Eager or passive? Decoding potential consumer profiles based on knowledge and perceptions regarding organic food products

Abstract

Organic food-choice behaviour has gained paramount interest from researchers and marketers due to the growing inclination of consumers towards healthy and sustainable lifestyles. With regard to India, despite being a leading producer and exporter of organic products, its domestic market is still in nascent stages of evolution. To overcome the underlying attitude-intention-behaviour gap in such emerging markets, it is imperative to identify targetable segments based on factors that are relevant to these markets. The present study makes a novel attempt at segmenting potential organic consumers based on their knowledge and perceptions regarding organic products. Robust analytical procedures, including a two-stage cluster analysis and multiple discriminant analysis, were employed to draw consumer profiles based on a sample of 608 Indian consumers. The analysis resulted in four mutually exclusive segments, which exhibited significant heterogeneity with respect to various clustering and profiling variables, namely actual and perceived knowledge regarding organic products, price and availability perceptions, trust in organic products, and purchase intention. The aware enthusiasts displayed high knowledge, while both the aware and unaware enthusiasts exhibited favourable organic perceptions and high purchase intention and behaviour. The sceptics had positive perceptions but displayed a lack of trust in organic sellers and regulatory frameworks. The laggards exhibited the least favourable perceptions and had the lowest intention and purchase behaviour. The study identifies potential target segments of organic consumers and throws light on how consumers construe organic food products. Furthermore, marketing strategies are recommended to tap these segments, considering the core characteristics specific to each segment.