Scientific Papers Series Management , Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development

Vol.11, Issue 2, 2011

ISSN 1844-5640
STUDY CONCERNING THE BUYING BEHAVIOUR FOR THE
AGROALIMENTARY PRODUCTS

Toma DINU1, Ioan ALECU1, Silviu BECIU1, Maria BOBEICĂ1

1 University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Bucharest, 59 Marasti, sector 1,

011464, Bucharest, Romania, Phone: +40 213182564, Fax: + 40 21318 28 88, E-mail:
tomadinu@yahoo.fr , ioanalecu@yahoo.com, beciu_silviu@yahoo.com,
bobeica_maria@yahoo.com

Corresponding author: tomadinu@yahoo.fr

Abstract

After the entrance on the romanian market of the first hypermarket in 1996, large store-networks progresively
replaced small stores, wich didn’t handled the competition, and caused large mutations on the pathway between
producers and consumers. It is obvious the change in consuming behaviour but the purpose of this article is to
identify and prioritize the reasons consumers choose a form of trade. The present study is the result of a controlled
poll conducted in order to identify consumer behavior of food products. The investigation was conducted on a
sample of 450 people, based on a questionnaire containing 13 questions and highlights the consumer orientation
toward food markets or supermarkets, which determine the choice of the quantities of products purchased on a
shopping session and the factors determining the choice of a product There are also pursued the consequences for
producers of agricultural products. It also presents the results of what happened with the food market near the
respondent.

Keywords : consumers’behaviour, agroalimentary product, income, choosing criteria.

