Shuman Produce partnered with the Perishables Group to implement a research study to better understand consumer’s general attitudes and perceptions about sweet onions specifically to assess consumers’ knowledge of and preferences for sweet onions. The study determined the impact of key attributes such as shape and color as well as growing region/country on consumers’ purchasing decisions.

Two focus groups were assembled for the research, with 10 participants in each group that met the following qualifications:

• Frequent onion purchasers
• Frequent sweet onion purchasers
• Competent at cooking
• Frequent purchasers of assorted vegetables used in cooking
• Good mix of demographics including age, gender, ethnicity, income and presence of children in the home.

Here are a few of the study’s findings. Discussion yielded some interesting insight into onion consumers:

• The shape and color of the Peruvian sweet onion communicates sweet, while consumers perceive the shape and color of the domestic western onion communicates it to be an all-purpose, yellow onion.
• There is almost no sensitivity to imported versus domestically-grown onions.
• Quality is the number one factor in purchasing decisions, ranking higher than price.
• The number one reason consumers purchase onions is for the flavor they impart on the recipes in which they are added.

In a second study done in cooperation with The Perishables Group, 1,000 consumers who reported purchasing sweet onions were surveyed and given photos of two onions – a Peruvian, granex-shaped onion and a domestic western sweet onion – and asked based on color and appearance, which was a sweet onion. An overwhelming majority of consumers selected the Peruvian granex onion as the sweet onion.

Through the utilization of Shuman Produce’s year-round sweet onion program featuring flat, granex shaped Vidalia-type varieties, retailers can avoid consumer confusion and dissatisfaction.