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Main Characteristics of Table Egg Consumption in Hungary
133-138Views:49In the last years many changes occurred in the egg sector in Hungary; the sector’s participants have to face with a number of challenges today as well. Both egg production and consumption decreased significantly in Hungary. The objectives of present survey are (1) to identify factors which are important for domestic customers in the course of purchase and consumption of table egg and (2) to investigate how informed the consumers are as regards table egg. To examine the aforementioned objectives online inquiry was applied, in pursuance of it 729 appreciable questionnaire put in. 99 percent of respondents consume eggs occasionally or regularly, while 79.1 percent of them buy as well. The findings suggest that the freshness and soundness of egg the most important factors for the domestic consumers.On the other hand trademark, price of kilogram and colour of egg influence on the decision of customer less. Present study only focuses on the importance of the factors influencing purchase and consumption, furthermore it introduces the consumers’ opinion on these factors. On the strength of disposable database
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Examinations of Attitudes towards Functional Foods – Literature Review
21-34Views:255The current study of our two-part paper series dealing with psychological influences on functional food consumer behaviour focuses on attitudes towards functional foods, while the subsequent study will discuss other psychological influential factors. Several research studies have already examined attitudes towards functional foods but the wide range of available products, the significant international heterogeneity of attitudes and the diversity of the applied research methods make their comparison and generalization remarkably hard. This paper aims to organize these research studies according to specific standpoints, and based on this, to draw generalizable conclusions. Based on the literature review, we can state that attitudes towards functional foods are positive worldwide, and those attitudes have a positive effect on the purchase and consumption of functional foods. There are, of course, international differences in attitude factors that play a significant role in this positive effect, and also in the composition of those factors. These differences can be attributed primarily to the different development stages of markets. However, we can state that the most important attitude factor everywhere is the reward from using functional foods (health protection and promotion, well-being, good performance and mood) that has to be forwarded stated simply and obviously towards the consumers in marketing communication messages. Besides this, social necessity (including medicine-like effects) of and confidence in functional foods also influence the intention for consumption, thus, the healing effect can also be a useful buzzword in messages. In the less developed markets – such as Hungary – confidence includes the belief in the safety of the products indicating the fact that where consumers are not familiar with these products, perceived risks of functional foods can be a strong barrier to their consumption. Therefore, a key role of marketing communication messages in those markets is the reduction of perceived risks. It is worth noting, however, that functional foods cannot be seen as a homogeneous food category, thus the importance of different attitude factors may vary between the different types of food. Additionally, consumers cannot be seen as one, homogeneous group, either, therefore different marketing communication messages developed according to the attitude-based segments will be effective.
JEL codes: D11, M31
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Health or Taste? Consumer Dilemmas with Functional Foods – Literature Review
17-29Views:305The current study of our two-part paper series is dealing with one of the most important attitude influences on functional food consumer behaviour. Namely, it focuses on “health effects vs. taste” attitude factor of functional food products, which describes the possible conflict between a pleasant taste and the health benefit of the product. This factor is analysed on the basis of two aspects of factors influencing food choice: internal (food) effects (e.g. sensory aspects) and external (non-food) effects (e.g. psychological, social, cultural factors). The most important internal (or intrinsic) characteristic is the taste of the food product. A remarkable finding of this study is that good taste is a crucial, self-relevant characteristic of any food product and bad taste would not be accepted in functional food products either. Consumers are hardly willing to compromise on the taste of functional food products for potential health benefits. Another aspect in the case of functional food products is that intrinsic product characteristics are given by the combination of the health-enhancing ingredient with the type of carrier product used. Studies have shown that functional ingredients that weaken the taste of such food products reduce their acceptance. There is a consensus in the literature that a natural match between added ingredient and carrier product increases the overall acceptance of functional food products. External (or extrinsic) characteristics, e.g. psychological and lifestyle factors, and socio-cultural differences provide further aspects of the potential conflict of “health effects vs. taste”. From a psychological point of view, one may assume that an individual who chooses a functional food is committed to the products’ benefits and may be willing to accept some unpleasant taste in order to achieve the desired health benefit. It has to be noted, however, that although the importance of a given health benefit may lead to the acceptance of an unpleasant taste, this acceptance is not necessarily supported by each of the health benefits. Lifestyle variables also influence the acceptance of functional foods, e.g. wellness-oriented consumers appear to be more willing to trade the taste for health benefits. However, the segment of consumers who are ready to sacrifice the taste for potential health benefits cannot be identified by using classical demographic characteristics as segmentation variables. The “health effects vs. taste” conflict is influenced by cultural differences, too. E.g. the priority of taste can be observed in whole Europe; in contrast, the preference for nutritional benefits is rather typical in the Asian countries. The final conclusion of our study is similar to that of the literature. Good taste and healthiness are not necessarily to be traded-off against each other. Hoping for consumer willingness to compromise on the taste for health is highly speculative and risky, so the functional food industry must develop good taste solutions. In addition to sensory perception of the food, the expectations have also been found to have an impact on the acceptance of functional food products. Consumers’ expectations are highly influenced by marketing communications. In case of functional food products marketing communication is strongly based on health-related information and this information influences not only the perception of healthiness but the liking of foods, too. Hence, additional values of functional food products (health+convenience+pleasure) have to be communicated as hedonic values, emphasizing especially the role of pleasure.
