Organic food online shopping in Poland
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse selected characteristics, attitudes and opinions of organic food e-consumers (online shoppers) in Poland.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted among 1,000 inhabitants of Poland aged 15-65. The sample resembled the general population, regarding: age, sex, education and the size of the city of origin. In total, 63 respondents reported buying organic food online. This segment was compared with the rest of the sample with the use of two-tailed t-tests. A logistic regression model was applied to identify the determinants of organic food online shopping in Poland.
Findings
In a logistic regression model, age, income, willingness to pay (WTP) a premium price for organic food, importance attached to product appearance and to quality signs turned out to be statistically significant determinants of online shopping behaviour for organic food in Poland. Higher income, importance attached to quality signs and higher WTP increase the likelihood of being an organic e-consumer, while higher age and importance attached to product appearance decrease it.
Research limitations/implications
First, some determinants of organic online shopping have been identified. Second, this study has provided some frameworks to analyse organic food selection motives, barriers to the development of the market, food authenticity assessment criteria, distribution channels, and product characteristics.
Practical implications
The findings may be useful for the industry due to the identification of the role of quality signs in online food purchases and of the importance of selected organic food consumption motives.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study of organic food online shopping in Poland.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author’s research study was funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education within a Iuventus Plus research Grant No. IP 2011 004371 and the National Science Centre within an Opus research Grant No. 2015/17/B/HS4/00253.
Citation
Bryła, P. (2018), "Organic food online shopping in Poland", British Food Journal, Vol. 120 No. 5, pp. 1015-1027. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-09-2017-0517
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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