Should I Buy Organic Food? A Psychological Perspective on Purchase Decisions - Organic Food and Agriculture: New Trends and Developments in the Social Sciences - page 44

necessarily in accordance with subjective representations people have of them - and it are
the latter that impact the decision.
3.1 Availability
In their overview paper Hughner et al. (2007) identified perceived lack of availability of
organic food and inconvenience associated with the purchase process as one of the main
barriers to organic food purchase. In a qualitative study with Italian customers by Zanoli
and Naspetti (2002), people associated organic products as difficult to find. Padel and Foster
(2005) found similar results in a UK sample and concluded that people reacted negatively to
limited choice options (compared to conventional alternatives) and higher effort that needs
to be put into buying organic food (e.g., additionally entering a health food store). In an
unpublished interview pilot-study with Norwegian customers, limited accessibility of a full
range of products in the organic food sector was named as the main barrier (Klöckner, 2008).
In an analysis conducted with Turkish customers, availability of organic products was a
better predictor of purchase frequency than anticipated environmental benefits (Ergin &
Ozsacmaci, 2011). The most important predictor was trust (see section 4), followed by health
considerations, availability and environmental benefits.
In a comparative review of organic food consumption in different European countries
Thøgersen (2010) presents evidence for that the percentage of organic food consumption in a
country is a function of influences from four different domain: political regulations (laws &
subsidies), politically motivated marked development (certification, labelling, information
campaigns), the demand side in the market (values, environmental concern, food culture,
income level, etc.) and the supply side in the market. This last factor clearly reflects that in
order to sustain a functioning organic food market opportunities for the customer have to be
created and convenient distribution channels have to be used to make organic products
available at the point in time and space where the food purchase decision is made. Not
coincidentally sales increased in many countries substantially after the big supermarket
chains entered the organic food market (Aschemann et al., 2007), which is most likely the
combined outcome of increased availability and marketing activities. Thøgersen (2010)
argues that consumers' attitudes, values and norms and the like are only relevant for a
purchase decision within a decisional space defined by the opportunities the supply side
creates, which makes availability and easy access to one of the key features in increasing
organic food consumption. Very few customers are willing to go the extra mile to buy an
organic product.
3.2 Visibility and shelf-placement
The impact of visibility, placement on the shelf and shelf space of organic produce
compared to their conventional alternatives may be regarded as a sub-phenomenon of the
aforementioned availability discussion, but analysing their effects in more detail gives some
additional insights. Hjelmar (2010) for example differentiated availability and visibility as
two different factors and found that visibility was especially relevant for occasional buyers
of organic food that did not plan to buy organic when entering the supermarket. For them
being confronted with a presentation of organic produce that cannot be overlooked made
the difference. Presentation at eye level, right next to the conventional alternative was what
this segment of the customers reacted positively to.