INTRODUCTION Today, large retail chains dominate the retail

The period before 1990 was characterized by
an absolute domination of the government
monopoly on food trade. This required the
organization of producers in the form of
consumer cooperatives and thus to allow a
very small extent the presence of individual
producer on dedicated markets. The transition
to market economy allowed the appearance of
other forms of commercial organization
thereby emerging the wholesale markets and
small boutiques, which, by diversifying their
offer, gave consumers a choice.
The moment when on the Romanian market
appeared large retailers such as Metro,
Selgros, represented a turning point in the sale
of food products. They have introduced the
concept of Cash & Carry market, which
quickly gained popularity among consumers.
Popularity increased primarily because it
offered the opportunity to purchase large
amounts they could pay with cash, but also
because under one roof it was situated a
variety of fresh products with a high quality.
market of food products, and caused
considerable changes throughout the routes of
products between producers and consumers.
This influence is particularly evident in urban
centers, where is clearly notified the
emphasized preference for super and
hypermarkets at the expense of food markets.
The current study aimed to answer a question
that bothers Romanian producers: what has
changed in the mentality of today's consumers
and what drives them to buy a certain
product? It's also interesting to observe how
the food markets close to the subjects have
changed in structure or size over time. The
most important is to figure out how will
changing consumers’ behaviour affect farmers
and food market, and if it can be developed
the concept of local consumption /
consumption of Romanian products.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
According to Philip Kotler, the questionnaire
and specialized equipment are the two ways
you can collect the necessary data for
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Scientific Papers Series Management , Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development
Vol.11, Issue 2, 2011
ISSN 1844-5640
marketing research. [1] This paper is based on
interviewing a sample of 450 people with ages
between 18 and 60, students of USAMV
Bucharest. This survey was conducted in
order to identify the subjects’ behaviour
regarding the purchase of agricultural
products. The usefulness of the study is
primarily based on the need to identify
consumption trends and what elements
provoke the purchase decision. Producers
need to realize how useful it is targeting
production. The questionnaires we used to
achieve the objectives contained a total of 13
different types of questions: open questions,
closed dichotomous questions, closed
questions with multiple choice, questions of
classification of respondent.
However, although the questionnaire was
applied to 450 subjects, it is recommended to
apply it to a much larger scale, in order to
obtain a more accurate picture of what affects
the consumer in their purchasing decisions.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Our study has identified certain preferences of
the respondents both in terms of products to
be consumed, but also in choosing the place
where they shop and the factors underlying
these decisions. For food products,
consumption is influenced by several features
[2]:
-Purchase decision is spontaneous and not a
result of long periods of reflection;
-Purchased products meet family needs more
than personal taste;
-Consumer habits are influenced by family
size, living environment, whether or not they
have children, religion, lifestyle, and are often
sent the next generation;
-Shopping sessions are scheduled in order to
purchase agricultural products;
-There can be no fidelity to the brand, very
rare appearing the preference of a certain food
market or a certain producer ;
-Revenue has a major role in purchasing
decisions;
-Traditions in the consumers’ area, although
young people are open to try new food
products (fast food, exotic fruits).
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Buyer’s age is one of the main elements that
affect the consumption decision. In general,
older people are more conservative, while the
young people tend more likely to try new
products, non-traditional. In our situation, we
noticed for example that from the 27%
representing people with older ages, most of
them prefer buying products from the food
markets, while the young people prefer
hypermarkets.
Income, as part of the buying decision may
influence the buyer in choosing a certain
product, with a higher quality. The more
income raises, the more we tend to buy better
products at higher prices. The answers to
questionnaires recorded revenues of the age
category 18-25 years on average 20509
RONi/year, for the 25-40 years category
23644 RON/year and those over 40 years
have average incomes of about 31,927 RON /
year. We can observe a positive trend in the
level of revenues with increasing age. The
average income overall is 25359.95 RON per
year and the percentage of revenues allocated
to the purchase of food varies for all the age
categories between 34% and 35%.
Generally, shopping sessions for food
products are made by one family member, but
the products are consumed by all members.
Among our respondents, the highest
percentage (81.7%) said they are actively
involved in buying food products, either alone
or accompanied by their spouse. We also
noticed that young people up to 25 years
rather do shopping either alone or to entrust
this task to a trustworthy person, most often
parents. It is notified the individual’s distrust
in random people for doing the food
shopping, and the preference for entrusting
this task to family members only.
The purchase / sale of certain products is
considered appropriate only in certain places.
Asking them where they deem appropriate the
purchase / sale of food products, our subjects
identified the purchase / sale in agro-food
markets as a very adequate 52%, while less
suitable is only perceived by 14.4% from all
the three age categories. In the case of
hypermarkets however there is a difference
according to age: most of those aged 18 and
25 years and those over 40 years consider it
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Scientific Papers Series Management , Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development
Vol.11, Issue 2, 2011
ISSN 1844-5640
very adequate and only a small part of them
consider it inappropriate. Overall, however,
most consider it very adequate (47.6%)
adequate - 42.3% and less adequate - 10.1%.
Another question in the questionnaire referred
to the correlation between the location where
they shop and how often they buy there. Thus,
we meet daily in the food markets around
7.64% of the respondents, 31.21% twice
weekly, weekly - 52.2% and 8.9% at other
time. Preference order is maintained in all 3
age categories. Regarding the hypermarket,
the most frequently is visited weekly
(58.22%), daily passes the threshold only
5.06%, 15.82% biweekly, and at other
intervals 20.88%. According to all the
responses, we conclude that respondents
prefer to go daily to the corner store and make
their weekly supply from the market,
supermarket and hypermarket.
In order to choose the place where they do the
shopping, the consumers notice some features
