Mapping the Market Segments for the Consumers of Greek Cooperative Food Products

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to illustrate and understand how consumers of cooperative food products could be segmented in the region of Western Greece. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was undertaken involving almost 500 consumers in the selected region. Consumers were segmented on the basis of their consumption of cooperative products and in association with their attributes and beliefs regarding cooperatives’ products. Τhe performed cluster analysis grouped participants into four distinct groups with different characteristics and perceptions regarding cooperatives’ products. The consumer groups were called “skeptics”, “cooperative”, “passively sensitive”, and “indifferent”. According to the results, in general, participants considered cooperative food products as a safe choice with excellent value for money and contributing to the local society, economy, and sustainability. Segmentation could allow agricultural cooperatives to focus only on those segments of consumers that are willing to pay for cooperative products by allocating all available resources in serving them. The results of this research, even with its limitations, can help directors and marketing executives of agricultural cooperatives to better understand that operating in a specific market could be more effective when targeted at specific segments to help not only the viability of agricultural cooperatives but also their economic development and growth.

Consumer Attitudes and Preferences towards Traditional Food Products in Vojvodina

“…In other words, consumers seek food that can be considered "clean-labeled" and "slow food". Both slow food and clean label focus on promoting food quality, sustainability, and transparency, with slow food emphasizing the importance of local, sustainable, and traditional food production, and clean label emphasizing the naturalness of ingredients and the absence of artificial additives, preservatives, and synthetic ingredients [27,28,[33][34][35][36][37]46,47]. The results obtained in this study are consistent with the literature and the increasing consumer inclination towards natural, clean-labeled, and minimally processed foods [48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55].…”

“…Some examples of specially labeled food products are organic products, additive-free products, GMO-free products, products free from added sugar, allergen-free products, gluten-free products, etc. [27][28][29]. Health and nutrition policies are, in many cases, key factors that influence consumer choices.…”

“…Also, with higher consumer consciousness and awareness about their health and the quality of the food they consume in recent years, their preferences towards clean labeled and slow food are on the rise. Both slow food and clean label focus on promoting food quality, sustainability, and transparency, with slow food emphasizing the importance of local, sustainable, and traditional food production, and clean label emphasizing the naturalness of ingredients and the absence of artificial additives, preservatives, and synthetic ingredients [27,28,[33][34][35][36][37].…”

Analisis Pemasaran Bisnis dengan Data Science : Segmentasi Kepribadian Pelanggan berdasarkan Algoritma K-Means Clustering

“…Melalui segmentasi pelanggan, perusahaan dapat menghindari penggunaan bahasa dan pesan yang tidak jelas. Penerapan segmentasi pelanggan telah memberikan peran penting dalam berbagai bisnis, seperti koperasi [9], rumah sakit [10], supermarket [11], agen asuransi [12], e-commerce [13] dan lainnya.…”