Would you bring home ugly produce? Motivators and demotivators for ugly food consumption

It is important to reduce food waste by successfully promoting ugly food consumption. Thus, this study uses the food quality attribute model to investigate certain key factors - motivators and demotivators that can influence consumers’ attitudes toward and subsequent purchases of ugly produce. This study further examines differences in these key factors between ugly food buyers and non-buyers. The results indicate that price consciousness and environmental self-identity stimulate ugly food consumption, but physical appearance discourages its purchase. The influences of the motivators are more salient for buyers, while the influences of the demotivators are more salient for non-buyers.     

Consumer Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Bundled Fresh Produce Claims at Farmers’ Markets

This study uses a conditional logit with systematically varying parameters model to analyze consumer survey data collected at farmers’ markets in Utah. The purpose of this study is to examine consumption preferences and willingness to pay for differentiated fresh produce among farmers’ market shoppers in Utah. Three primary differentiating claims, namely conventionally grown of unknown origin, conventionally grown local (in-state), and organically grown of unknown origin, are investigated. Results indicate that consumer preferences and willingness to pay are higher for the conventionally grown local origin claim, emphasizing the importance of local origin labeling for directed marketed fresh produce. This claim was especially preferred among frequent farmers’ market shoppers and those who spend above average. Those who receive WIC and/or food stamp benefits show lower preferences for fresh produce. The shoppers are significantly sensitive to price increases. This study implies that marketing strategies and policy regulations aiming at promoting local, organic, labeling, and reinforcing repeated farmers’ market customers can positively impact purchasing preferences and willingness to pay for production-method-based and origin labeled products.     

Consumer Perceptions of “Functional Food” in the United States

There is a strong trend to market products that promise improved health in the United States. Functional food is a rather new concept promoting the healthfulness of foods. Functional food manufacturers should provide motivating and trustful marketing messages. However, since the term “functional foods” lacks definition, communication to consumers is challenging and can be confusing. This study investigates how U.S. consumers understand the concept of functional foods. An online survey containing 64 questions was structured to measure awareness, consumption, and trust toward functional foods. Based on a definition provided in the survey, a clear minority (15%) of the respondents (n = 1027) stated they had heard of functional foods before the survey. Compared to the respondents who had not heard of functional foods, they more often used whole wheat cereals, vegetable juice, carrots, toast with high fibre and green tea (Chi-square –test, p < 0.001). Food and drug administration (FDA), health associations, and dieticians were the most trusted sources of information for functional food decisions with 28%, 24%, and 20% shares of the respondents, respectively. Food producers, food retailers and media together were chosen as the most trustworthy source by less than 1.5%. We concluded U.S. consumers find functional foods confusing and even unreliable. To strengthen their confidence, we suggest clear and transparent collaboration with nutrition and health specialist and product- specific marketing messages based on solid scientific documentation.     

Helping You to Waste Less? Consumer Acceptance of Food Marketing Offers Targeted to Food-Related Lifestyle Segments of Consumers

ABSTRACT

Consumer households and consumer behavior have been identified as the major cause of food waste in the supply chain. Food marketing might offer products and services that help consumers to reduce their food waste or reduce the consumer-related food waste at the consumer–retailer interface. However, such strategies require consumer acceptance and targeting the right customers. Through an online survey of 800 Danish consumers and a measure of food-related lifestyle, four clusters of consumer segments are identified. The segments are compared with regard to their acceptance of a number of actions consumers can take to reduce food waste or their acceptance of food marketing services they would need to pay for. Acceptance differs with food involvement and the role of the price criterion, as well as with gender, education and age. The findings show how food marketing can help consumers to reduce food waste, through actions targeted to specific segments of consumers characterized by food-related lifestyle differences.     

Factors Influencing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Organic Fruits and Vegetables: Empirical Evidence from a Consumer Survey in India

Numerous consumers confronted with increasing environmental problems, food safety issues, and augmentative health problems increasingly desire to have healthier and more natural foods grown in an eco-friendly manner. Hitherto organic foods only partly benefit from this increasing market environment, and their market share stays rather low despite high growth rates. This article aims to investigate consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for organic fruits and vegetables and relevant factors affecting consumers WTP. The contingent valuation method was selected to estimate WTP. Empirical data was drawn from a 250-consumer survey conducted in Bangalore during February 2013. A binomial logistic regression model was applied to obtain the value of WTP and determine the factors influencing it. The results indicated that about 90% of the consumers were willing to pay a premium price ranging between 5% to more than 100% in order to acquire better-quality fruits and vegetables; factors such as family income, size of the family, gender, and other opinion variables such as chemical residue in conventional foods, trust on retailers, taste, and environmental concerns significantly influence consumers’ WTP. More than 87% of the consumers indicated that high price, lack of availability, narrow range, and irregular supply are the major barriers for them to buy these products. The results provide useful evidence to pertinent governmental agencies in terms of assisting in the design of policies for the promotion of organic food production and marketing and reaching the target public. Furthermore, firms involved in the organic foods business may also see benefits when drawing information in order to calibrate marketing strategies.     

