Consumer preferences for milk are very heterogeneous
A consumer survey that was conducted within the CORE Organic ProOrg project shows that consumer preferences for milk are very heterogeneous. Following a segmentation approach, four distinct consumer groups were identified.
In both Germany and Switzerland where the survey was conducted, four consumer groups were identified: “Convenience seekers”, “Quality seekers”, “Organics”, and “Origin seekers”. Among these four groups, «Convenience seekers» seem to have the highest and «Organics» the lowest acceptance for a high degree of processing. «Quality seekers» and «Origin seekers» seem to choose between a high or low degree of processing, depending on how they use the milk. Furthermore, «Convenience seekers» and «Quality seekers» were found to be most price sensitive. For these two consumer groups, the attributes ‘region of origin’ and ‘production system’ were found to be of very low importance. In contrast, for «Organics» and «Origin seekers» the ‘region of origin’ played a very important role. Moreover, «Organics» were the only segment where the ‘production system’ was a very important purchase criterion. «Organics» also had the highest organic consumption frequency and the highest willingness to pay for careful processing.
Authors
Claudia Meier, FiBL, claudia.meier@fibl.org
Hanna Stolz, FiBL, hanna.stolz@fibl.org
Project website: https://projects.au.dk/coreorganiccofund/core-organic-cofund-projects/proorg/
Editor: Karin Ullven / Design: Christine Dilling
