Purchasing Behaviors of Consumers from third Countries on European Union Markets: A Case Study

Abstract

Purpose: This article aims to develop models of consumers' purchasing behaviors from the third countries on European Union food market and verify these models using statistical tools. The models were developed considering the socio-demographic characteristics of consumers, geopolitical determinants, purchase decision determinants, including the economic, marketing, socio-cultural, psychological, and regional ones, and the risk accompanying purchase decisions. Design/Methodology/Approach: The models were developed based on face-to-face interviews conducted by the author in the years 2012-2016, among 1,022 Russians purchasing goods on the EU border market. Logistic regression was used to determine relationships between multiple independent variables and the dependent variable. The model was verified using a multivariate analysis of the factors determining these behaviors and scoring methods. Findings: The marketing, psychological, economic, socio-cultural, and regional factors had the most significant impact in the model determining the determinants of purchasing food for one's own needs. In turn, professional inactivity, LBT, the possibility of transporting goods across the border, and the average monthly income per person in a household had the most significant impact in the model determining the determinants of food purchase for sale. Practical implications: The practical possibilities of using such analyses are essential for designing the conditions for cross-border cooperation and its implementation and the EU setting the rules for the operation of local border traffic between the EU and third countries. Originality/Value: The conducted identification and analysis of the critical determinants of the purchase of food goods by Russian consumers on the Polish market may be a reference point for the behaviors of consumers from third countries on the EU markets and the establishment of the law and rules governing the transport of goods across the border in the context of the local border traffic and the Schengen area.