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The purpose of this paper is to reveal influential information used in vegetable purchasing decisions of household primary food shoppers in China and in Taiwan.

Two in-person surveys were administrated separately in Shanghai, China and in Taipei, Taiwan, the two most populous metropolitan areas in China and in Taiwan, respectively.

Results reveal that about 32 per cent of respondents in Taipei purchase vegetables once in every two to three days. The majority of respondents in Shanghai (81 per cent) purchase vegetables on a daily basis. Results of factor analysis reveal the four dimensions, origin labelling, promotion, selection, and quality, influence purchasing decisions of respondents in Taipei and in Shanghai. For household primary food shoppers in Taipei, origin labelling and selection help food shoppers in Taipei in vegetable purchasing decisions, but not promotion. For those food shoppers in Shanghai who purchase large volume of vegetables, quality is the most important factor in purchasing decisions.

This study provides new insights into vegetable purchasing decisions in two populous cities in China and Taiwan. The contributions of this study are to provide valuable information in vegetable purchasing decisions for effective information communication in retailing; and to fill in the gap of research in vegetable purchasing decisions in consumer behaviour studies in Chinese societies.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the demographic characteristics that influence the choice of retail outlet and the preferred retail outlet used by primary household shoppers when purchasing roots and tubers (R&Ts).

The study uses a binary logit model to estimate the probability of being a traditional or modern outlet shopper for R&Ts.

The traditional retail outlet was the preferred place to purchase R&Ts. Three demographic variables, age, monthly family income and ethnicity, were statistically significant.

The sample size might be considered small with only 232 primary household food shoppers participating.

To date, minimal research on the marketing of R&Ts has been undertaken in Trinidad and Tobago. As such, it is hoped that this study will stimulate others to undertake research in this area.

This research aims to develop a behaviorally based definition of “locavores”, i.e. a segment of a population that purchases locally grown produce. It describes the locavore segment on a set of attributes representative of those typically used for market segmentation and contrasts the locavore segment with a non‐locavore segment to estimate the impact value of local production over organic production. This paper operationalizes the concept in terms of reported buying behavior for fresh produce. A questionnaire administered to adult primary household food shoppers and residents of a US state included attribute, trial and usage (AT&U) questions focusing on a specific target product, i.e. apples. The paper profiles the segment in terms of marketing relevant criteria and discusses implications of the segment for the marketing of fresh produce.

A quantitative online survey of 1,218 Pennsylvania residents was conducted. The survey included a conjoint experiment where respondents rated their preference for various apples consisting of different levels of key apple characteristics, including physical apple attributes (sweetness, blemishes, size, crispness), credence attributes (conventional versus organic production method, local origin versus product of USA versus imported) and purchase price when buying apples. The data were used to quantify how much consumers are willing to give up in terms of product appearance, price, value of locally produced or other variables. Traditional attribute, trial and usage data were also collected.

The key finding was that the attribute “local” was significantly more impactful in changing preference for apples than “organic”. It was also found that there were three segments of apple consumers: those that most valued the quality of the apple, a second that was most interested in price, and a third most interested in the health and/or life style attributes such as local and organic attributes. Large differences were found between locavores and non‐locavores on marketing relevant criteria, such as price sensitivity, outlet preferences, and media characteristics.

The major limitation was the use of only Pennsylvania residents in the study and produce other than apples might have been used as well. Additionally it would have been more effective if the actual apples could have been available to taste and inspect. A valuable finding is that there is a local segment that values and is willing to pay for a locally produced product. However, that is the smallest segment and must be carefully targeted as most consumers are interested in either taste or price.

USA food retailers that use local supply can tell their customers “that purchasing from local farmers helps the economy in the communities we serve. Local produce can be delivered to your store very quickly and faster shipping means even fresher produce for you. Items can be picked and packed at a more mature stage. This can really bring out the taste of the product. Eating locally grown food also means less fossil fuel burned in preparation and transport – and less energy needed to refrigerate during transportation”. Farmers may wish to promote their local crops and not spend the additional money on organic farming.

The article appears to be the first research paper to tease apart the impact of local from organic via a conjoint analysis.

The purpose of this study is to determine the likelihood of a USA Mid-Atlantic region consumers’ willingness to partake in a wine tasting event, an example of an agritourism activity, based on their responses to an Internet survey conducted from June 22 to 29, 2010.

Potential participants were screened and asked to participate if they resided in one of the states targeted (Delaware, New Jersey or Pennsylvania); were aged 21 years and older; were the primary food shopper for the household; and had previously attended an agritourism and/or direct marketing events or activities.

A logit model was developed based on responses from 972 consumers who participated in the 15-minute Internet survey to predict participation in wine tasting activity. Consumers who are more likely to attend an on-farm wine tasting event include those who learn about agritourism events through newspapers, think that the variety and price of produce is better at direct markets than supermarkets, are older than 50 years, have a graduate degree and are self-employed.

Empirical results will help agritourism operators enhance marketing efforts and develop profitable on-farm agricultural activities by identifying consumer segments likely to participate in wine tourism activities.

This paper helps identify consumer segments that are more likely to participate in a wine tasting event and provides marketers with the ability to target likely buyers based on corresponding demographic characteristics.

This paper identifies likely wine tasting participants based on demographics, psychographics and behavioral characteristics.

To survey consumers living in Paris, France, to determine the extent to which they use nutrition labels, and to determine the percentage of French consumers who use nutrition labels, how often they use nutrition labels, and how they would like to see current nutrition labels improved. The researchers also wanted to determine the reasons why consumers do not use nutrition labels, and to try and assess users' and non‐users' perceptions about mandatory nutrition labelling.