The “Young” Consumer Perception of Functional Foods in Italy

We analysed the role of acceptance of functional foods (FFs) focusing on the preferences expressed by three distinct groups of young Italian consumers. FFs represent an innovation both in terms of technology and marketing for Italian food companies, and the segment of young consumers would appear especially interested in them. Our results showed that a different cultural education, hence the degree of knowledge cumulated by young consumers, is a key element in the preference for, and perception of FFs. This implies the need to identify differentiated marketing strategies for firms seeking to reach this segment of FF demand in Italy.     

Effect of Normative and Affective Aspects on Willingness to Pay for Domestic Food Products—A Multiple Price List Experiment

There is limited knowledge about which factors underlie consumers’ preferences for domestic food products. We used a non-hypothetical multiple-price list experiment to investigate the effect of affective (product-related emotions) and normative (consumer ethnocentrism and subjective norms) factors on consumer willingness to pay for domestic food products. A total of 166 Croatian consumers were given a choice between domestic and foreign food products with different price premiums for domestic food. The results indicate that consumers are willing to pay a premium for both low- and high-involvement domestic food products. Consumer willingness to pay for domestic products is influenced by ethnocentrism, product-related emotions, and sociodemographic variables, but not by social norms.     

Who buys from farmers’ markets and farm shops: The case of Germany

In this article, we analyze the influence of sociodemographic factors and consumer attitudes toward direct marketing products and sources (outlets) on the frequency of buying food from farmers’ markets and farm shops. By conducting an intercept survey with pedestrians in 2011 and 2012, we interviewed a total of n = 550 consumers. The target regions of the study were the Eastern German federal states. The study uses two ordered logit regression models to investigate consumers’ shopping behaviour at farmers’ markets and farm shops separately. We find that different factors significantly influence consumers’ buying behaviour at the two direct marketing outlets. Specifically, both a more favorable view toward the freshness of directly marketed foods and the intention to support local producers are positively related to consumers’ purchase frequency from farmers’ markets. In contrast, consumers’ purchase frequency from farm shops is significantly influenced by their perception of the cost of the products, confidence in food producers of directly marketed products, perception of the safety of the food and perception of the accessibility of farm shops. The study results indicate that considering consumer behaviour separately for different direct marketing channels for food rather than considering the entire category of local food outlets may provide new and valuable insights.     

Young Chinese and Functional Foods for Mobility Health: Perceptions of Importance,Trust, and Willingness to Purchase and Pay a Premium

Consumers’ desire to enhance diet and health has become a driver for the development of functional food products. China, with one of the largest markets in the world, offers huge potential for these foods. In the context of functional foods, specifically related to mobility health, this study aimed to understand Chinese consumers’ perceptions of the importance of these foods, trust, and willingness to purchase and pay a premium for such foods. A mixed-methodological approach using both focus groups and a survey was used to collect data from Chinese living in New Zealand. Findings show Chinese consumers place a high level of importance on their mobility health. Level of importance increased when asked about the believed importance of this area later in life. Key factors influencing Chinese consumers’ willingness to purchase functional foods were also identified: the carrier/nutrient combination; trust in the product’s country of origin and in the various institutions that may be involved in the production of functional food products; trust in both the product brand and how it is advertised; health motivation; and price. The study offers the food industry insights into the development and marketing of mobility-related functional foods targeted to this market.     

Local and/or organic: a study on consumer preferences for organic food and food from different origins

This paper gives a deeper insight into consumer preferences for different food products of varying place of origin (i.e. local, Germany, neighboring country, non‐EU country) and production practices (i.e. organic vs. non‐organic). Consumer surveys combined with choice experiments were conducted with 641 consumers in eight German regions. Mixed logit models were estimated to draw conclusions on consumers’ preferences for different product attributes. The Stimulus‐Organism‐Response model was applied to theoretically frame the key findings. Results reveal that consumers prefer locally produced food to organic food. However, conclusions on consumers’ preferences should not be generalized as they vary depending on product type and consumers’ place of residence. When looking at the willingness‐to‐pay estimates for ‘organic’ and ‘local’ while distinguishing among consumers from different regions of Germany, results indicate that consumers living in rural areas and consumers living in the eastern part of Germany are less willing to pay a premium for organic products than urban consumers and consumers from other parts of Germany. As preferences for origin attributes and organic production vary between different food products and in different regions of Germany, market actors should design marketing activities accordingly. This study adds to the international research on consumers’ preferences for organic and/or local food. The results provide better insights into preference structures, as more than one product has been included and surveys were conducted in different regions across Germany.     

