Consumer Preferences and Customer Satisfaction Analysis: A New Method Proposal

The organic food market is currently the fastest growing food sector in the United States, with growth rates in organic food sales averaging 17% per year between 1998 and 2006. The largest segment within the organic market is fresh produce, comprising 34% percent of retail sales in 2006. This analysis focuses on identifying the demographic characteristics of households buying organic vegetables (in total) along with prepackaged organic salads and organic carrots, by examining the factors that influence the probability that a consumer will buy organic vegetables, and which factors influence the household share of organic vegetables purchased. We use Nielsen Homescan data for the year 2004. Households with high levels of education are more likely to purchase organic vegetables, while the probability of purchasing organic vegetables is lower for African Americans and for older households.     

Changing Consumer Preferences in Emerging Markets: Food Market Challenges in Central Mexico

As incomes in emerging markets grow, consumers’ ability to break from former food consumption patterns and introduce new foods or conveniences grows as well. While this general principle is widely accepted, the path of such introductions is not identical worldwide. In this study, we explore how consumers in an advanced emerging market have identified with their current food options, including open-air markets v. supermarkets, and simple v. processed alternatives. Using focus groups, we find that Mexican consumers have strong ties to traditions in food preparation while also showing interest in modern food conveniences. Using product adoption theory, we show that consumers exhibit expected traits of innovation resistance, social contagion influence, and consumption innovativeness, but with specific local variation, including problems with trust, expectations of government action (paternalismo), and considerable definitional confusion. Foreign marketers wishing to access the growing Mexican market should account for these differences from broader product adoption theory.     

Indian Consumer Attitudes Toward Food Safety: An Exploratory Study

The aim of this research is to segment Indian consumers based on their attitudes toward food safety and to demographically characterize each segment with sound risk communication strategies and outreach program may be developed to target vulnerable groups. This article uses exploratory factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis to find the factors that accentuate consumers’ attitude toward food safety and generalizes the heterogeneity of consumer attitudes based on five factors: apprehension, trust, appetence for a high degree of regulation, acknowledgment from foodborne illness, and propensity for the right to purchase foods that are not guaranteed to be safe.     

Consumer Heterogeneity in the Willingness to Pay for Local and Organic Food

Due to growth and changing distribution channels for organic food in Germany, there is some concern that organic food is losing authenticity. Contrarily, local food production is seen as a new trend and is gaining market share. This article analyzes whether those alternative concepts of organic and local food production rather support or threaten each other in consumers’ choice. Results of a Bavarian survey, including a choice experiment for bread, beer, and milk on the attributes price, brand, local, and organic, are analyzed using a mixed logit model. Willingness-to-pay estimations confirm the importance of local production to the surveyed consumers, especially in interaction with organic production, leading to the conclusion that the two production methods can support each other in achieving price premiums. The estimated standard deviations show significant heterogeneity of the parameters for all three products for most attributes.     

Organic Food at the Point of Purchase: Understanding Inconsistency in Consumer Choice Patterns

The organic food category, while still small in terms of world food production, has continued to grow in many markets in the developed world. This article focuses on understanding the barriers and facilitators to purchasing organic food at the final hurdle: the point of purchase (POP). A qualitative study has identified seven factors that influence buyer behavior at the POP, and these are consumer intention to purchase organic food when entering the retail outlet; habit; availability; false assumptions; visibility and access of organic food; visual and olfactory cues; and price. These can often be the final hurdle to consumers choosing (or not) organic food at the POP.     

Effect of Experiential vs. Cognitive Involvement on Consumer Preferences: Application to Region of Origin Labeled Food Products

Region of origin labeled food products consumption is influenced both by cognitive motives related to the individuals' health and safety concerns and by affective motives in relation within the pleasure, the emotional states and the social values. The objective of our study is to examine the effect of involvement and its nature (cognitive vs. experiential) on consumer preferences toward region of origin labeled food products. Discriminant analysis shows that both the cognitive and experiential dimensions of involvement discriminate between the two groups: those who prefer regional food products and those who prefer either national or foreign products. By targeting each profile by an adequate communication strategy, food labels could meet consumer expectations. Thus, their acceptance becomes higher.     

Core Organic Taste: Preferences for Naturalness-Related Sensory Attributes of Organic Food Among European Consumers

Consumers’ preferences for organic food have evolved in recent years, moving from altruistic values to more egoistic buying motivations, such as health promoting or nutritional aspects and sensory properties. Hypothesizing that organic consumers have peculiar preferences for naturalness-related sensory attributes, we developed the concept of the “core organic taste” based on the principles of a wholesome nutrition. This article investigates to what extent the “core organic taste” is relevant across different European countries and its potential relevance for food marketing. A sample of 1,798 organic food consumers was interviewed during 2010–2011 in six European countries. Explorative factor analysis, correlation analysis, ANOVA, and post hoc tests were applied to analyze the data. Results show that the “core organic taste” is not applicable for all countries. Indeed, for most countries only single elements seem to be relevant. However, for Germany and Switzerland the “core organic taste”—representing the first “taste style”—has proven its potential value and points at the need for more research in this field. Depending on the country, product developers and marketers could potentially use different elements of the “core organic taste” to better meet organic consumers’ wishes and expectations. Finally, recommendations and suggestions for practitioners and academia are provided.     

