The aim of our work was to provide answers to the questions: Are there segments of consumers that differ in their liking of the tomato varieties? How can the preferences of these segments be explained in terms of the sensory and physico-chemical attributes of the tomatoes, or the demographic, usage, and attitudinal characteristics of the consumers? First, a multiple factor analysis (MFA) was performed on the table that describes the tomatoes, considering on the one hand the sensory attributes, on the other hand the physico-chemical attributes; we then obtained a map of the tomatoes on the basis of their description, where the contribution from both groups of data is balanced. Then, we performed a hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) of the consumers on the basis of the correlation coefficients between their preferences and the coordinates of the tomatoes provided by MFA. This analysis led to three segments of consumers that differ in their liking of the tomato varieties. Those segments represent, respectively, 39.8%, 39.6% and 20.6% of the population. The two first segments are rather similar regardless to the firmness of the varieties since they both like sweet and flavorful tomatoes. Consumers of the third segment do not seem to be very fond of tomatoes according to their cooking uses and habits. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
