Consumer preferences and purchasing intention towards a new healthy snack product
(Penerimaan dan pertimbangan untuk membeli dalam kalangan pengguna terhadap produk snek sihat baharu)
Rashilah Mohamad*, Nur Fazliana Md. Noh* and Sharifah Samsiah Mohamad**
Keywords: correct prediction rate, snack product, consumer acceptance, purchasing intention, granola bar, MARDI

Abstract
A consumer study on a newly developed product of granola bar was carried out in Klang Valley. The objectives of the study were to assess consumer preference and purchasing decision towards granola bars developed by MARDI. The survey involved 1,200 respondents representing major ethnic groups in Malaysia. Four types of granola bar were reviewed, namely roselle-almond, dates-almond, banana-almond and coconut-almond. Consumers evaluated the products based on products’ attributes (colour, aroma, appearance, taste, chewiness, sweetness and overall acceptability) using 5-point Likert scale. Purchasing decision was accessed using binomial (yes/no) scale. Data were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA), descriptive discriminant analysis (DDA) and logistic regression analysis (LRA). It was found that all the granola bars were well accepted by the consumers although majority of them were not familiar with the products. In purchase intention assessment, the LRA yielded a correct prediction rate of 67% accuracy. The most important attribute considered for purchasing intention was taste followed by overall acceptability. Therefore, these two attributes were the most important for product refinement.

Abstrak
Kajian penerimaan pengguna terhadap produk snek yang baharu iaitu bar granola telah dijalankan di Lembah Klang. Objektif kajian adalah untuk menilai penerimaan dan pertimbangan untuk membeli dalam kalangan pengguna terhadap bar granola yang dibangunkan oleh MARDI. Survei ini melibatkan 1,200 orang responden yang mewakili kaum utama di Malaysia. Empat jenis granola telah dinilai, iaitu rosel-badam, kurma-badam, pisang-badam dan kelapa-badam. Pengguna menilai bar granola berdasarkan skala Likert 5-mata dan kecenderungan membeli dinilaikan menggunakan skala binomial (ya/tidak). Data dianalisis menggunakan statistik ANOVA, MANOVA, DDA and LRA. Kajian mendapati bar granola diterima baik oleh pengguna, walaupun mereka belum biasa dengan produk tersebut. Dalam menentukan sama ada pengguna akan membeli bar granola tersebut, analisis LRA mendapati pembelian dapat diramalkan dengan 67% ketepatan. Atribut yang diutamakan dalam pembelian ialah rasa dan penerimaan keseluruhan. Oleh itu kedua-dua ciri tersebut amat berguna dalam menambah baik formulasi produk.