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• Fresh Produce Retail Price Comparisons in Trinidad and Tobago

  29-34

  C. W. Ardon Iton

  Govind Seepersad

  Views:

  153

  As the competitive landscape of the food and grocery retailing sector in Trinidad and Tobago is being transformed and consumers are separated from producers, shoppers are more reliant on price/quality cues in making their purchase decisions. The purpose of this study is to identify the retail outlet with the lowest and or highest price for a selected number of fresh produce items, in an effort to direct shoppers to relatively cheap nutritious sources of fresh produce. ANOVA and the Games-Howell test were the analytical procedures used. The ANOVA results indicated that there is statistical difference for all the items at the different retail outlets – farmers’ markets, roadside markets, public markets and supermarkets.

  The Games-Howell results obtained indicated that the supermarket mean prices were the highest for all items. Shoppers who purchased pineapple at the farmer’s market instead of the supermarket in 2016 could have potentially achieved the greatest savings of $6.52/kg.

  JEL Classification: C12, Q13, M31

• Socioeconomic determinants of frequency of fish purchasing among Trinidad and Tobago shoppers: A binary logit analysis

  105-109

  C. W. Ardon Iton

  Sharon D. Hutchinson

  Views:

  167

  As the Caribbean continues to succumb to the pressure of Non-Communicable Diseases innovative strategies are being sought to rectify the problem. Increasing the purchase and consumption of fish/seafood has great potential in this regard; however, very little empirical research appears to have been undertaken on food marketing in general and for fish in particular in the Caribbean. This study analyzed the factors that affect the frequency of fish purchasing in Trinidad and Tobago. The results of the analysis indicated that 63% of the sample are occasional purchasers of fish (purchased fish less frequently than once per week). The binary logit analysis showed that of the eight socioeconomic variables analyzed, only three were statistically significant – age, educational level attained and religion. The results suggested that persons over 35 years, more educated (tertiary level trained) and non-Christians are more probable to be regular purchasers of fish than younger, primary and secondary level educated Christians. It is hoped that marketers trying to develop strategies to gain market share in the highly competitive food market, nutritionists and others attempting to reduce the health care costs of Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean countries through the increased consumption of fish/seafood find these results informative.

  JEL. Code: M31, Q13, C25

• Traditional retail outlets or supermarkets: A probit analysis of shoppers in Trinidad and Tobago

  69-76

  C. W. Ardon Iton

  Ewan Scott

  Views:

  198

  The purpose of this study is to identify consumers’ retail outlet choice for Roots and Tubers in Trinidad and Tobago between traditional and modern retail outlets, and also to find out what influences consumers’ shopping preferences for one or the other retail format. A Probit model, where both demographics and store attributes were used to predict outlet choice was the methodology utilized in the study. The results obtained suggest that the traditional outlets are the preferred place to purchase Roots and Tubers with 71% of the sample selecting these outlets. Of the fifteen independent variables analyzed in the Probit model, four demographic variables – age, employment status, ethnicity and income – and two latent factors of the store attributes labeled “value” and “location” were statistically significant. Of note, older buyers are 12% more likely to choose the traditional outlet while there is a 16% higher probability that persons in the higher income brackets will choose supermarkets as their retail outlet. These results provide an insight into the choice of outlet of shoppers and the strengths and weaknesses of the two retail formats.

  JEL code: Q13, M31, C25