Willingness to pay for organic products: Differences between virtue and vice foods

Faced with growing environmental problems, food safety issues, and increasing obesity rates, many consumers desire healthier, less processed natural foods that are less harmful to the environment. Yet organic foods only partially benefit from this market environment, and their market share remains quite low despite high growth rates. The usual explanation for this discrepancy is that consumers are not willing to pay the price premium prompted by an organic claim. In this paper, we explore the reasons behind consumers' (un)willingness to pay for organic food and investigate whether it differs between virtue and vice food categories. The results indicate that in vice food categories, organic claims are associated with lower quality, which seems to be only partly compensated by higher prosocial benefits. The lower-quality perceptions translate into a decreased consumer willingness to pay (WTP). We supplement the empirical results with data on organic purchases in the Dutch food market. These data show that market shares of organic food are indeed lower for vice categories of organic food.     

My style,my food,my waste! Consumer food waste-related lifestyle segments

Adapting responsible food marketing practices to different customer types can make a valuable contribution to reducing food waste. The current study investigated the relation between food (waste)-related lifestyle patterns and self-reported food waste, choices for suboptimal food, and food waste awareness using a survey with 4214 consumers across five Northern and Western European countries. Results show differences in food wastage, suboptimal choices, and awareness for five clusters of consumers identified on the basis of food (waste)-related lifestyle patterns. Findings of commonalities allow deriving food marketing actions targeted to these different consumer lifestyles.     

Sustainability marketing at the farmers’ market: An ethnographic analysis of ambiguous communication

Farmers’ markets have grown rapidly in recent decades. One explanation for this growth relates to consumers’ view that farmers’ market products are more sustainable. While many have analyzed customer preferences at farmers’ markets, few have examined farmers’ message strategies in this space. Little has been done to analyze the ways farmers use sustainability as a marketing approach. This ethnographic research is based on 100 hr of observation and in‐depth interviews with 36 participants and analyzes the ways farmers position their products as sustainable to customers. The findings indicate that sustainability is not a primary topic of conversation during customerfarmer interaction. However, related concepts such as environment, local, organic, and chemical serve as the proxies for sustainability, even though these messages are presented ambiguously.     

Consumers’ perceptions of food waste: A pilot study of U.S. students

Participants in this pilot study are asked to rank their perceptions of food waste by choosing between pairs of four types of foods of equal weight: chicken, cheese, bread and peas. We examine whether these perceptions are consistent for proportionally different weights and whether they are linked to the perceived cost of the items. The subjects (n = 106) who are students are randomly assigned to one of three information treatments: a control, a food waste video or the text of the food waste video. We find that the subjects have very accurate perceptions of the environmental impacts of food waste and the relative wastefulness of different food groups. These perceptions are not related to cooking skills or frequency. We find that the perceptions are consistent for proportionally different weights of food: 25 and 50 g. We also find that the perceptions are linked to participants’ assessments of the relative prices of the foods. However, while the participants have somewhat accurate estimates of the relative prices, they vastly overestimate the actual prices of foods. This implies that more accurate information about the true prices could actually decrease their perceptions of the wastefulness of throwing out food. Given that the participants had highly accurate perceptions of the environmental impacts of food waste and the relative wastefulness of animal vs. plant products, we found no significant increase in overall accuracy of perceptions due to information treatment, except for bread, for those who saw the food waste video.     

Farmers' markets: consuming local rural produce

Marketing food directly from producers to consumers, so circumventing the ‘middlemen’ in the food supply chain, has many potential benefits. For consumers, direct marketing initiatives are providing people with locally grown, fresh, healthy and, in many cases, organic food at affordable prices. Through buying locally grown produce, consumers are giving their support to local producers as well as helping to revitalize rural economies. Producers benefit through retaining more of the value of their produce, which can help them survive through the current crisis in UK farming. There are also environmental benefits. Creating markets where people can buy produce from local farmers and growers reduces the distance that food travels between producers and consumers, which in turn decreases global environmental pollution. One direct marketing scheme – the farmers’ market – has proved to be particularly popular with local people, producers and the local councils, organizations and institutions who are involved in setting them up. This paper focuses on one such market, the Stour Valley Farmers' Market, which commenced trading on 20th June 1999. Customers who attended the first three of these monthly markets were interviewed to investigate the reasons for their attendance at the market, and their attitudes towards a number of food issues including organic and genetically modified food, local and seasonal food and concerns they may have over the way their food is produced. The research has shown that most customers visited the markets initially out of curiosity, although some attended specifically to buy healthy fresh foods. The vast majority of interviewees expressed a preference for food which is organically grown and free from genetic modification. Organic foods are generally perceived to be healthier and more flavoursome. When buying fresh foods, interviewees stated the importance of quality and freshness in their choice of produce.     

