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Considers the present situation and future challenges of marketing organic food, drawing on experiences in Germany and the UK. Argues that the existing marketing structure in the UK, dominated by the supermarkets, is not effectively meeting demand because of structural incompatibilities between organic farming and supermarketing. In Germany, increasing supply is not reaching the consumer because the prevailing niche marketing structure is unable to deal with large quantities, a situation to which production‐oriented rather than market‐oriented organic aid schemes have contributed. In both countries, the main challenge lies in broadening the appeal of organic food and establishing a broad consumer base without compromising its identity. In the UK, there is potential for the expansion of small‐scale, decentralized marketing outlets, while in Germany greater involvement by supermarkets appears to be appropriate.

After reading and discussing the case, the participants would be able to:▪ articulate the challenges associated with retailing of organic products.▪ suggest paid, owned and earned digital marketing tools to Manav Chetna Vikas Kendra (MCVK);▪ suggest a digital marketing budget;▪ discuss essential elements of a good website design; and▪ discuss various website analytics metrics.

This case describes the challenges faced by the founder, Ajay Dayama, and members of MCVK, who believed in the concept of sustainable community living through the production and marketing of organic food products. They believed that they would be able to share their philosophy of sustainable living through their products reaching out to a larger population rather than just being consumed by community members. This paved the way for the creation of a brand by the name SATT offering products under the lifestyle, nutriment and wellness categories. Marketing and sales of SATT products came with a bundle of challenges, and it was not easy to convince customers about the authenticity, quality and pricing of these products. Many organic products sold by competitors were available on e-commerce platforms, while SATT relied on direct marketing. Low customer acceptance for SATT products would weaken the sustainability dream of the community. How MCVK could increase awareness and acceptance of SATT products was a big area of concern for Ajay.

This case is suitable for students enrolled for full credit course on Digital Marketing at postgraduate level. The case can be discussed towards the middle of the course.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between US farmers’ adoption of organic farming and direct marketing, both of which are increasingly important practices in the US agricultural and food sector. In addition, the effects of the two practices on farm income are evaluated.

The research uses the Agricultural and Resource Management Survey from the US Department of Agriculture. Farmers’ adoption of the two practices is modeled with a simultaneous linear probability model, which accounts for the possible linkage between the adoption of the two practices in farmers’ decision-making process. Farm income is modeled with a linear regression model, accounting for the possible endogeneity of the adoption of the two practices.

The main finding is that farmers’ adoption of organic farming decreases their probability of adopting direct marketing, whereas the reverse effect is insignificant. In addition, organic farming helps to improve gross farm income, whereas the effect of direct marketing is insignificant.

These results facilitate better coordination among numerous government programs aimed at promoting organic farming or direct marketing in the US.

This paper extends previous literature by specifically accounting for the possible linkage between farmers’ adoption of organic farming and direct marketing, and demonstrates that farmers do not make the decision to adopt one particular practice in isolation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the proportion and distribution of organic produce sold through different marketing channels by a sample of organic farmers in three “core” areas of organic farming in England and Wales. More specifically, it conducts a quantitative analysis of marketing concentration and geographical dispersion within different travel time zones.

A quantitative database was constructed on the marketing channels and travel time zones used by 61 organic farmers to sell their produce and purchase necessary inputs. Indices of marketing concentration and geographical dispersion (outputs and inputs) were then calculated for each farm and region.

Results indicate a high level of marketing concentration, dominated by marketing cooperatives, direct marketing and abattoir/processors. Similar levels of concentration are recorded for the indices of geographical dispersion (especially outputs). Results vary significantly between the three regions, but it is clear that organic farmers in each region make use of different combinations of marketing channels, both local and national, in increasingly hybridised and individualised supply chains.

Many organic farmers are developing hybridised supply chains, including both local and more conventional marketing channels, and further research is needed into the identified regional differences and the reasons for developing what are often very individualised marketing chains.

This is the first attempt to calculate indices of marketing concentration and geographical dispersion for organic farms in different regions of England and Wales. The paper also contributes to debates on the potential impact of organic farming on rural development and the local economy.

Organic products form a growing segment of the food market. Recent estimates speak about market shares between 1 to 4.25 per cent. In Belgium the share is only 1 per cent, but the market is growing exponentially. Organic farmers in Belgium often have to sell their products as conventional products because of non‐efficient marketing systems. Marketing problems are also mentioned as one of the main reasons by conventional farmers for not converting. Most conventional farmers are not only rather sceptical about the long‐term perspectives of getting a price premium for organic products, but consider the organisation of the supply chain as one of the main sources of uncertainty and therefore as a constraint for conversion. Therefore more efforts should be made to organise the supply chain for organic products. The problem seems to be that of the egg and the chicken: for a cost‐effective supply chain a condition is to have enough producers, while for a lot of producers a cost‐effective swupply chain seems to be a necessary condition to convert, mainly because of high transaction costs linked to non‐efficient marketing.

The global organic market is expanding, and India is in an advantageous position with the highest number of organic producers worldwide. Although many articles have been published on the value chain of organic products from India, no significant studies were found related to the value chain analysis of organic pineapple. This study aims to know the various aspects of the organic pineapple value chain, i.e. network structure, value addition at various stages of chain actors, value chain upgradation and governance structure.

The study is explorative in nature, and primary data from various actors involved in the chain is collected and analyzed. Primary data through a structured schedule and interviews are collected from farmers and traders. A multistage sampling plan has been adopted. A sample of 75 farmers was randomly selected from the study area. For traders, snowball sampling is used due to the nonavailability of the sampling frame. A total of 10 commission agents, 10 wholesalers and 20 retailers were thus selected for the study. For objectives 1 and 4, descriptive statistics are used. For objective 2, a modified formula described by (Murthy et al., 2007) is used to calculate farmer’s net price and marketing margin. For objective 3, Garrett’s ranking technique is used to identify various constraints in upgrading the organic pineapple value chain in Assam.