Consumer reactions to the availability of organic food in discount supermarkets

The market for organic food products in industrial countries has changed significantly. Conventional grocery stores have entered this market in recent years and now present an alternative point of purchase to farmers’ markets and specialized health food shops. In Germany, the main newcomers in this field are the discount supermarkets. The question is whether the increased supply of organic food products leads to sustained effects on consumer behaviour. In other words, can a first‐time purchase of organic products at a discounter act as an ‘icebreaker’ and induce further purchases? This question is addressed here. A consumer survey (n = 231) indicates that an initial purchase of organic food in a discount store is indeed very likely to lead to follow‐up purchases. The link shown is statistically significant. Furthermore, customers are very interested in the availability of locally grown products, reliable information and easy comparison with non‐organic products. Important recommendations concerning organic product range, display and information, especially for retailers, can be deducted.     

Consumer Motivations and Buying Behavior: The Case of the Local Food System Movement

The significant attention and growth surrounding sustainable foods has created a demand for research investigating different factors that can aid in predicting and explaining consumer behavior. This article utilized an attitude-behavior framework, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), to identify factors that might influence consumer valuation of organic, fair trade, and local labeled food. Approximately 1,000 consumers from a 2008 nationwide survey were used in data analyses. Some TPB determinants proved successful in understanding consumer motivations (behavioral control, social norms). These results can be used by a wide variety of food marketers to connect with consumers to promote effective marketing strategies of sustainable food products     

Vendor Hygienic Practices and Consumer Perception of Food Safety during the Carnival festival on the island of Tobago,West Indies

Local festivals are usually the highlights on the small island, Tobago, West Indies. The street vendors capitalized on the Carnival season where they provide a variety of foods and beverages on‐demand for masqueraders and spectators. Therefore, this study examined food safety and hygienic practices by vendors and consumer perception of such practices at the Carnival festivals in Tobago. Standard structured questionnaires and observational checklists were compiled and administered to 50 vendors and 150 consumers at five Carnival events. Each vendor was observed for frequency of practices for 15–20 min. Consumers were sampled systematically (every fifth person encountered) at each event. The vendors examined were generally female (70.0%), 41–50 years old (34.0%), possessed less than primary education (36.0%), acquired more than 5 years of experience (44.0%) and were stationary (78.0%). The most common food prepared and sold was hot dog (36.0% of all sold foods). Educated vendors practised good personal hygiene and on‐site food handling, whereas the others performed improper practices such as absence of aprons and hair covering, wearing of jewellery and handling money while serving. Also, vendors displaying valid food badges generally practised more proper personal hygiene and food handling than those without badges. The majority of the consumers examined were residents of Tobago (80.0%), female (74.7%), 21–30 years old (39.3%) and possessed secondary education (53.3%). More than half of the consumers purchased foods at Carnival events (57.3%). Most (82.7%) who did not purchase stored foods in coolers. More than half (58.0%) had seen or read Carnival food safety articles in the local newspapers and most (96.0%) were aware that illnesses can be transmitted via consumption of food. Additionally, 42 out of 74 respondents (56.8%), who indicated that they were affected by foodborne illness, sought medical help when foodborne illness was suspected. However, a mere 13 out of 74 consumers (17.6%), who indicated that they were affected by foodborne illness, lodged reports of suspected foodborne illness with the local health authority. Younger consumers (21–30 years old) mostly read food safety articles and were conscious of illness being transmitted via consumption of food. In addition, the more educated consumers (tertiary education) indicated awareness as well as formal reporting of foodborne illness. Some gaps in vendor practices included handling of money while serving (78.0%), failure to clean utensils (68.0%) and access to water (48.0%). Noteworthy, only visual observation and interviews were utilized in the study.     

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.     

USDA Certification of Food as Organic: An Investigation of Consumer Beliefs about the Health Benefits of Organic Food

Back in 2002, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) implemented the final national standards and began certifying foods as having met the criterion in the production, handling, and processing of organically grown agricultural products. Consumers began seeing the USDA seal displayed as well as, the word “certified” and various levels of organic content on the front display panel of the product. The USDA stresses that the organic standard and label requirements do not imply organic foods are healthier. This research analyzes possible implications of consumers incorrectly inferring that food products with the USDA-organic certification label are healthier than food products without that certification.     