JEL codes: D11, M31
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Characteristics of Eating Habits and Nutritional Status among the Hungarian Population – Literature Review
45-55Views:666Obesity is a growing public health problem worldwide: recent research activities have shown that the significance of obesity regarding public health is as much as smoking, which imposes a huge burden on the healthcare system. WHO ranked obesity among the world’s ten most significant health problems. Obesity has an increasing prevalence among both adults and children in our country, which is accompanied by the unhealthy eating habits and low level of physical activity and sports of Hungarian people. In our research, we analyze the national literature which represents the nutritional characteristics and their changes of the Hungarian population, the main issues of healthy eating, the different recommendations as well as the status of the Hungarian population related to obesity and overweight. In our article we introduce the relevant research regarding eating habits in other countries based on the international literature. Besides these, we present best practices that could influence the health behaviour of the population by focusing on lifestyle factors, especially regular exercise and healthy diet.
JEL code: I12
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Examining Consumer Preferences of Local Products
61-72Views:240Today, the role of local products and short supply chains seems to be appreciating. The positive effects of buying local products also boost consumer commitment to these products and affect their competitiveness in local economies. The research examines consumer preferences related to local products, in which I explored the factors that fundamentally influence consumers when making their purchasing decisions. The research takes into account not only the arguments for the local product, but also against its purchase, as well as where to find information about local foods and which types are most sought after in local producer markets. The research is based on a nationally representative sample of 500 people, and those selected for the sample were selected by a random sampling procedure. Based on the results, it can be concluded that identifying the place of origin, health, and support of local producers are the most important motivating factors among the respondents. In addition, direct reference persons and local producers - play a prominent role among the sources of information, while other sources are hardly decisive when considering purchasing decisions. In producer markets, some commodity groups are outstandingly popular (vegetables, fruit, eggs), while in others product categories are dominated by traditional retail (animal or packaged products).
JEL Codes: E21, M21, O13 -
Research of Risk Reductive Behaviours Related to Food Products
63-77Views:76This topic will always be actual, since most of the companies crave to understand the
behaviour of their consumers in Hungary – what kind of patterns of behaviour they have, and how companies can influence consumer behaviour without high expenses, considering the most effective methods. As we know, consumer behaviour should be researched on the level of a specific product or service in the short term, or as a brand versus personal preference.
Nowadays, the role of health-awareness and cost-consciousness is getting misrated, alongside with environmental protection and the awareness of hazardous substances. Based on our idea, the background of our research assumes awareness of the contents of food, and the investigation of labels or titles. The organic labels on food have a high priority role in Hungary. In our opinion, the trust contains the following factors: (1) There are control authorities who are reliable, and guarantee the high quality of products for the consumers (for example: Hungarian Authority for Consumer Protection, or other food and chemical industrial laboratories). (2) Food processing facilities are accredited, recorded, and given a certificate (for example: certificate of organic production, etc.) (3) Purchasing is straight from the source. (4) Purchase is on the basis of information technology. These factors are the underlying cause of the change in behaviour resulting from risk reduction awareness. The article focuses on the food consumption behaviour analysis of Hungary’s population. The analyzed database was queried from IPSOS Ltd. (N=1 038 people) but we will select 883 people, based on inclusive criteria (aged between 18 and 70) and exclude people with extreme incomes (due to being outliers). In order to indroduce the topic, we will start our research with a short literary introspection. Before the analysis of the database, we presume consumers have a kind of set awareness that is shaped by buying their daily food and products. In this research, we will prove this assumption.JEL code: D12
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Main Characteristics of Confectionery Products Consumption in Hungary
119-123Views:87Present study focuses on the purchase and consumption craftsman confectionery products. Domestic confectionery has been subject to many changes in the recent decades, this sector suffers from internal problems and tries to reply to the changed consumer habbits. The specific Hungarian confectionery section – according to the professional literature – has not yet investigated earlier. Our objective is to analyse the changed consumer habbits and that’s influence factors. As the primary research method we used personal interviews and online inquiry. The personal interviews are in progress, therefore this study introduces only the results of the online inquiry (n=468). The majority of the respondents consume and purchase confectionery products. Most of people are looking for quality
products, even they spend more money for this. The consumers mostly purchase products from confectioneries, they visit the pastry shops because of relaxation and unique, prime pastries. The products made from light and natural materials, are very popular due to the changed consumer habbits. -
The Effect of Consumer Perceived Trust and Image Toward Food Brands on Consumers’ Willingness to Buy
41-56Views:188Purpose – consumers’ buying process is affected by many variables in which branding strategy is indeed an important variable to be considered. This paper aims to evaluate the influence of three branding elements – brand name, packaging, and country of origin – on Palestinian consumers’ willingness to buy food products to understand better their buying. Methodology – The study was conducted in the Palestinian market, the sample was selected according to simple random sampling technique, and a structured questionnaire was prepared, then it was electronically distributed by using emails and social media. The questionnaire contains 35 questions depending on a balanced Fifth Likert Scale and a single-item 7-point differential semantic scale, the questions intended to determine the influence of the selected branding elements on consumers’ willingness to buy food products. The data were analysed depending on the descriptive analysis and one sample t-test. Findings – according to the results of the data analysis it was found that product features and attributes were the factors of the highest importance that influenced the consumers’ willingness to buy, while the branding elements variables came at second rank of importance. Also, the results show that the effect of three chosen branding elements on consumer willingness to buy is significant. The outcomes of this study may be advantageous for firms working in food sectors, since the Palestinian market is lacking such a scientific study and help them in creating marketing strategies to increase the sales volume of their products.
