Values influence floral purchases

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- People identified as "heavy users" of flowers rated "emotion conditioning" as more important than "showing care to others," researchers in Taiwan found.

Li-Chun Huang from National Taiwan University and Tzu-Fang Yeh from Da-Yeh University headed a research project that evaluated the differences in floral consumption values across consumer groups.

A consumer survey was conducted in cities and rural areas in Taiwan in 2006 where 677 participants were surveyed to determine if they were flower "users" and "non-users."

Values that indicate showing care to others include emotion conditioning and "sensory hedonics," a phenomenon in which consumers perceive the value of flowers based on touching, smelling or tasting them.

Those participants identified as "heavy users" of flowers revealed different priorities, rating emotion conditioning as more important than "showing care to others." The researchers say this implies "heavy users" make more frequent floral purchases partly because they are more emotionally stimulated by flowers. Heavy users also rated "curiosity fulfillment" higher, leading to them to look for more novelty and variety when purchasing flowers.

The study, published in the journal HortTechnology, says non-users and light users of flowers, or consumers who prefer to buy cut flowers, have lower degrees of curiosity fulfillment value, so tend to be less likely to seek product variety when purchasing flowers.