Assessment 1 (Part 2): Final Report

Submitted: 10/10/2020

Word Count: 2,992

Saeed Abdullah Bin Ilyah – S3761350

How can we persuade people to consume organic food?

Executive Summary

It is essential to understand the consumers’ living standards and behaviour if one is to effectively develop a good marketing strategy for their products. Our focus will be on consumers’ perception concerning organic foods and how well we can persuade them to consume them. In the world today, organic food products are highly demanded. This growth has been witnessed in the new millennium, mainly due to the health concerns that people have regarding the consumption of inorganic processed food products. Though the demand for organic food products has grown exponentially, many people do not prefer them. Organic food manufacturers need to understand the reasons behind this to strategize how to persuade them to consume organic food products. The main reason for consuming organic food products is the health benefits associated with their consumption. The naysayers mainly argue about the cost of these food products and their reliability. This report discusses the people’s perception, attitudes, reasons for consumption and non-consumption, and the behavioural aspects towards organic foods.

Keywords: Consumer behaviour, Organic food products, Perception.

Introduction

Organic food products are produced through environmentally friendly farming methods by using animal and organic manure to enhance higher produce results. No chemicals are used making the food to be healthy when consumed (Soil Association 2012). The avoidance of using pesticides is in tandem with permitted inputs accepted by the Food Safety regulators. The food safety regulator supervises and certifies organic farming stages from production to the table. Kirazlar (2001) argues that organic farming is mainly beneficial to protecting the environment and the health of both plants and animals. Soil and water pollution are avoided, including having the best quality breathable air. All these add up to contribute to the excellent health effect on humans. Despite their benefits to the world, organic foods are not readily available due to the overdependence of commercial farmers on the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides used in the farms for enhanced agricultural production.

According to Gracia and Magistris (2008), the future of organic agriculture will depend largely on consumer demand. The producers of organic food products are tasked with ensuring that they understand who the consumers are, including their priorities and what motivates them. Therefore the buying behaviours of organic foods, the attitudes of organic food consumers, the people’s preferences, and the potential factors of not preferring organic food products are some of the issues that producers must understand. If well uncovered, all these issues can result in the development of effective marketing strategies to increase the demand and consumption of organic food products. The results will help producers understand the consumers’ buyer behaviours and why people prefer and do not prefer the consumption of organic food products, including the demographic characteristics of organic food consumers.

Background Research

Preference to Consume Organic Foods

In attempting to persuade consumers to consume organic food products, consumer perception is a critical attribute to consider. How consumers perceive organic food and other environmentally sustainable products is a concept for consideration (PickettBaker & Ozaki 2008). It is also essential to know the organic food consumer focus groups and the motives of organic food proponents and their consumption behaviours. In marketing terms, producers need to understand and answer the why, who, which, and where of organic food consumption, and the motivation factors of consuming organic food products. Motivations differ across buyers, and significant motives may include environmental conservation concerns and health considerations. According to Pellegrini and Farinello (2009), the characteristics that influence the consumers’awareness and knowledge regarding organic production and consumption include age, education level, and living standards.

To some people, their health concern is a lifestyle, and therefore proper nutrition is a vital lifestyle aspect that they must consider. Such people consume organic foods and can be used as significant proponents of organic food campaigners who can influence the buying behavior of non-consuming persons by discussing the health benefits of consuming organic food products. Smith and Paladino (2010) argue that personal and family health is the strongest motivator for any buyer of organic products. Other product attributes like better taste, freshness, nutritional value, and quality can specifically influence organic food consumption.  Other factors like family life cycle, pregnancy, baby arrival, and having children (Pino et al. 2012) are other factors that influence the consumption of organic foods hence buyer behaviour. The challenge arises with the changing motives in different countries, depending on each country’s preferences as concerns organic food consumption.

Non-Preference to Consume Organic Food

Another way of making people consume organic foods is by understanding the factors that deter organic food usage. According to Lockie et al. (2002), the limited availability or lack of organic food products is a factor that hampers organic food consumption. Other factors include a lack of trust in organic food products, the costs involved, and lack of awareness (Smith & Paladino 2010). Economic factors, organic food items, and conventional food item price comparisons, and dietary patterns (Gracia & Magistris, 2008) are other factors to consider. Understanding such factors will help develop a marketing strategy based on the buyer behavioural patterns resulting in a value-oriented campaign aimed at positively influencing organic food consumption. Lockie et al. (2002) argues the effects of demographics on organic food consumption.

Different regions and countries show different demographics all accompanied by mixed findings. Though the demographics differ, there are some consistencies in the consumption of organic foods across the world. Gender demographics show that females are more pro-organic foods than males. Household surveys also show that children and older individuals are in favor of organic foods as compared to other groups. Education and income demographics are also factors that influence organic food consumption as people become more aware of the benefits of organic foods. Once the demographic statistics are understood, producers can develop a marketing strategy that targets the different demographics to persuade others to consume organic foods.

