Segmentation of Food Consumers Based on Their Sustainable Attitude

Abstract

The proposed study aims to segment consumers based on a sustainable approach to the consumption of food. The shift in consumers’ attitudes towards more balanced food consumption can be one of the sustainability drivers for entire food chains and may result in more sustained energy usage in the whole food chain and implementation of farm to fork strategy to the practice. We considered consumers’ attitudes as a multidimensional construct. Under this assumption, we asked respondents a series of questions related to the cognitive, behavioral, and affective components of an attitude. Data were collected from a market survey run among 433 consumers. We identified three consumer segments. The “Doers” segment exhibits sustainable behavior to a greater extent than the others. At the same time, they have less knowledge about the concept of food sustainability while the affective dimension was developed on an average level. The “Conscious” segment had well-developed cognitive and affective dimensions (which might indicate their openness to the information about sustainability positive feelings), however, it was not reflected in their behavior. Finally, the “Reluctant” segment, did not show a sustainable attitude towards food consumption in any of the analyzed dimensions. Answering the question of how common sustainable attitudes are may help in determining the market potential and in developing product and promotion strategies.

Consumer versus Organic Products in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Opportunities and Barriers to Market Development

“…Consumers, concerned about the natural environment and health (their own, their family's, the public's) are interested in the origin of the product and information regarding environmental contamination (e.g., pollution due to the use of agrochemicals, chemical residues, soil and water contamination), presence of antibiotics used in animal husbandry, wasted food [38,39]. Responsible consumers (that constitute a specific form of social capital) change their habits and behavior, evaluate food and choose products that are: fresh, authentic, low-processed, not anonymous, local, clean, with a short and simple list of ingredients, natural and tasty [40]. More and more people become aware of the correlation between their own actions and other spheres of social and economic life, they also begin to realize that by choosing certain organic products they not only contribute to the nature and level of domestic production but also to the economic condition of enterprises and the state of the natural environment [24].…”

Does the COVID-19 Pandemic Change Consumers’ Food Consumption and Willingness-to-Pay? The Case of China

“…Meta-analyses summarizing and comparing these WTP studies are conducted [17,18]. Results from WTP studies can also be used as a market segmentation factor for food consumers to promote sustainability as most of these studied attributes are eco-friendly attributes [19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”

Influencing Factors for Sustainable Dietary Transformation—A Case Study of German Food Consumption

“…More and more people are open to a healthy lifestyle based on a healthy and balanced diet [ 14 ], yet there are reasons (sociocultural, emotional, etc. ), which can hold them back in doing so [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ].…”