The use of quantile regression in consumer studies

•The paper proposes the use of quantile regression in consumer studies.•It shows how the conditional quantiles provide insight not provided by standard regression.•Advantages of the method are illustrated by consumer data on iced coffee.

The main objective of this paper is to describe and discuss the use of quantile regression in consumer studies. The situation analyzed is one of relating segments of consumers obtained based on their acceptance pattern to additional consumer characteristics, including attitudes, habits and demographics variables. The paper shows how the conditional quantiles of a distribution can provide additional insight that is not provided by standard regression approaches. This type of information can be important for understanding how for instance a consumer characteristic may influence disagreement in liking, which can be equally important as the predicted average liking. The advantages of the proposed methodology will be illustrated by data from a consumer test on iced coffee.