JEL Codes: M31, M39
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Consumer Perception of a Healthy Nutrition – The Results of an Exploratory Study
57-66Views:734Healthy nutrition is becoming increasingly important in the age of endemic non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and various cancers. Moreover, due to modern eating habits, more and more people are experiencing food allergies, sensitivity or intolerance to gluten, lactose, milk protein, soy, or egg, just to mention a few. Healthy eating as prevention has become a possible solution for these problems worldwide. Furthermore, an increasing number of people simply want to pay attention to what they consume. The primary objective of this research is to showcase the attitude of consumers in Debrecen (Hungary) towards a healthy nutrition, as well as to explore the factors that influence it. This paper also aims to reveal consumers’ views on the degree to which a healthy diet can be achieved in their daily lives. Focus group interview was chosen as the method of primary data collection, in which consumers living in Debrecen, with different behaviors towards health (health preventive and health risk) took part. The acquired results from the two groups clearly reflect how consumers with dissimilar attitudes towards healthy nutrition reach differing opinions on the same issues.
JEL Classification: I12, M31
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Fight for Customers - Correlations of Trade Organizations and Sales Promotionon the Hungarian FMCG Market
31-38Views:89Tract of time after the millennial brought well definable changes in retailers’ trade organizations and marketing activity in the Hungarian three-pole FMCG market. Operation conditions of enterprises became more complicated which is also reflected in the variability of the number and intensity of relevant influencing factors as well as in the difficulties of forecasting them. Out of these the change of consumer/purchase behaviour, the growth of competition intensity, the swell of procurement marketing, changes in channel position, the innovation of informatics and info communication tools, the dominant change of economic environment, the stiffening legislation and the unexpected influence of ecological environment can be highlighted. An important starting point for exploring the impact of the changes focusing on market competition is that the number and activity of chain stores operating in Hungary has stabilized, which has shifted the direction of research to explore the relationship between trade organization and marketing, improving competitive advantages and management efficiency.
JEL Code: M31 -
The Consumer Behavior of Volunteer Simplifiers Special Reference to Dietary Habits
81-85Views:44This paper introduces voluntary simplifier consumers who freely limit their consumption; freely purchase less than the average consumers. They refuse the logic of the consumer society, and choose an anticonsumer lifestyle that features environmental, social and economic sustainability. According to the international literature the concept of voluntary simplicity will be defined; the types/stages, main motives and influence factors of this frugal lifestyle will be presented. Since the inhabitants of the strictly regulated eco-villages can be regarded as voluntary simplifiers, we extended our research to eco-villages. With exploratory goal we examine two eco-villages’ webpages searching for information about their dietary habits.
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Consumption patterns and trends in pork meat and pork products
81-97Views:178In connection of the trend towards health and environmental consciousness, consumption habits are changing, especially for meat products. Health, moral and ethical concerns about the consumption of meat products have brought pork and its products back into focus, and as has been the case in the past, highlight their 'unhealthiness'. The aim of this paper is to summarise current pork consumption patterns, describe the factors influencing them and provide direction through an analysis of domestic and international trends. Through an analysis of consumption statistics, we will show how pork consumption has changed in recent years in different European countries and in Hungary. In addition to consumption data, we will also look at the purchasing patterns that shape the consumption, the evolution of online, offline purchasing, and the trends that most influence the product chain. In addition to the analysis of household consumption will be presented and the main target groups for pork consumption will be identified. The characteristics of the marketing mix for pork are then identified, i.e. the typical product categories, branding, the threat of substitutes, price relations at national and international level, and finally the typical distribution channels are also analysed. After the analysis, our study has found that pork is a tasty meat that can be prepared in a variety of ways and is an essential ingredient in European and Hungarian cuisine. Changes in consumer habits have had a significant impact on the consumption of pork, both from an environmental point of view, ethical considerations, animal welfare issues, health consciousness trends and even religious requirements.
JEL Code: M31