regarding the location. The most important
criterion in choosing the location for all three
age categories is the quality of products sold
there. The least important criterion is the fame
of the store (for those between 18 and 25
years and for those aged between 25 and 40)
but for those older than 40 years on the last
place is the transport facilities criterion.
Overall, the ranking of the nine criteria listed
in the questionnaire is the following: product
quality (35.6%), price of products (24.21%),
parking (9.68%), universality (8.47%),
proximity (8.23%), store size (6.53%),
transportation facilities (5.08%), fame of the
store (2.17%). None of the respondents
indicate another criteria in the open question.
Once identified the characteristics by which
we choose the location, we must identify the
characteristics that products must have. In the
questionnaire, the respondent had to choose
between eight features, or if none
corresponded to personal belief, he the
opportunity to appoint another important
feature for him. Processing the answers, we
found that the most important criterion of
choice is quality, being chosen more often.
Ratio between quality and price is for 18.62%
of the people a fair reason for buying. Most
interested in this aspect are young people
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between 18 and 25 years. Global brand ranks
6th in the top criteria (9.51%) having the
greatest importance among those between 18
and 25 years and lowest in importance among
the over 40 years. If the product is in the
promotional offer, then 10.21% of those
surveyed say they would choose it. And in
this case, young people are most receptive,
due to having the patience and time required
for seeking such deals.
Agricultural producers must focus on the
better promotion of products so thatthe
turnover increses, and consumers buy in
larger quantitie. [3] According to the
questionnaire responses, most individuals
(42.5%) react moderate to promotional offers,
and only a very small percentage react very
strongly (7.18%). Other people react only
slightly or not at all to these means. In the
attention of respondents, the first place is
occupied by TV campaigns (23.64%) so that a
national awareness campaign for consumers
could have the greatest impact. In second
place, with a percentage of 17.09% is the “3
the price of 2” offer. Gift items offer ends
podium at a rate of 15.95% in the choices.
The last place ranks online campaigns, though
they got increasingly more public in recent
years, still do not have the desired effect
among buyers.
The average shopping cart by shopping
session resulted from the questionnaire,
identified as the most popular products fruits,
soft drinks, vegetables, bread and bakery
products in which respondents buy at least 2
units per session. Popular are also products
such as milk and cheese or meat. The most
popular assortment of meat is poultry, chosen
for reasons of price or quality.
If there is a need for choice between the food
market and hypermarket question is whether
between the products of the two forms of
marketing there is a qualitative difference. If
the answer is yes, the question arises: Who
sells the best products?
Of respondents, 44.04% said between the two
forms of trade they notice huge differences in
terms of product superiority, while only 2.9%
believe that there is no such differentiation
between the two types of marketing. Among
those who believe that there are differences
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Scientific Papers Series Management , Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development
Vol.11, Issue 2, 2011
ISSN 1844-5640
between products, 57.48% think that the
products’ quality is higher in markets versus
42.52% who believe the supermarket products
are superior. Market gains a majority in terms
of percentage of product superiority in all
three age categories. Although there are
differences between products, sharing
opinions is balanced, creating a ratio of about
50% -50% among those who prefer the agro-
food market and those who prefer super /
hypermarket.
The appearance of various business units
where before there were only neibourghood
markets, “sliced” the pie of consumers.
Competition has led to restriction and
disappearence for some or the emergence and
expansion of others. It was the same thing for
food markets. When asked what happened to
the agro-food market in their proximity,
recorded responses were ranked as follows: in
40% of cases it has increased its capacity, in
29% of cases the market near subjects it
remained at it’s original dimensions.
Disadvantageous cases are those where food
market size decreased or it was even replaced.
17% have reduced capacity, 11% were
converted into shops, boutiques - 2% and 1%
in homes. Decrease in size of the markets
needs to worry the authorities because food
manufacturers who sell in these locations
have been forced to relocate or give up food
trade. For many, selling to stores is impossible
because of the taxes levied by the shop
owners.
CONCLUSIONS
The changes food markets have gone through
in recent years has been mostly beneficial. As
society evolved, consumer behavior has
evolved and he now manifests and a greater
pleasure in taking part in shopping. Also, the
criteria underlying the purchase of products
have changed, making way for new habits.
Today, producers must take into account the
fact that the population has a higher degree of
sophistication and the emphasis is not only on
price but also on quantity. Increasing product
quality will become an asset both for the
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producer - who will sell more, and for the
buyer - who will return.
The population still has a positive image
about the market and farmers, and this image
should be maintained. Appropriate promoting
will exert effects on the number of buyers you
will attract. It is essential to increase the
number of buyers, as increasing the quantity
per buyer is almost impossible given the
inelasticity of demand.
Last but not least, we must take all necessary
measures for the size and number of food
markets not to fall. First affected are
producers who can not cope with the demands
of hypermarkets. In the long run, it will even
lead to a shortage of producers with
immediate effect on land abandonment. Food
markets are essential to remind consumers
what the true value of food. It reminds them
how much human labour is involved in the
process of growing food, and the fact that the
consumption prove care for the community
and land cultivation. [4]
A general conclusion may be that it is
necessary for the Romanian producers to
adapt their offer in order to meet markets’
demands including consumer desires in terms
of packaging and products conditioning.
Related to this, a question naturally arises: Do
Romanian producers want to answer these
challenges and especially do they have the
ability to adapt quickly to consumer
demands?
REFERENCES
[1]Kotler,P., 2008, Principiile marketingului, editia a 4-
a, Editura Teora, Bucuresti
[2] Norwood,B.,Lusk J., 2007, Agricultural Marketing
and Price Analysis, Editura Prentice Hall
[3] Ishee J.W,Dynamic Farmers' Marketing: A Guide to
Successfully Selling Your Farmers' Market Products
[4]Robinson, J.M., Hartenfeld, J.A., 2007, The
Farmers' Market Book: Growing Food, Cultivating
Community, Editura Quarry Books, Minneapolis
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