Consumer Mindset

When one thinks about organic foods, what goes on in their mind are the rewards and benefits of organic foods. According to Gardner (2006), research plays a role in developing conceptions of organic food and reflects the way benefits are assessed. Health consciousness relating to organic foods is a factor that, if well calculated in a person’s mindset, becomes embedded as part of their habits. Therefore early childhood experience with organic foods and its benefits becomes consolidated even when they transition into adulthood.  Family members and friends can influence a person’s mindset. Therefore friends can be used as tools to help develop the benefits of organic food products to non-consumers and hence orientating and convincing them of the value of consuming organic foods.

Any environment conducive to the exploration of ideas like discussion forums can be used as research points and knowledge exchange centers. The influence is basically on matters of health and environmental sustainability. Couples can also influence each other, especially when spouses are an ardent organic food consumer. Experiential shopping where people discuss the values of organic foods to our bodies and society can bring a change in people’s mindsets and also in their habits. Less convinced consumers, regular consumers, and occasional consumers face many barriers, most significantly being the lack of trust in the benefits of organic food consumption. These people need accurate information that may persuade them to change their mindsets as concerns organic food use.

Limitations

The report’s limitation is the pandemic and time constraint; our judgment sampling method can only be based on the team’s relationships. The team has very few options and has to choose some interviewees with little interest in organic foods. It is not the right target customer for organic foods; therefore, our results and recommendations may not be optimal for organic food campaigns.

The second limitation is that all of the interviews are conducted online. It would be harder to create engagement between interviewer and interviewee. It is also difficult to observe the attitude of interviewees. It is a less efficient tool to communicate than face-to-face. As a result, interviewers may miss many strong feelings and insights from interviewees. To minimize the consequences and time-wasting, we have sent the questionnaire and necessary information to participants in advance, so they have more time to think about it, without leading information or instruction to minimize error.

Finally, the sample size is small (only 6) and not diverse in demographics (similar ages, occupations, etc.), so it cannot guarantee generality. The results can get specific errors and need more research. The team tries to minimize this by doing extensive desk research in advance and judgment participants of the background and experience.

Problem Statement

Decision Problem: How can we persuade people to consume organic food?

Methodology

Research Design

As defined earlier, our research is to understand how we can persuade people to consume organic food by gaining insights from the target customers on their consumption preferences. Therefore, this project used exploratory research by applying qualitative research. The method would be an in-depth-interview.

Research Method

It is partly due to the pandemic of COVID 19 that we can only conduct the research online. In-depth interviews would be the most beneficial to gain the most information than the focus group and observation. Furthermore, an in-depth interview would be the ideal tool for the interviewees to expose as many details as possible.

Instrument Development

After seeing through further research, it is noted that consumers are turning to organic foods as ordinary people rather than processed foods.  Therefore, apart from discovering the target customers’ attitude and their experience with organic food consumption, the project narrowed down into the reasons and paid more attention on the health benefits. It is important to see their belief toward organic foods with or without disclosing the health benefits. The project also attempts to discover other reasons. As a result, the project investigated how the target customers’ attitudes and behaviour would change for organic foods.

Interview guide: Before the interview, the interviewer would clarify the purpose of the interview, set some expectations, expected time, and explain any arising question. The basic questionnaires will be sent to participants in advance.

1. When you hear the word organic, what do you think of?
2. Do you purchase organic food? Why or why not?
3. Why is it beneficial to eat organic food?
4. What are the downsides of buying and eating organic food?
5. What is the availability of organic food at the places you shop?
6. What is your overall opinion about organic food?

Sampling Method

The target population would match the brand target customers to get the closest results. They are both male and female, from 18-35, live in Australia with average to high income. The participants should not be a loyal customer of the brand to reduce the bias information. Our team would go with the non-probability sampling method, or to be more specific, judgment sampling. Due to the pandemic’s limited contact, we will choose the participants within our relationships and the criteria mentioned above. Our sample size would be 6 as time and budget constraints.

Fieldwork

After gathering the participants suitable for our requirement, we sent them the PICFs form for agreements and set the schedule. The participants were then interviewed following the interview guide and recorded and taking notes to gain any necessary behaviours. The interviewer would also be the one who transcript the interviews, and then the team gathered to define noticeable points would discuss in the report. The most challenging problem would be observing and engaging with the participants to get the most detailed information since they can only conduct online interviews. The team reduces the problem by sending the questionnaire in advance, and the interviewer would be acquainted with the participants.

