Do consumer s tastes differ final 1.7. - HEC

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D O C ONSUMER’ S T ASTES D IFFER? Consumer Behaviour Towards Yoghurt in Belgium and Poland: A Survey in Two Regions 18 - an empirical analysis Does the hypothesis of stable tastes after income and price adjustment, resulting from the individual’s utility maximization behaviour, get confirmed by empirical data? In the present section a study, which analyses the consumption of a single product, is discussed. The goal of this study is to identify similarities and differences between Belgian and Polish consumers regarding the consumer behaviour towards yoghurt. The research first explored the subject in focus groups in both countries and then administered questionnaires based on the experiences made during the focus groups in one Polish and one Belgian town with comparable profile. The desired profile were middle-sized regional provincial capitals, with the 15 to 65 year old as target group. Reasons for the choice of countries and product: A dairy product has been chosen as it is of high interest as a research subject due to its characteristics of change and dynamism. Due to the introduction of milk-quotas and the introduction of the single market as well as the impact of new trends in food consumption, dairy products are a major topic within the EU. The dairy sector also seems to outperform all other branches of the food sector in terms of product development and new product launches. Yoghurt in particular takes a special position within the dairy sector. In most European countries, its consumption continuously increased and nearly doubled during the previous decade, mainly due to the impulses given from multinational food companies, giving the product a new image fitting the consumption trends. The Polish dairy market and in particular the yoghurt market shows characteristics of change and dynamism. In the period from 1990 to 1995, the volume per capita consumption of milk products has decreased about one fifth. The share of dairy products in food expenditures though has risen considerably; mainly due to a drastic price increase caused by the removal of state price controls. Liberalization of food prices and the removal of food subsidies have lead to a reduction of the household’s real income of about 30-40% in the first quarter of 1990. The transition has resulted in food consumption decrease and caused significant differences in food levels among various socioeconomic groups. Until the reform, the Polish consumer was hardly recognized as being a part of the system in the sense of is importance as a regulatory force at the aggregate level of demand. As the situation of shortage disappeared after transition, the production needed to consider the consumer’s preferences more and more. In Poland, yoghurt was hardly available in choice and variety before 1990, but the product mix of dairy products has increased considerably in width and depth through new product development. Specifically the product line yoghurt has realized the largest increase of product mix depth within the Polish dairy sector. The current share of domestic market supply is still at 90%, but an increasing range of products are imported and therefore products are becoming freely available that before could only be bought on the black market. To be able to compare the evolution with the consumption in a European country, the authors have chosen Belgium, as it holds an average position within Europe in terms of quantity of yoghurt consumed. Its yearly per capita consumption of 11kg in 1996 is about half as much the consumption of France and Holland, but double the consumption of Great Britain and Italy. 18 Verbeke, W., J. Viaene, Consumer Behaviour Towards Yoghurt in Belgium and Poland: A Survey in Two Regions, British Food Journal 100/4 (1998) 201-207, MCB University Press B EKE T INNEBERG 17 19 MARCH 2003
Comparing the two countries, the average Polish family spent 37.8% of its household budget on food, which is very high compared to a share of 13.5% for the average Belgian family in 1996. Results Significant differences in consumer behaviour D O C ONSUMER’ S T ASTES D IFFER? between the Belgian and the Polish respondents have been found. The variables analysed whether respondents eat yoghurt or not, their consumption frequency and whether brand determines the choice or not (Figure 4). The results showed for example that only 4% of the respondents in Poland did not eat yoghurt, compared to 13% in Belgium. On the other hand, the Belgians were more regular consumers than the Polish. (In Belgium 1 /4 of the respondents consume yoghurt daily compared to 1 /3 of Polish respondents having monthly consumption) For three quarters of the Polish, brands seem to be a determining factor of choice compared with one half in Belgium. The respondents were also asked to indicate and rank three different product attributes according to their importance as determinants of quality. Discussion Figure 4 For the overall sample, the most important attributes were the product’s taste, its nutritional value and its naturalness (Figure 5 & 6). When regarding the differences in evaluating naturalness and dietetic value, the authors suggest that these deviations in the perception of quality are caused by different lifestyles of the respondents. For all quality attributes except for brand and taste a significant difference has been found in the weighted average scores between Belgium and Poland. To analyse consumer beliefs and attitudes, the respondents were asked to quantify their beliefs on a Likert scale with five response categories as indicated below. Figure 5 The null-hypothesis assuming that the two independent samples have an equal mean attitude score has been rejected due to a too large t-value. Additionally, the average attitude scores differ significantly between Belgium and Poland, except for the naturalness of yoghurt. B EKE T INNEBERG 18 19 MARCH 2003
Page 1 and 2: Beke Tinneberg Macroeconomic Modell
Page 3 and 4: Tastes are the same. Are tastes rea
Page 5 and 6: D O C ONSUMER’ S T ASTES D IFFER?
Page 13 and 14: G.S. Becker: Accounting for Tastes
Page 17: Preference formation D O C ONSUMER
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