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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.

Development of new cultivars requires extensive genetic knowledge, trained personnel, and significant financial resources, so it is crucial for breeders to focus on the attributes most preferred by the key supply chain stakeholders such as consumers and producers. The purpose of this paper is to identify which attributes generate the highest total revenue or social surplus, information that breeders can take into account as they allocate resources to focus on attributes in their breeding programs.

This study used mail-in and online surveys to collect consumer and producer choice experiment data, and then employed mixed logit models to analyze and simulate individual producer and consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for the apple attributes.

Based on the simulation results, this study derived the supply and demand curves and the market equilibrium prices and quantities for each apple attribute. Based on the WTP analysis for both consumer and producer, this paper found the highest equilibrium price and welfare for apples come from crispness, followed by flavor.

The authors propose a framework to estimate the equilibrium prices and quantities of a product based on the results of choice experiments. The framework can be easily adapted to understand any countries’ producer and consumer preferences for certain products.

Provides background to the current literature on buying intentions and describes some recent research on the subject. States traditional short‐term econometric forecasting models for durables generally represent expenditure as a function of disposable income, relative price, an index of hire‐purchase control, and an estimation of the total stock of durables. Discusses US experience in depth, with literature examples. Sums up that current research is now engaged on testing the hypothesis that intentions are primarily expressed by initial purchasers.

The aims of this study were to examine farmers' and food processors' alignment with consumers' views about plant foods and their intentions to produce plant foods.

Data on plant food beliefs were collected from mail surveys of farmers, food processing businesses and random population samples of adults in Victoria, Australia.

There were strong differences between consumers' beliefs and farmers' and food processors' perceptions of consumers' beliefs. For example, a higher proportion of farmers and processors believed that consumers would eat more plant foods if more convenience‐oriented plant‐based meals were available than consumers themselves agreed. Farmers appeared to be more aware of or aligned with consumers' beliefs than were processors. One‐ and two‐thirds of farmers and processors respectively were planning to grow or process more plant foods, which bodes well for the availability of plant and plant‐based foods.

Study limitations include the small food industry sample sizes and possible response bias, although analysis suggests the latter was low. Future research could survey a larger sample of food industry representatives, including those from other sectors (e.g. retailers).

Education of consumers and industry groups on plant foods and better lines of communication from consumer to processor to farmer, are required.

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to examine farmers' and food processors' awareness of consumers' beliefs about plant foods. This issue is important for those involved with the production and marketing of plant foods or with food, farming and health policy.

Posits that food labelling is one medium by which consumers can acquire knowledge about the food they consider buying. This type of information is becoming increasingly important in a food market where direct contact with the personnel over the counter is declining. Reports the results from a pilot study and a consumer survey including 1050 respondents. Reveals that the majority of consumers read the food labels (often, sometimes or seldom), and that the reading frequency was associated with the degree of uncertainty about the food supply. Additives occupied a far more prominent place in these reading activities, than what could be expected from the respondents’ general notions of what constitutes a healthy diet. Discusses these results with regard to consumer apprehension of the presentation of data on the food labels.

As Chinese consumers become more affluent, their expectations about what a brand should deliver are rising. To better understand the challenges facing companies that want to establish a brand in China, Accenture surveyed more than a thousand Chinese consumers to learn how they decide what to buy. This paper aims to examine those results.

Accenture conducted 1,022 interviews from China that surveyed consumers of six categories of products and services: automobiles, appliances, consumer packaged goods, financial services, high‐tech products and apparel. Consumers chosen for the China part of the study were generally younger and wealthier than the typical Chinese consumer – a reasonable proxy for the initial target audiences for brands attempting to succeed in China.

Accenture research shows that creating a successful brand in this environment requires a sophisticated understanding of what segments of the Chinese markets value in a brand and a willingness to reach China's increasingly choosy consumers through innovative media.

The data about Chinese consumers' expectations translate into seven core lessons for marketers. Three of the lessons offer ways to shape brand image and four suggest how to best communicate the brand message.