Results

Research objective 1: To evaluate consumer attitudes and beliefs of target customers toward organic foods and organic food consumption.

Before the research, the interviewee is considered sensitive, and it is thought to be a secret since if you are not a consumer, how can you say negative things about the organic food product? However, through our research, consumers seem to be well aware of this problem. Jan (20)mentioned, “I do not care if a product is organic or inorganic because it does not affect me. To be honest, the product is quite obvious these days, and it is hard to find a product that is purely organic. You cannot spend money to review for free many times, it is not sustainable.”

Consumers are smart, especially the younger generation (All the interviewees are from 20-28 years old) who have accessed the Internet and digital channels at a very young age. They fully understand the different types of food products available in the market and the apparent health benefits that organic food products offer.

Sam 20: If the food products are organic, the better since they are natural and have numerous health benefits. What is needed are sponsored posts to advertise food products. The other customers and I can tell. It is just the content the way they put the information needed to make people buy the products.

 Research objective 2: To investigate the positive and negative experiences of consumers towards organic food and organic food consumption.

As mentioned, customers become skeptical of the contents of different food products and careful when it comes to watching what they eat. When it comes to the question, “Do you trust the organic food products?” there is no answer with complete trust, but it would be partly yes and no. People still watch other people’s opinions for reference, but they will use other tools to gather more truthful information.

I would not say I fully trust organic foods for a product that is being promoted because it’s usually a paid promotion meaning that their opinion is most likely one-sided. But it does allow me to reflect all the positive aspects of the product. Overall, it depends on the product and not other people’s opinions, because I trust my research on the product rather than listen to another person I have no personal connections with. Jan, 20

 Research objective 3: To identify the characteristics of good and suitable organic food products in the marketplace.

The interviewees seem to have a positive experience when they receive reviews from friends, families, or professionals. All of our interviewees, they all seek for friends or families or professionals as a reliable source of information, and it seems to have a considerable impact positively with higher percentages of satisfaction. “I think I would trust recommendations from friends who share similar interests as mine since I understand their characteristics and I know they tell the truth and also they understand me to tell which products I may love.” Sam, 20. This group can directly affect the purchase decision without considering other sources of consumers.

 Research objective 4: To determine the characteristics of good and suitable organic food products in the market.

The consumers are smart, and it is the worst case when a brand tries to play some tricks. Throughout our research, most ideas received would cover the idea of not being fooled to buy the wrong product. Therefore, it is acceptable to receive relevant information from any sources on the best characteristics that a consumer should look for in an organic food product without controversy when the customers figure out.

Conclusion

In the world today, organic food products are highly demanded. This growth has been witnessed in the new millennium, mainly due to the health concerns that people have regarding the consumption of inorganic processed food products. The demand for organic food products has grown exponentially; there are still many people who do not prefer them. Organic food manufacturers need to understand the reasons behind this to strategize how to persuade them to consume organic food products. The main reason for consuming organic food products is the health benefits associated with their consumption. The naysayers mainly argue about the cost of these food products and their reliability. Despite their benefits to the world, organic foods are not readily available due to the overdependence of commercial farmers on the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides used in the farms for enhanced agricultural production. The producers of organic food products are tasked with ensuring that they understand who the consumers are, including their priorities and what motivates them to use organic food. Therefore the buying behaviours of organic foods, the attitudes of organic food consumers, the people’s preferences, and the potential factors of not preferring organic food products are some of the issues that producers must understand.

References

Gardner, H., 2006. Changing minds: The art and science of changing our own and other people’s minds. Harvard Business Review Press.

Gracia, A. and de Magistris, T., 2008. The demand for organic foods in the South of Italy: A discrete choice model. Food policy, 33(5), pp.386-396.

Kirazlar, N. (2001). Ekolojik Tarım: Genel Bir Bakıs¸ Tu ¨rkiye 2/Ecological Agriculture: An Overview Turkey 2. Ekolojik Tarım Sempozyumu/Ecological Agriculture Symposium, Antalya, pp. 11-16.

Lockie, S., Lyons, K., Lawrence, G. and Mummery, K., 2002. Eating ‘green’: motivations behind organic food consumption in Australia. Sociologia ruralis, 42(1), pp.23-40.

Pellegrini, G. and Farinello, F., 2009. Organic consumers and new lifestyles. British Food Journal.

Pino, G., Peluso, A.M. and Guido, G., 2012. Determinants of regular and occasional consumers’ intentions to buy organic food. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 46(1), pp.157-169.

Smith, S. and Paladino, A., 2010. Eating clean and green? Investigating consumer motivations towards the purchase of organic food. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 18(2), pp.93-104.

Soil Association. (2012). [Online] Available: http://www.soilassociation.org/whatisorganic/ organic farming (June, 27, 2012).