This study shows that the value chain of organic pineapple is in the initial stage and proper value addition is required to have a complete regulated value chain. Six marketing channel is identified, and products are sold through farmer producer company only in case of export and trade with distant buyers. The marketing efficiency for channels II and III is 1.69 and 0.99, respectively. The degree of value addition for channel II in the hands of the commission agent, wholesaler and retailer is 11.65%, 4.56% and 12.60%, respectively. In the various constraints in upgrading the value chain, farmers rank “policy support” as a major constraint. In the governance structure, trade with distant traders and exports is done formally and through written contracts.

The study performs value chain analysis of organic pineapple in Cachar district of Assam, India for the year January 2022–January 2023. Future studies are encouraged related to various aspects of the supply chain and value chain of organic pineapple from various northeastern states of India and other states.

The study will help policymakers and key actors to know the existing chain and frame a well-coordinated and regulated value chain.

This study is one of the first study to explore the value chain of organic pineapple of Cachar district of Assam, India. Implementation of these findings can help various actors to strengthen the existing value chain.

The purpose of this paper is to segment the Australian organic food consumer market.

A nationwide online survey was conducted for collecting data about the Australian organic food consumer market. Various statistical techniques were used for analyzing the data and identifying market segments.

The key market segmentation variables that significantly characterize the Australian organic food consumer market include age, income, education, metro/city-vs-rural/region, purchase frequency, weekly expenditure, consumption period, retail outlets, perceived values, self-image, and perceptions about organic foods.

Australia, like many other countries, is an emerging market for the organically produced and marketed food products. The current review unfolds the fact that there are limited studies in market segmentation, and no study in the Australian context, in particular. The current paper contributes to the organic food market segmentation literature and provides several implications for market segmentation strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to obtain empirical understanding of organic food buyers in the context of emergent organic food market (i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina) by using a segmentation approach.

A self-administrated online survey was carried out among organic food buyers (n=202) using the snowball sampling technique. Measurement items were mainly adapted from the prior studies.

The authors analysed the heterogeneity of organic food buyers with latent class model. Four distinct latent classes (i.e. segments) of organic food buyers were identified. Those segments were named as enthusiastic social-seekers, enthusiastic moralists, hostile seldom shoppers, and hostile heavy shoppers.

Though the study was exploratory, the identified segments of organic food buyers can enhance our knowledge about differing characteristics of organic food buyers in the context of the country where the organic food industry is in the early stages of development. The findings of this study will give organic food producers and marketers a much better framework for making product, pricing, distribution and marketing communications decision. Moreover, the identification of organic food consumer profiles will provide an insight into how policymakers should tailor their public policy and strategies to expand the size of the organic food market.

Although Iran is one of the largest producers and exporters of saffron in the world, the organic saffron market in Iran is still in its early stages, and there is scarce empirical evidence in this regard. Therefore, the study's primary purpose is to segment the organic saffron market in Mashhad, Iran using neobehavioristic theory and machine learning methods.

Considering the neobehavioristic theory of consumer behavior, the organic saffron market was segmented using crisp and fuzzy clustering algorithms. Also, to assess the relative importance of the factors affecting the intention to buy organic saffron in each market segment, a sensitivity analysis was performed on the output of the artificial neural network (ANN). A total of 400 questionnaires were collected in Mashhad, Iran in January and February 2020.

In contrast to the belief that psychological factors are more important in market segmentation than demographic characteristics, findings showed that the demographic characteristics of consumers, especially education and income, are the dominant variables in the segmentation of the organic food market. Among the 4 A’s marketing mix elements, the results showed that a low level of awareness and accessibility are obstacles to organic saffron market development. Advertising, distribution channel improvement, package downsizing and online business development are suggested strategies for expanding the organic saffron market in Iran.

The results of the present study will help policymakers and suppliers of organic saffron to identify their target markets and design short- and long-term marketing strategies to develop the organic saffron market.

Machine learning methods and the neobehavioristic theory of consumer behavior were used to segment the organic food market.

The organic product market can be considered as an emerging market. Since the 1990s it has experienced rapid growth, and supermarket chains have become the sales channel with the largest market share and are the main driver for further growth. However, different supermarket retail groups have very different strategies concerning the marketing of organic products. The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the different strategies of retailers who are active in the organic product market and to explain the drivers which may underlie them.

The strategies of the three most important Belgian retailers that market organic products, and in particular organic beef, are analyzed. Data were collected through interviews with the retailers' staff and through observations in retail outlets. Also, GfK‐household panel data which recorded all purchases of 3,000 Belgian households and a postal survey with 529 respondents were used as data sources.

The different strategies used by retailers to market organic foods are associated with the overall characteristics and marketing strategies of the retail groups. Some retail groups have clear “first mover” advantages from engaging in the organic product line, while for others an adaptive strategy is more appropriate.

The insights from this paper will help the understanding and facilitate the development of future strategies for organic and other high‐value or premium products, which will be of interest to researchers and stakeholders who are active in these markets.

The retail sector is not a single homogeneous block, but instead consists of retailers who pursue quite different strategies. This concept may have major implications for the future development of high‐value markets.

Existing relevant theories were applied to the adoption of the organic product line, a segment in the portfolio of retailers that is becoming more important. The empirical material collected sheds new light on the drivers behind retail strategies.