Consumption context in consumer research: methodological perspectives

•Eating occasion influence consumer responses to food and beverages.•Item-by-use (IBU) appropriateness is a simple way for matching products to consumption context.•Central location tests do not represent natural eating occasions/environments.•Several approaches exist for evoking/simulating consumption central location tests.•Ecological validity should to considered in the general context of validity in consumer research.

This review and opinion paper considers methods available to consumer researchers in product-focused investigations who wish to: (i) appraise or account for appropriateness of product use, and (ii) increase aspects of ecological validity and/or mitigate effects linked to the central location test (CLT) setting not being a natural consumption situation. The topics and methods covered are: appropriateness of product use, item-by-use (IBU) method, non-CLT settings (incl. natural eating locations, field tests and home-use-tests (HUT)), contextualised CLT protocols, evoked consumption contexts, immersive settings and virtual reality. The concluding parts of the paper considers ecological validity and encourages a deeper engagement with this construct in the broader context of validity in consumer research.