Consumer concerns: Is organic food important in an environmentally responsible diet?

How humans manage environmental sustainability will impact the wellbeing of future generations. Research has been considering the environmental impact of consumers’ dietary preferences. This paper reports on the specific role of organic food in such choices. Results based on a survey of consumers (N=163) in Australia show that many want to have an environmentally responsible diet and believe that their purchases of organic food contribute to such a diet. When respondents were presented with 12 food attributes, 17% rated ‘organic’ as very or extremely important while 73% rated ‘quality’ as very or extremely important, and with the ten other attributes rating in between. Thirteen percent of respondents reported ‘never’ purchasing organic, while 2% responded ‘always’, 15% ‘frequently’, 36% ‘sometimes’, and 34% ‘rarely’. Of nine strategies presented to respondents for achieving a sustainable diet 3% reported maximizing their purchases of organic food, 17% of respondents reported avoiding bottled water, and the other seven strategies rated in between. Fifty four percent of respondents indicated a readiness to increase their organic consumption. One strategy for growing sales of organic food is to encourage existing consumers of organics to purchase more of these products. This may require focusing on promoting its superior health credentials whilst offering it at comparatively convenient locations and competitive price/quality relationships. In addition this research suggests that there is scope to jointly promote the co-benefits of other environmentally friendly dietary behaviours, such as encouraging reductions in eating meat and junk food, as well as minimising the amount of food waste

Nudging consumers towards more environmentally sustainable dietary choices

This paper contributes to the emerging global discussion on how to orient government policy and action by organizations and individuals towards human diets that are environmentally sustainable. Emerging threats to global food security are resulting in action being taken involving transformations across the entire supply chain, from production to consumption. This paper provides an overview of the global food system and associated human diets before reviewing consumer behaviour in relation to dietary choices and identifying changes required for a more environmentally sustainable diet. Priority areas identified for policy and research that encourage consumers to change, based on high environmental impact and likelihood of consumers changing their behaviour, are reduction of “junk food” consumption and minimization of avoidable food waste. Key words: marketing; food; consumer choices; environmentally sustainable diets

Clean and green: A review of organic food and its marketing in Australia

Over the last 50 years certified organic food has developed into the most visible global brand for a healthier and more environmentally sustainable food choice for consumers. This paper investigates why consumers in Australia are buying organic food and presents information that is accessible to industry practitioners. The main marketing challenge — which is shared with many other niche markets in the food industry including those selling other “clean and green” products — is the requirement to convince consumers in a cost effective manner of the superior “value” of their products relative to substitute products. For organic food it is that its unique features of superior health and environmental credibility are worth the extra cost. There is also the more general need to improve the visibility and credibility of the ‘organic brand’ amongst consumers. There are a number of methodological limitations associated with existing research that emerge from a reliance on consumer self-reporting (rather than actual behaviour) and demographic variables for consumer segmentation (which do not identify significant differences)

Consumer-defined attributes and choice methods for fresh produce purchases in Australia

The aim of this research is to identify ways of increasing sales by understanding how household food buyers choose fresh produce items. Three hundred responses were obtained from a questionnaire randomly distributed in one city in Australia. Fresh produce items are frequent, low-value purchases. Their most important attributes are taste, price, and freshness, and the buyer choice method used for individual products varies from occasional “impulse” purchases to regular “planned” purchases of staples. With planned purchases some are seen as “destination” products whereas for others “substitutes” are available. In order to optimize sales, retail outlets should avoid becoming out-of-stock for destination products and co-locate substitute products. Sales may also be increased by displaying impulse products in prominent positions

Branding food culture: UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy

Although branding is a well-established practice in consumer goods marketing its application to intangibles is a relatively new activity. This article analyzes the co-branding between the United Nations and urban centers that are successful in becoming UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy. Cities with this status have the potential to generate benefits from enhanced brand image, with associated economic and social rewards. However, it requires ongoing investment to create awareness among potential tourists and investors and in the development of enhanced pride and coordination among city residents and businesses. Numerous cities are likely to join the existing five UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy over coming years as a result of efforts from UNESCO to raise its profile, alongside individual cities prioritizing food tourism in their economic development plans and increasing global importance of food security as evidenced by it being the theme for World Exposition being hosted by Italy in 201

Consumer choice in context: Developing further understanding of organic buyer’s switching behaviour

