Firm Strategic Labelling and Chinese Consumers' Preference for Carbonated Beverages: The Role of Healthfulness and Taste

ABSTRACT This study examines how firms' strategic responses to the public effort of sugar reduction influence Chinese consumers' beverage choices. We apply choice experiments to create market scenarios where companies emphasise low sugar and calorie content, as well as the use of natural sweeteners. Our findings indicate that consumers prefer diet cola labelled as ‘zero sugar and zero calorie’ and ‘natural sweeteners derived from stevia’ over diet cola without such specific claims. However, our results reveal no significant difference between the impact of these two distinct claims on consumer choices. We further observe that consumers favour regular cola over diet cola without specific product claims, implying that merely offering sugar‐free products may not motivate consumers to opt for more healthful beverages. Regarding the trade‐offs between healthfulness and taste in beverage choices, we find that although both factors are important, taste tends to have a greater influence on consumer beverage purchases.