The Organic Food Market: Opportunities and Challenges - Organic Food and Agriculture: New Trends and Developments in the Social Sciences - page 68

with respect to use of and trust in information cues on organic food, knowledge and
behaviour towards organic food, as well as socio-demographic profile.
4.1 The organic consumer profile
Organic food consumers have been profiled using a variety of variables such as purchase
intentions or usage rate (cf. Davies et al., 1995; Fotopoulos and Krystallis, 2002a). The
segmentation has also been based on demographic factors, food-related lifestyles, attitudes
toward OF and purchase intentions, and frequency of purchase (cf. Brunso and Grunert,
1998; Brunso et al., 2004). Some common results on the socio-economic profile of organic
food consumers show that organic purchasing grows as consumers reach their 30s and have
no children. People who are among the highest spenders on OF are on average more
affluent and younger (Padel and Foster, 2005). But lower income housholds also purchase
organic food when convinced that organic food is better quality. Organic food consumers
can be classified as “classic” or “emergent” consumers. The former is well-educated, a
professional or white collar worker, willing to pay a premium for organics and to search out
sources of organic food products (e.g. producer or farm markets). The latter is also well-
educated, a professional, commited to personal health, and shopping in supermarkets as
convenience is an important factor in his/her purchasing decision. Leger Marketing found
in 2004 that out of 3.3 million regular and several time buyers of OF, 1% purchased on every
food-shopping trip, 17% purchased them often, and 37% rarely purchased OF. Despite these
results, Tutunjian (2004) notices that OF consumers share attitudes and values rather than
demographics. The purchase of organic food products tends to be based on reasons ranging
from dealing with food allergies to valuing the philosophy upon which organic farming is
based. Overall, redefining OF consumers profile helps to better address the specific values
underlying their food consumption.
4.2 Motivations to buy organic
Growing consumer demand for organic food (OF) has been attributed to consumers'
concerns regarding nutrition, health, the environment, and the quality of their food
(Fotopoulos and Kryskallis, 2002b; Larue et al., 2004; Shepherd et al., 2005). Further, various
studies conducted in Europe and the US have explored the OF consumer behavior and have
tackled the issue of determining consumers' motivations and preferences for organic
products (Worner and Meier-Ploeger, 1999; Zanoli and Naspetti, 2002; Wier and Calverley,
2002; Yiridoe et al., 2005). Although some organic consumers are environmentally conscious,
most studies confirm the predominance of egocentric values like health, attitude towards
taste, and freshness that influence OF choice more than the attitudes towards environment
and animal welfare (Millock et al., 2002; Fotopoulos and Kryskallis, 2002a; Zanoli and
Naspetti, 2002). On the other hand, the main reasons that prevent consumers from buying
OF are expensiveness, limited availability, unsatisfactory quality, lack of trust, lack of
perceived value and misunderstanding of OF production processes (Fotopoulos and
Krystallis, 2002a, 2002b; Verdurme et al., 2002; Larue et al., 2004). In Canada, consumers
identify health, the environment, and support of local farmers as principal values explaining
their OF consumption (Hamzaoui and Zahaf, 2008). These motivations and values are
leading OF consumers to accept large price difference between organic and conventional
food products.