The organic food market continues to grow yet market share remains low. The majority of consumers in this market tend to switch between organic and conventional food products rather than being heavy users of organic branded products. The purpose of this research is to present a deeper investigation of the factors that can lead to the purchase or nonpurchase of organic food in order to gain a better understanding of this switching behaviour. A qualitative grounded theory approach was utilised involving in-depth interviews with 21 participants in Australia. These were primary shoppers who switch between organic and conventional food. An emergent conceptual framework was developed from the data which identifies factors that influence whether or not organic food is bought. This framework includes three layers: consumer context; choice of retail outlet; and point-of-purchase. Depending on the specific situation, these factors influence buyers to different extents and hence their collective impact determines whether the individual purchases organic food on a given shopping event. The framework may be used by organic food marketers as a checklist for developing an understanding of their consumers and a basis for developing strategy

Environmentally friendly social changes: Profiling individuals for household food waste reductions

This article focuses on the ongoing challenge of management interventions seeking social change in pursuit of greater environmental sustainability. We seek to improve the segmentation of individuals to inform the design of customised interventions in the challenging and globally important area of reducing food waste. Given the limited explanatory power associated with socio-demographic characteristics in the segmentation process, we included a behavioural component based on the Stages of change model. Data was collected through an online survey completed by a representative sample of Australian adults (N = 944) who buy food for their household. Results show a large proportion of individuals (around 70%) are already actively involved in reducing food waste. We identified four meaningful clusters of individuals namely, Self-centred, Uninvolved, Concerned, and Passionate. Those in Concerned and Passionate clusters, which comprised 29% and 26% of the participants respectively, will benefit from interventions highlighting environmental impact. We contribute to literature by highlighting the benefits of incorporating stages of change with socio-demographics to create meaningful groups where enhanced impact can be achieved from customised interventions. © 2019, © 2019 Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand Inc

Retail outlets: Nurturing organic food consumers

Consumer choice of retail outlet is often overlooked in explaining purchase behaviour in the organic food market. This paper uses theory from applied marketing research to identify the variables affecting consumer choice of retail outlet and finds that they play a determining role in whether or not consumers buy organic food. A grounded theory approach was used. The results confirmed the importance of variables previously identified in the literature in relation to the individual consumer, such as habit and budget, as well as those that relate to the retail outlet, such as convenience and product range. In addition, two new variables were identified that relate to whom the consumer was buying for and whether they are shopping alone or with others. This study focuses on the vast majority of organic food consumers. They are switchers because they purchase both organic and conventional products, rather than solely organic, or solely conventional. It concludes that choice of retail outlet adds to our understanding of their behaviour and that it facilitates identification of important implications for marketers. At a fundamental level, as some consumers actively seek out organic food on certain occasions it is important for retail outlets make them aware that they sell organic food and to stimulate sales with special offers. Further, smaller retailers, such as food co-ops or health food shops, should focus on providing a limited range of organic products and accept that they will not be able to match the convenience offered by supermarkets in terms of opening hours

Exploring the market potential of 'local' in food systems

Local food initiatives create a niche market in many developed countries where consumer choice is being met with an expanding offering in both conventional as well as complementary retail outlets. Supermarkets in conjunction with the food service sector currently dominate food sales and consumption, and are likely to do so for the foreseeable future. However, the local food sector offers an opportunity for implementing niche marketing strategies for many businesses. Local food activities tend to be relatively independent activities and a clearer definition for “local” food would assist in consolidating this important component of the food system. Related to this, consumers would benefit from the establishment of some form of assurance system for the ‘localness’ of food. In the UK, with its well established local food market, farmers’ markets, farm shops and box schemes are currently having the largest impact in terms of total sales. Hence further research is required to confirm that support for similar business ventures in Australia would be a viable strategy for strengthening its local food systems

The current status and potential of local food in South Korea

Due to the deterioration of small-scale agriculture in rural regions, and increasing concerns over population health, the local food movement in South Korea has recently attracted interest from many local governments and non-governmental organisations. This paper examines its potential to address some of the social and environmental challenges associated with current forms of food provisioning. This includes an assessment of farmers’ markets, school meals, box schemes, and traditional markets. It concludes with identification of six issues that need to be managed for local food to continue expanding in South Korea. These being: reducing ambiguity surrounding the meaning of local food; greater sharing of production risks with consumers; improving coordination of government involvement; increasing up-take of appropriate production methods such as organic; maintaining opportunities for diversity of local food producers including small-scale family farmers; and finally, embracing local food sales in dominant retail outlets such as supermarkets