Consumer Perceptions of Kosher Products

ABSTRACT

The demand for kosher food has grown markedly during recent years, largely due to their perception as healthier, “safer,” more nutritionally enhanced value, and improved hygienic preparation conditions. This perception was verified by a survey conducted in Israel with 440 respondents. Both groups, younger and older age, secular and religious people, perceive the term kosher in a beneficial light, affecting the public view of food products as well as fast-food outlets. The survey, which was conducted in Israel, could be utilized as a pilot furnishing and facilitate a basis for further studies in other countries. The data highlights the vast market potential entailed in improving consumer perception of overall quality. Given the elevated perceived image of kosher food as “healthier” and of an enhanced quality, this study provides an essential marketing tool and detailed information in order to enable both manufacturers and retailers to expand the kosher segment and corner a larger share of the food market.     

Knowledge: a variable in evaluating clothing quality

This study was designed to determine the effect knowledge has on the types of information cues used to evaluate clothing quality. Students ranked the importance of 24 product attributes for evaluating clothing quality before beginning a 15‐week university course on evaluation of clothing products and again at the conclusion of the course. Most (64%) of the intrinsic cues were ranked significantly higher on the pretest than post‐test and many of the extrinsic (75%) and aesthetic (67%) cues rated significantly lower. There were no differences in the ranking of the performance cues. However, caution should be taken when interpreting the results of the study. Although all of the cues ranked significantly higher in the post‐test were intrinsic cues, when evaluating the relative ranking of the cues in the pretest and post‐test, there were few differences. The same five aesthetic cues were in the top third on both tests and the same six intrinsic cues were in the bottom third on both tests. The findings of this study suggest that knowledge does influence how consumers evaluate quality and additional research that focuses on the effect of knowledge in consumers’ evaluation of clothing quality is needed.     

Think before you eat: photographic food diaries as intervention tools to change dietary decision making and attitudes

This paper examines the use of photographic and written food diaries as interventions to raise awareness of and change dietary habits. Weinstein's precaution adoption theory and Guagnano, Stern and Dietz's Attitude Behaviour Context theory provide the theoretical basis to explain why nutrition knowledge does not result in healthy eating behaviour and why an intervention may be necessary to change attitudes and behaviours. A pilot study using written and photographic food diaries was conducted with 43 participants. Qualitative analysis of participant interviews revealed that photographic food diaries can alter attitudes and behaviours associated with food choices, and they are more likely to do so than written diaries because they serve as an intervention at the point when decisions regarding what to eat are being made.     

Indian Consumers’ Perception for Packaged Food and the Strategies of Food and Grocery Retailers in India—An Analysis

The aim of this article is to study the Indian consumer buying decisions of packaged food and to assess the impact of demographic dynamics on their behavior and their perception about the practicing marketing strategies of different leading food retailers across the National Capital region. We have taken six different retailers—viz. Big Bazaar, Spencer’s Retail, Reliance Fresh, 6Ten retail stores, convenience stores, and kirana (mom-and-pop) shops—in our research in an attempt to examine the consumer’s perception for these retailers’ marketing strategies to sell packaged food. The purpose to choose these retailers is to assess the impact as a whole from organized food retail as well as unorganized food retailing on consumer buying decisions. Respondents were selected by using the stratified random sampling method, and participation was voluntary. 925 respondents from the cities Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, and Faridabad were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Statistical tools such as chi-square, factor analysis, ANOVA, and the Bonferroni test were used to attain final empirical results and to know the comparison of food retailer strategies with the customer’s choice of retailer.     

Reduced‐fat foods: the shopper’s viewpoint

The inclusion of reduced‐fat foods in the daily diet affords consumers the potential to reduce overall dietary fat. Nevertheless, despite an increased range of these food products throughout the market, there has remained a lack of widespread consumer acceptance. The aim of the study was therefore to understand why consumers choose or reject reduced‐fat foods. Ninety consumers were interviewed by means of a qualitative approach within food retail outlets in the United Kingdom. Thematic content analysis indicated that uptake or rejection of these products is influenced by health concerns, ‘goodness of fit’ with individual dietary health strategies, the preferences of different household members, perceived sensory properties and scepticism towards these products. The results imply a need to explore and innovate ‘natural’ fat substitutes and to improve the sensory quality of reduced‐fat products. Further research is required to determine how these foods are used within the household and incorporated within the overall diet. Policy must seek to restore consumer trust in reduced‐fat food products and the food supply generally.     

Consumer‐generated media and product labelling: designed in California,assembled in China

Product country‐of‐origin labelling is an important extrinsic cue for consumers about a product's attributes. In a globalized world where products components and parts originate from multiple countries, companies have resorted to inventive country‐of‐origin labelling. The objective then of this paper is to better understand consumers' evaluation of products that have inventive country‐of‐origin labelling (i.e. Designed in California, Assembled in China). Exploratory qualitative data were collected from consumer‐generated media (36 weblogs) using Nielsen's Research BlogPulse tool. A grounded theory analysis revealed that four key themes emerged from the data that related to confusion about the labelling strategy, strong symbolic and emotional ties to country‐of‐origin, and the importance of country‐of‐origin as a quality signal.