Organic purchasing factors and consumer classification through their preferences in the metropolitan area of Lima, Peru

The analysis of organic-product consumer behavior deals primarily with preferences. There is a need to better understand the predictors that determine consumer choices when purchasing organic products. Metropolitan Lima was chosen as the study location. The structured questionnaire involved interviews with 547 organic consumers of the metropolitan area of Lima, Peru. A principal component analysis and a cluster analysis were used to assess the underlying opinions of consumers of organic products. The results revealed that decisions to purchase organic products in the future were mainly influenced by factors such as health and quality perceptions. Moreover, profiling the clusters as naturalites, drifters (midlevel) and LOHAS (core level) confirmed the results. The link between health and environment, among other benefits, should be strengthened through communication strategies to increase interest from consumers