Area 



Number of Interviews 



The intei-views for this study were 

 made between March 13, 1959 and May k, 

 1959. 



Specifically, the survey was designed 

 to elicit detailed answers to such ques- 

 tions as : why consumers decided to buy 

 or not to buy certain canned fishery items; 

 whether or not shoppers for canned fish and 

 shellfish were motivated by advertisements 

 or labels; the influence of inccane on buy-* 

 ing habits and other marketing factors. 

 Then there were the how-many-people-do-what 

 questions to find out consumers' prefer- 

 ences for size of can; type of package; 

 kind of oil in irtiich fish are canned; 

 color; textxire; emd other characteristics 

 of canned fishery products. 



CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR CANNED SARDINES 1/ 



Use of Canned Sardines 



The sardine users were further divided 

 into light and heavy user groups. The 

 "light users" are those who used sardines 

 one or two times in the h weeks Immediately 

 prior to the interview and the "heavy 

 users" as those who had served them three 

 times or more in the period. The distri- 

 bution of these user groups in the three 

 cities is summarized in the following 

 table. (Note: The reader should keep in 

 mind ^ile reading the following text and 

 table that "sardine users" are, by defini- 

 tion, all respondents representing house- 

 holds who had used canned seirdlnes within 

 the past k weeks. Ihe term, therefore. 

 Includes both light and heavy users.) 



DISTRIBUTION OF SARDINE USER GROUPS, 



m FREQUENCY OF USE, BXRHINOHAM, 



BOSTON, AND EETROIT, 1959 



Classification 

 of user groups 



All respondents 



Birmingham Boston Detroit 

 Percent Percent Percent 



Never users 

 Sporadic users 

 Light users 1/ 

 Heavy users 1/ 

 Total 



100 



100 



100 



1/ Referred to in text as "sardine users.' 



Sardines are the least popular canned 

 fish in the three urban areas of Blniiingham, 

 Boston, emd Detroit. Only about 5 percent 

 of all respondents preferred sardines over 

 tuna and salmon. 



With regard to actual use, the survey 

 revealed that 38 percent of the households 

 in Birmingham, U7 percent in Boston, and 

 1*0 percent In Detroit had not used canned 

 sardines in the 12 months prior to the 

 interview. For purposes of statistical 

 analysis, these households were classified 

 as "never users" of canned sardines. Of 

 those who had used canned sardines in the 

 12 months prior to the interview, kj per- 

 cent in Birmingham, hd percent in Boston, 

 and 132 percent in Detroit had used it in 

 the h weeks immediately prior to the inter - 

 view . These latter households were classi - 

 fied as "sardine usersT " Those who had 

 used canned sardines in the past 12 months 

 but not within the past h weeks were 

 termed "sporadic users." 



T7 Tables containing data referred to in 

 ¥his section and the next three sections 

 are given on pages I7-U6 and an explanation 

 of the tables on page 15. 



Percentage of 

 respondents 



60 r- 



Boston Detroit Blrminghan 



FIGURE I.-- CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR CANNED 

 TUNA, CANNED SALMON, CANNED SARDINES 