The Public Health Implications of Consumers' Environmental Concern and Their Willingness to Pay for an Eco‐Friendly Product

Environmental concern has been an important topic for more than 40 years and has recently become even more critical with today's concerns about creating a sustainable and healthy environment. This research examines factors affecting an individual's willingness to pay more for an environmentally friendly product. Our results show that willingness to pay more differs across demographic groups. We also find that individuals who rate concern for waste as highly important are willing to spend more money on an eco‐friendly product. Consequently, our findings provide insight into the development of appropriate educational strategies for different consumer groups to encourage consumers to purchase eco‐friendly products, with a goal of creating a healthier environment for current and future generations.     

Consumer Preference and Willingness to Pay for a Local Label Attribute in Western Australian Fresh and Processed Food Products

This study investigates Western Australia’s consumer attitudes toward and preferences for locally produced food products signified by a state-funded campaign logo, Buy West Eat Best (BWEB). A choice experiment using both a fresh and a processed food product (skinless chicken breast and fruit yogurt) is conducted to assess willingness to pay for a local production attribute and other label claims. We find that consumer awareness and preference for local foods is high. However, this high preference is not because the product is locally produced but because of the local attributes associated with high-quality products. The study highlights the importance of successfully differentiating products through credible labeling schemes in order to capture market premium.     

Two-Stage Determinants of the Organic Food Retailing Landscape: The Case of Manhattan,New York

Retail sales of organic food products have been increasing faster than any other category of food and have penetrated mainstream retail grocery outlets. The majority of the literature on organic markets explores the socioeconomic characteristics of consumers, linking these traits to the probability of buying organic food, and it suggests that access to organic food is an important but overlooked factor in such studies. More recently, research focusing on food retailer marketing strategies for organic food finds that traditional strategies such as price promotions are largely unsuccessful with increasing sales for the organic food consumer. This article focuses on the retailer decision to offer organic food for sale. We model the decision as a two-stage process, where the retailer’s first decision is whether to sell organic food, and the second decision determines how many different organic products to offer for sale. In doing so, by using data collected in stores, we assess the organic food retail landscape in Manhattan, NY. We find that the decision to offer organic food for sale depends on the neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics, and the amount of organic food offered for sale depends on the size of the store.     

Tradeoffs between sensory attributes and organic labels: the case of orange juice

Researchers have investigated the role of sensory attributes and organic labels on consumers’ preferences and perceptions of food, but few has examined whether sensory attributes are relevant for consumers who prefer organic food and the extent to which sensory attributes influence consumer's marginal willingness to pay for organic food. The objective of this study is to determine how sensory attributes and organic label work together to influence consumer's stated preference and marginal willingness to pay for orange juice. To achieve this, we conducted a blind sensory evaluation of two orange juices followed by a discrete choice experiment to determine the extent to which consumer's stated preference for orange juice labelled as organic is affected by sensory experience preceding the choice experiment. Random parameter logit models and latent class conditional logit models are used to explain stated preference. Results indicate that the effect of sensory attributes on consumer's marginal willingness to pay differed by organic juice and conventional juice.     

Willingness to Pay for Non‐biotech Foods in the U.S. and U.K.

This study uses closed‐ended and payment card formats to elicit willingness to pay for breakfast cereals made from non‐biotech ingredients. U.S. consumers were willing to pay a 10%∼12% premium to avoid biotech breakfast cereals, whereas U.K. consumers were willing to pay a 19%∼35% premium. Risk perceptions about agrobiotechnology proved to be an important factor shaping willingness to pay a premium for non‐biotech breakfast cereals. If consumers perceived risks to human health or environments from the use of biotechnology in crop/food production, or affiliated biotech foods unfavorably with morality or multinational corporations, they were more likely to pay a premium. Conversely, if consumers associated agrobiotechnology with various benefits (i.e., reduction in chemical use in crop production, mitigation of world food shortages, and improved nutritional content), they were less likely to pay a premium.