Analysis of the survey data identified six consumer segments, which – although they share much in common – each have particular differences in their set of brand values.

The present study attempts to offer more insights into the Greek organic market. It examines the organic products as “eco‐products”, suitable for “green” consumers, who are ecologically/environmentally ecology‐aware and who are concerned with health and quality‐of‐life issues. Analysing a countrywide sample, the survey concludes that three consumer types exist in terms of attitude towards, purchase intention and awareness of organic products: the “unaware”, the “aware non‐buyers”, and the “(aware) buyers” (or simply buyers) of organic food products. After developing a detailed profile of the first two, the “aware buyers” type is segmented in terms of five groups of personality and behavioural factors, defined in the international literature as the driving forces of organic purchasing.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers, family-run small businesses (small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)) and their employees’ perceptions and attitude towards reform of the Sunday Trading Act in Britain.

A multi-method approach was employed to collect data in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 family-run small business owners/managers, 25 employees and 30 consumers. A survey was also conducted amongst 385 consumers and 279 employees. A convenience sampling method was used to collect data. Interview data were analysed by using content analysis and survey data were analysed by using descriptive statistics.

The results demonstrate considerable support for extending Sunday trading hours. Most of the arguments against the reform were found to be redundant. The findings suggest that in contemporary Britain, the restricted Sunday trading hours are perceived to be outdated and inconvenient.

The findings demonstrate that a paradigm shift is needed to meet and understand the changing market conditions. This exploratory study is limited to the UK. Future research will be extended to other European countries.

This is the first academic study to investigate the current debate regarding the deregulation of the Sunday trading hours. This study highlighted the psychographic changes and socio-economic demand in the marketplace. Sunday trading offers different types of benefits to consumers, employees and SMEs. The study proposed an original model that categorised these benefits into three major levels: primary benefits, ancillary benefits and ultimate benefits.

The purpose of this paper is to understand which factors and resources free-range egg consumers believe are important for hen welfare.

An online survey was distributed via the mailing list of a UK free-range egg brand receiving 6,378 responses. The survey was mostly five-point Likert-scale based. The same survey was also distributed to a group of animal welfare specialists receiving 34 responses.

Respondents bought free-range eggs because hens are “happier” (74.2 per cent) and “healthier” (69.0 per cent) and because they believed such eggs to taste better (57.9 per cent). They rated all the suggested factors that might contribute to hen welfare as “important” or “very important” (on average) but believed outside access and fresh air to be most important. Respondents rated the suitability of resources relating to behavioural needs high (“suitable” or “very suitable”) indoors and shelter as the most suitable outdoors. Consumers differed from welfare specialists in their views on factors contributing to hen welfare, but their views on resource suitability were similar.

The sample was biased towards free-range egg consumers who had expressed an interest in a brand marketed as high welfare.

This is the first study to ask consumers what they consider to be important for hen welfare and how they think hen welfare can be improved. Because consumers can affect on-farm welfare through their purchasing habits assessing the degree of agreement between consumers and animal welfare specialists is important.

This paper aims to identify and describe the determinants of consumer attitudes towards artisanal cheeses within the speciality cheese market and the reasons behind the growing interest in this premium value sector as evinced by two surveys of specialist food retailers and artisanal cheese consumers. The survey results obtained are presented in the context of a changing consumption culture and the concept of an emerging “postmodern” consumerism. Artisanal cheese consumers focus on the unique characteristics of the products and their distinctive character in relation to mass produced industrial cheeses. Price and functional properties of artisanal cheeses are less important in the consumer purchase decision. Artisanal cheese consumers are characterised by “variety seeking” behaviour. This is stimulated by the broad range of available flavours, tastes and cheese types and suggests a low degree of brand or even cheese‐type loyalty among such consumers. The “plural” nature of the “speciality” cheese market accommodates well the highly individual and fragmented requirements of consumers of artisanal cheeses.