, and organic/natural labels were important labels and ingredient information for kombucha consumers. Consumers who take an action to have a healthier diet were more critical and checked more items on the label or ingredient list on the packaging. Kombucha consumers overwhelmingly preferred the glass containers while being neutral towards non-glass containers (aluminum cans and plastic/PET bottles). Based on the study’s results, kombucha consumers’ perspective of kombucha as a healthy beverage was confirmed. By parsing through the consumer segmentation results, differences in additional functions of kombucha, other than just being a healthy beverage, were found, namely, label and ingredient information usage, and kombucha packaging preferences.