French consumers (n  =  355) were surveyed in supermarkets in Paris and its suburbs, using a 21‐item questionnaire in May 2004. Interviewers used questionnaires to assess the frequency of respondents' nutrition label use, to investigate the specific nutrient information most commonly consulted on nutrition labels, the types of products on which consumers most often tend to consult nutrition labels, and to collect demographic information.

Only 45.1 per cent of the sample reported reading nutrition labels, with the majority of consumers reading labels only occasionally. Non‐label readers cited lack of interest as the primary reason why they do not read labels, but 95 per cent of the sample, when asked about mandatory nutrition labeling, felt that nutrition labeling should be required of food manufacturers. Research limitations/implications The sample size was small, participation was voluntary and was limited to the city of Paris and its suburbs, and therefore cannot be generalized to the French population.

This is the first study to collect data in a point‐of‐purchase setting in order to examine whether or not French consumers use nutrition labels.

The current research focused on attitudes toward food fraud (AFF) and examined the impact of types of food fraud, gender differences, and country of residence.

A convenience sample of German (n = 151) and Israeli (n = 496) participants was recruited through an online survey. They filled out a sociodemographic questionnaire and AFF scale, which includes three subscales: organic fraud, kosher fraud, and spraying fraud.

The results indicate that there is a significant effect of type of fraud, country of residence, and gender. German participants expressed more negative attitudes toward organic food fraud and less negative attitudes toward kosher fraud than Israeli participants. Women expressed more negative attitudes toward organic and kosher food frauds than men.

This study offers insight into cross-cultural and gender differences in attitudes toward food fraud. The findings suggest that public attitudes toward food fraud represent not just severity of possible consequences, but also environmental and religious aspects of consumption, norms and culture.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ willingness to pay for quality rice attributes in urban areas in the South of Vietnam, including organic and integrated pest management (IPM) as sustainable production methods, and claim about health benefits and fair farmer prices.

Cross-sectional data were collected in 2015 using a survey including a choice experiment (CE) (n=500). Generalized mixed logit models were estimated.

Vietnamese consumers are willing to pay a premium of 82 percent for organic rice, and 45 percent for rice produced using IPM, compared to conventionally produced rice. They are also willing to pay a premium of 95 percent for rice claiming to be rich in vitamins and other nutrients, and 50 percent for rice that guarantees a fair price to rice farmers.

A hypothetical CE was employed. Future research using revealed preference methods is suggested.

This study makes a significant contribution to the limited existing literature on consumers’ valuation of quality rice attributes in the context of developing countries such as Vietnam. The study shows that rice, that is, sustainably produced using organic or IPM methods provides a promising avenue for rice producers. This study highlights that there is an added value for rice with credence attributes in relation to sustainable production methods, health benefits, and fair farmer prices in a developing country.

The purpose of this paper is to explore consumer patronage of extreme value retailers in the USA.

The paper employs a sample generated from Retail Forward panel data (n=1,107) to explore consumer patronage of extreme value retailers. Descriptive statistics and decision tree analysis chi‐square automatic interaction detector is used to evaluate the data.

The paper examines extreme value shoppers based on patronage frequency, expenditures, and primary reason for shopping in the extreme value format. Results suggest that although patronage frequency of extreme value stores is not increasing, expenditures for food/household essentials are increasing. Demographic characteristics (income and age) are revealed as predictors of the primary reason for patronizing the format.

Generalizations of the findings of this paper to markets outside the USA are limited due to the differences in consumers and retail formats available in various countries. Future research could investigate additional patronage motives of extreme value shoppers, predict propensity to shop in the format, and compare changes in the customer base over time as a response to changing economic conditions.

The findings of this paper provide extreme value retailers with information on patronage frequency, expenditure, and patronage motivations among extreme value shoppers. The results offer support for the development of competitive strategies within the extreme value segment. As competition in the retail industry continues to evolve and new retail formats emerge, understanding shoppers' reasons for patronizing extreme value retailers will be critical to performance.

This paper is unique because of the lack of attention to extreme value shoppers in the extant literature.

The paper reports the results of a study of food shopping behaviour in Greece. It is concerned with establishing the dimensions underlying shoppers’ evaluations of their regular supermarket store attributes, exploring the existence of shopper segments and subsequently, identifying the segments in terms of shopping behaviour and attitudes to store features. The main research instrument is a survey of adult Greek grocery shoppers in the metropolitan area of the city of Thessaloniki. The empirical results indicate that there are three dimensions that underlie the importance of store features. These are defined respectively as ‘Store design and variety’, ‘Personnel and service’, and ‘Convenient location’. The application of cluster analysis to the dimensions factor scores reveals four clusters. The characteristics of each cluster are described by average factor scores on the dimensions of store features, demographic characteristics, attitudes to store features, store loyalty, and motives for regular store choice.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain how elements of the built environment may or may not influence the frequency of grocery shopping.

Using data from the 2009 Seattle Obesity Study, the research investigated the effect of the urban built environment on grocery shopping travel frequency in the Seattle-King County area. Binary and ordered logit models served to estimate the impact of individual characteristics and built environments on grocery shopping travel frequency.

The results showed that the respondents’ attitude towards food, travel mode, and the network distance between homes and stores exerted the strongest influence on the travel frequency while urban form variables only had a modest influence. The study showed that frequent shoppers were more likely to use alternative transportation modes and shopped closer to their homes and infrequent shoppers tended to drive longer distances to their stores and spent more time and money per visit.

This research has implications for urban planners and policy makers as well as grocery retailers, as the seemingly disparate groups both have an interest in food shopping frequency.

Few studies in the planning or retail literature investigate the influence of the urban built environment and the insights from the planning field. This study uses GIS and a planning framework to provide information that is relevant for grocery retailers and those invested in food distribution.