Product Differentiation and Consumer Preferences for Non-market Product Attributes: A Literature Review

Published

March 25, 2026

Author(s)

Ireland Crowther, Christina Gore, David Butry

Abstract

Understanding consumer perspectives and preferences for product attributes that are hard for consumers to know without information (non-market attributes) allows producers of goods with these attributes to make more informed production decisions. The ability to understand consumer preferences for non-market goods often depends on product labeling, certification, and traceability to increase the consumer confidence in claims about a product. This report details the literature on each of these componets that impact a consumer's willingness to pay for products that increase the circular economy. Resource utilization and efficiency is an important part of creating a circular economy, which focuses on keeping every molecule of productive capacity in the economy and eliminating waste. This literature review focuses on many product categories that have attributes that are hard to distinguish such as the origin of materials used for production.

Citation

Technical Note (NIST TN) - 2368

Report Number

2368

NIST Pub Series

Technical Note (NIST TN)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2368

Local Download

Keywords

Labeling, certification, consumer preferences, traceability, circular economy

Citation

Crowther, I. , Gore, C. and Butry, D. (2026), Product Differentiation and Consumer Preferences for Non-market Product Attributes: A Literature Review, Technical Note (NIST TN), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2368, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960846 (Accessed March 26, 2026)