Can't Buy Me Green? A Review of Consumer Perceptions of and Behavior Toward the Price of Organic Food

Abstract

Support for organic farming is a promising policy for improving sustainability in the food sector. Further consumer demand, however, is hindered by high prices. We review research from 2000 to 2014 on the role of perceived price, income, price knowledge, willingness to pay, and reactions to price changes on organic food. We find that price is the major perceived barrier to purchase. Income is only a partial explanatory factor and is superseded by psychographic variables. Willingness to pay a premium is around 30% (ranging from 0% to 105%) and depends on consumer segments and product category. Price knowledge is vague, and organic consumers' price sensitivity is relatively lower than that of occasional or nonorganic consumers. The results suggest that further market differentiation in terms of organic consumer segments and food categories is necessary. Furthermore, we discuss detailed implications for public policy and practice and present a future research agenda.

Organic Food in the Diet: Exposure and Health Implications

“…Although organic farming systems yield less food, recently estimated to be ∼19%, the gap can be reduced or even abolished with further research and development work, as indicated in recent publications (90,92). Export/import and transport may also be important for sustainability (5). Organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs grown in low-income countries, particularly in Africa, are produced almost exclusively for the export market.…”

“…Consumers are prepared to pay more for products that involve less processing and that are grown free of pesticides and genetically modified organisms, perhaps by local farmers considered worthy of support (8,48,70). Insufficient availability, convenience concerns, and high prices for organic food are identified as factors that limit the consumption of organic food (5,31,48,63).…”

The Influence of “Euro-Leaf” Logo on Consumers’ Choices: The Italian Case of Branded and Private Label Food Products

“…Actually it is not possible to define precisely all the dimensions related to this offer. Scholars are still working to provide valid information on strategic aspects such as the market segmentation (Hansen et al, 2018;Peštek et al, 2018;Sultan et al, 2018), the role of awareness (Asif et al, 2018), the willingness to pay higher prices (Aschemann-Witzel, and Zielke, 2017), the country of origin (Thøgersen et al, 2017), the relationship with health concern (Apaolaza et al, 2018) or the perspectives on production (Popović et al, 2018). Analyzing the evidences from the market, increasing sales are registered.…”

How important is country-of-origin for organic food consumers? A review of the literature and suggestions for future research

“…The impact of COO on consumer choices is one of the oldest and most extensively researched topics in global marketing and consumer behaviour, and a wide range of contingencies and moderators of COO effects has been identified (Pharr, 2005, Verlegh andSteenkamp, 1999). The key role of consumer demand for the development of the organic market has also given rise to a growing literature (Aschemann-Witzel and Zielke, 2015, Hemmerling et al, 2015, Hughner et al, 2007, Rödiger and Hamm, 2015. Although there are many studies of consumer preferences for COO on the one hand and organic food on the other, research on COO effects in the context of organic food is scarce (Xie et al, 2015).…”