CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Consumer Behaviour regarding purchasing decision of Organic Food

Consumer Behaviour regarding purchasing decision of Organic Food

Introduction

The topic that is selected for this research to be focused upon is consumer behaviour regarding purchasing decisions pertaining to organic food. Twentieth century heralded numerous advancements across diverse fields, with the most prominent change being registered in the field of technology. With this technological revolution, production of fertilizers and pesticides increased and along with that increase in the production of genetically modified food was also recorded. This rose to be an issue of significant concern for the consumers opting to use organic food rather than genetically modified food. This particularly emerged as one of the major trends in the agricultural industry in the last two decades, along with the increase in diseases pertaining to food as Mad-cow and Bird Flu (Essoussi and Zahaf, 2008). Thus the need for the organic farming emerges and considering the impact of above mentioned issues that are currently driving agricultural industry, significance of organic farming cannot be denied.

Aim

The aim of this study is to examine the purchasing decisions pertaining to organic food made by consumers in London. Methods and processes involved in conventional food production consistently provide consumers with doubts and concerns in terms of the quality, as food related issues are now common across the globe. Thus the organic farming industry is the need of the era and it is required to be promoted, for which understanding consumer behaviour is of immense importance. Organic farming eliminates the doubts and concerns that customers possess towards conventional farming, through integrating comprehensively entire model of production system and process which is devoid of pesticides and fertilizers. This system utilises specific standards while being subjected to rigorous certifications systems so as to ensure the production of quality and healthy food.

Objectives

The objective of this research is to explore in detail the literature related to marketing aspects of organic foods.

It will focus on documenting and exploring the perception of consumers in London towards organic food.

Furthermore, this research will also explore the factors that impact and influence purchasing decisions made by consumers.

Research Questions

What are the marketing aspects of organic food in UK?

What are consumer's perception regarding organic food?

What are the factors that influence the customer's decision?

Literature Review

Organic food products are consistently gaining popularity across the world in the last two decades following the widespread occurrence of Mad-cow, bird flu etcetera. But to move the consumers from genetically modified food to organic food and to market the organic food to the consumers successfully, it is important to understand them in detail so as to market them effectively. Organic foods are different from that of the natural food in that term 'organic' is actually rooted in the word 'Bio', which means life, thus organic food precisely dictates the way of living as opposed to natural food, for which there exists no such standard. Consumers depending upon natural food are usually recognised as 'vegan' or ...