Neuromarketing in the agri-food sector

Abstract

The concept of neuromarketing, one of the most current and modern, is increasingly present in practical marketing research, being used mainly in the study of consumer behavior. The concept only appeared in 1983, but in 2020 over 150 profile companies were active. Neuromarketing combines the science of the brain with the science of marketing, and manufacturers and/or retailers use neuromarketing techniques to boost sales, encourage consumption, and make a profit. The present work addresses the specifics of neuromarketing techniques in the agri-food field. It starts from the fact that these techniques differ from the classic ones, in that purchase and/or consumption decisions are not made only on rational grounds, the emotional ones predominating. The most well-known neuromarketing techniques are: electroencephalography (EEG), eye tracking, facial coding, galvanic skin response (GSR), implicit association test (TAI), etc. All these provide information on the processing of marketing stimuli and the making of purchase and consumption decisions under the influence of a complex set of emotions, feelings, perceptions or values impossible to measure with traditional quantitative methods. The aim of the paper is to create a dashboard with neuromarketing techniques applicable in the agri-food sector, based on the foray into the literature regarding the validity and functionality of these techniques for agri-food consumption. The assumption on which the approach of this paper is based is that neuromarketing techniques have an extremely significant impact on the purchase and consumption decision, and promotional actions based on such techniques, especially those that generate compulsive purchases, contribute to the increase in unbalanced consumption.