When looking at food items at the grocery store, what grabs our attention to certain foods? Is it the physical appearance of the food such as color or is it the price that dictates our decision on whether or not to buy the product? Well not long ago researchers decided to determine the factors which help influence a customer into buying honey.
Honey is a natural sweetener we are all very familiar with. It has been used for natural home remedies to improve digestion, relieve nausea and to help cure acne. Honey has been sought-after by consumers because of the many nutritional benefits it has along with the increase of health awareness in society.
Around the world people have different preferences and look at certain criteria before purchasing honey. So what influences a consumer’s behavior to purchase honey? Asian consumers tend to purchase honey depending on the quality of the honey, brand reputation as well as pricing while people in Saudi Arabia are motivated to purchase honey for its nutritional and medicinal values. When buying honey from a retail store, the main factors that influence the decision to purchase honey are the brand reputation and the origin of honey. As a college student I know that when I go into a grocery store to purchase honey I mainly look at the price which influences the type of honey I purchase. In this study, researchers specifically target Italian consumers of honey because in Italy the beekeeping sector has not been able to fulfill the consumer’s need of honey in terms of earnings and satisfaction.
In this study, five attributes were studied to determine the factors that influence a consumer into purchasing honey and to assess the importance of honey to help formulate marketing strategies. These five attributes include the country of origin the honey is from, crystallization which is affected by high contents of fructose in honey, whether the honey is produced organically, landscaping features of production to identify whether honey produced in a specific area could affect quality, and last but not least price. These five characteristics were studied to identify a profile of honey to satisfy consumers.
Researchers conducted this study in a North-Eastern region in Italy through interviews and face to face questionnaire surveys at shopping malls. The interviews and surveys were completed by a total of 427 respondents with the majority of respondents being women in their early 40s to mid 50s. The first part of the questionnaire asked respondents about their opinions and experiences about products with honey. Then several questions were inserted about organically produced food and honey. Afterwards, a choice experiment was completed. A choice experiment was used to determine the choice of food products consumers bought. So far choice experiments have not been used to identify the factors which shape selecting honey in Italy until recently with this study. In addition to a choice experiment a focus group was conducted consisting of consumers and producers of honey to discuss these five attributes.
From this study, researchers found that the geographic origin of honey was the first factor influencing a customer into purchasing honey followed by price, whether it was organic, then landscape of production and honey crystallization. I am curious to know if these results would still remain the same if this study was conducted in a different country. These results from Italy reveal that consumers prefer locally produced honey and that consumers are willing to pay more for organic honey. Also, from the findings in this study, in order to increase revenue and satisfaction the beekeeping sector should produce honey locally and it should be organic. Therefore, the next time I go to a grocery store to purchase honey I will make sure to look at other factors instead of only the price!
Read More About It Here
Works Cited
Cosmina, Marta, Gianluigi Gallenti, Francesco Marangon, and
Stefania Troiano. "Attitudes towards honey among Italian consumers: A
choice experiment approach." Appetite 99 (2016): 52-58. Print.
This was a very interesting read, and I am wondering what made you write about this? I am surprised that the results showed that Italians preferred the locally grown honey, while other nationalities did not seem to care about that. I am genuinely curious as to why that is.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Morgan, it is very interesting that you chose to write about this topic. It is interesting that Italians tend to purchase honey grown near them. I wonder if this has anything to do with the home remedies that honey could be used for. Personally my family buys a gallon of honey from one of our local farms and use it every spring to help prevent allergies. I used to eat a spoonful of it every morning before school. I guess the though behind this was that if locally grown your allergies could improve from honey because your body is getting used to the potential allergies around you by getting it in small dosages every day. I wonder if this could be a reasoning behind the different reasons for what drives consumers to but certain types of honey.
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ReplyDeleteFor some reason, when I think of honey, I think of maple and syrup. I think that all of these link to each other in that they are produced from nature and there are so many variations that you spoke of (such as location and price) that determines a consumer's choice. It was interesting to see that the factor that mainly influenced honey consumers in this study was geographic origin. I think a part of this has to do with supporting local business as chains are known to alter products and increase price. Like you, price is the driving factor for most of what I consume. However, I think that some products, such as honey, is something that one should splurge on if they want the best quality.
ReplyDeleteHoney is a really important sweetener in one's nutritional intake. It's a healthy, all-natural alternative to artificial sweeteners and it's important to buy the right brand. When I buy honey I look at the country of origin and the list of ingredients first. I want to know exactly what's in my honey before I buy it, and I like to know that there aren't any preservatives or artificial sweeteners added. I think it's interesting that different demographics showed different preferences in the specifics of their honey, and it really makes you rethink your method of buying honey.
ReplyDeleteI can see that the origin of the honey will give it a different taste than honey collected further away, but does it truly effect it enough to make a difference in our consumption?
ReplyDeleteI personally don't use honey, but I know my mom uses it a lot. It is interesting to see that there is so many factors that needs to be taken before determining the demand for a product. You had mentioned that majority of the participants were females. It would be interesting to see if there is any difference in results if the majority of respondents were males. I was aware that Honey has many natural remedies, but I did not know it helps cure acne. Did you come across which type of honey is the best, pure or raw honey?
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather is a beekeeper so I was exposed to honey my whole life. To be honest our crops run on bees. When honey is natural and not just processed sugar it has outstanding health effects. I would eat it with bread or add it to milk. My parents and grandparents also use it for medicinal purposes. I honestly don't even know any disadvantages to honey. I think if people in United States started incorporating honey into their diet and their children's diet more, they would probably help avoid many allergies. I can not say this for a fact because there could be other factors involved, but I've been eating honey and I don't have a single allergy.
ReplyDeleteMy family uses honey in traditional settings including medicinal, so it's been around my household for two plus decades. Personally, I'm a fan of the natural sweetener especially in my tea. Honey is usually an expensive thing to buy at the grocery store and it is to be expected because of how difficult the process is for the companies to dispense it. I'm curious to see what types of bees are more likely to produce sweeter variations of honey and how countries of origin play a role in this. I've never heard of honey being used as an acne remedy but I suppose that goes to show you how versatile the sweetener can be.
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting to read to learn more about how people choose honey in Italy. Typically, as a college American I just choose honey that is available and not too expensive. I did not know that there were so many factors and quality behind honey. I know that honey is often used in baking and tea. I would be interested to know more home remedies that are used with honey as well as recipes. I have always thought that honey is very interesting because it is made by bees. I wonder how other countries look at honey and if they have different factors to decide which one to purchase.
ReplyDeleteHoney is a huge thing in my family. Many people in my church are beekeepers and we actually buy our honey from them. Buying our local honey is important to my family as we know where it came from and because it is good to get food locally. My family also is avid users of honey as medicinal purposes. Personally I use honey in tea and I prefer it rather than sugar as a sweetener as it tastes better. I also think that drinking tea with honey helps a sore throat! I think that there is a difference in taste of different types of honey and I would much rather pay more money for better honey quality.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why zinc has an affect? Is it the synergy as Mush and Emily mentioned or is there something else going on here. I wonder whether Manganese would play a role.
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