提高违法成本 保障食品安全

在中国制奶业引发一场海啸的三鹿奶粉事件绝非一场偶然,为有效保障食品安全,通过各种途径提高企业违法成本是保障食品安全的关键。本文从三鹿奶粉案件的成本—收益分析出发,借鉴国外经验,拟从立法、司法、行政等各个角度,提出提高企业违法成本的路径选择。     

产业环境、监管力度与我国食品企业的诚信选择——基于激励相容约束的分析

食品企业的诚信状况决定着食品安全的水平。由于食品信任品的属性、食品产业链的交互性以及食品的行业效应,对食品企业诚信的诉求也呈现出一定的迫切性与整体性。本文根据委托代理模型,建立激励相容约束,分析了食品产业环境及监管力度对食品企业诚信决策的影响。并且认为,由于我国社会诚信甄别机制缺失、食品供应链相对复杂以及监管规制的不到位,使我国诚信的食品企业缺乏市场激励,失信的食品企业得不到应有的惩罚,因而导致了当前食品企业诚信的缺失。     

从国际贸易角度论我国食品安全法律体系的构建

食品安全关乎一国国民的生命健康,决定一国食品在国际市场上的竞争力.在我国构建科学、严密的食品安全法律体系已成为亟待解决的问题.食品安全概念的法律界定是构建这一体系的基础平台,对我国食品安全法律规制现状的理性分析,对世贸组织、美国、欧盟等较为发达的食品安全立法与实践的研究是构建我国食品安全法律体系的可行之路.这一体系的构建至少应涵盖并解决食品安全法律体系框架结构的安排、食品安全标准体系的完善和食品安全监管部门的整合等问题.     

农户参与食品质量安全追溯体系的意愿与影响因素——以北京市蔬菜种植户为例

基于北京市149个蔬菜种植户的调查数据,探讨影响农户参与食品质量安全追溯体系意愿的影响因素。在此基础上,运用二元Logit模型实证考察了各因素对农户参与意愿的作用,结果表明:农户对食品质量安全追溯体系的认知程度较低,参与食品质量安全追溯体系的意愿不强;受教育程度、种植规模、商品化程度、风险及价格预期和政府的补贴与扶持是影响农户参与食品质量安全追溯体系的最主要因素。政府应该多渠道完善各项制度,建立起有效的保障机制,促进食品质量安全可追溯体系的健康、持续推进。     

食品安全规制主体行为博弈：基于政府网络的考量

文章针对食品安全规制中最重要的主体——政府,研究了在不同的激励约束条件下的中央政府与地方政府、中央政府与地方食品安全规制部门间的行为博弈。文章试图针对网络经济的整体趋势,将政府规制在政府网络的框架下进行分析,在确定政府规制网络架构的前提下,明确政府在食品安全规制方面的责任,分析政府的规制行为。结果表明：中央政府观测到地方政府进行食品安全规制行为的概率是影响地方政府行为及其规制有效性的重要因素;地方政府观测到地方规制部门进行食品安全规制行为的概率;以及地方规制部门加强食品安全规制的概率,这些是影响地方规制部门行为的最重要因素。最后,根据所得研究结论,文章针对政府规制部门提出了确保食品安全并提高规制有效性的政策建议。     

Assessing the Impact of Changing Economic Environment on Productivity Growth: The Case of the Spanish Dairy Processing Industry

This article analyzes the productivity growth of the Spanish dairy processing industry from 1996 till 2011, which concerns the period of increased EU regulation regarding food safety as well as economic crisis. Data envelopment analysis is used to compute the Malmquist index and its components. The results suggest that productivity on average declined during the period under investigation. The decomposition of the Malmquist index finds that technical regress contributed to productivity decline despite improvements in technical and scale efficiencies. Our results also suggest that food safety regulations did not have a negative impact on productivity growth. Technical change and scale efficiency change made significant negative contributions to productivity growth in the period under crisis, whereas firms significantly improved their technical efficiency in that period.     

Consumer response to food labels in an emerging market: the case of Romania

This study investigates consumer response to food labels in an emerging market. More specifically, it measures the levels of awareness, objective and perceived understanding, perceived usefulness and perceived trustworthiness of the most prominent food labels found in the Romanian market. An online survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 428 respondents (45.6% males of an average age of 30.6 years). Results revealed that for most respondents, awareness levels towards food labels are generally low, except for the Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) and the organic food labels. Objective understanding towards food labels was relatively high, especially towards those food labels that included a clear text element. Perceived understanding, perceived usefulness and perceived trustworthiness were found to be consistently high with regard to the GDA and the national organic food labels, while the European organic label scored lower. Finally, response to food labels was found to differ between aware and unaware respondents.