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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 -
Impact of the Financial and Economic Crisis of 2009 on the Hungarian Food Retail Sector in the Light of Consumer Confidence – Improving Trends, Increasing Consumer Confidence
47-59Views:59As a result of the international financial and economic crisis of 2009, Hungarian customers started to make informed purchasing decisions. Merchants recognizing this phenomenon formed their strategies accordingly, while trying to meet the requirements of the constantly changing government regulations. This strategy ensured primarily that they could maintain their position in trading, new consumer expansion was, however, limited. Limited because consumers have realized the situation, i.e. traders have been competing for their income and complex shop visiting has become widely common, implying the weekly tour of different shops in retail chains with an eye on the current promotions. Based on the data of the last eight years, the year most affected by the economic crisis was 2009 – which proved to be the deepest point. It has to be highlighted however that though signs of recovery are clearly visible, the volume of food retail returned to its growth path only in 2014, while sale increase in value has been continuous since 2008. This suggests that the impulses of the crisis starting in the fourth quarter of 2008 formed the domestic food trade for full six years. Also, this period was required to regenerate consumer trust. The more favourable prospects of the finances of both individuals and the economy encourage an increase of willingness to buy. The six-year period impacted by the crisis intensified concentration among trade stakeholders. The forecasts proved realistic, supermarkets have become more popular sites for shopping, although hypermarkets as strong competitors have been able to keep pace due to tailored promotions in the 6 trading days permitted by law until April 2016. Due to the massive social and political pressure the Government repealed the Act prohibiting work on Sundays in most retail shops with effect from 16 April 2016.
JEL code: M30 General
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Analysis of the Values of Sustainable Development and the Health Conscious Lifestyle Among Secondary School Students
41-62Views:188Health, together with the social- and natural environment has become the most important and core value recently. The current research would like to explore the presence of sustainable development related values and the elements of health consciousness among the consumption behaviour of secondary school students. The aim of the first part is to provide an overview of conscious consumption, sustainable development and the literal researches connected to this particular generation. In the second part of the work, we present the results of a research made between April 2015 and 2016 involving 1 002 students of 13 institutions. During the selection, we kept in mind to choose institutions of all different profiles (human, sport, art, general) and different types (grammar school, vocational high school, technical school). During creating the questionnaire, the basis of the questions and statements since was the consumption trends that can be found in the literature sources as well. We analysed the data with the help of frequency indicators together with factor- and cluster analyses. During the primary examinations, we identified five factors that were created along with the values of the following behaviours: trend-following individualistic, health- and environmental conscious, authentic patriot, altruistic-ethical and business ethical. With the help of them, we could name four well-divided groups after the cluster analysis, where the values of the created factors can be realised at different rates. The groups were the Trend-avoiding Conscious, the Responsibility-blamers, the Passive “freshmen” and the Conscious individualists. The first group can be related to the trends of voluntary simplicity, whereas the fourth segment shows a strong similarity to the values of the LOHAS consumer group. These groups – and their different socio-demographic features – raise the attention to the fact that knowledge, messages and examples-to-follow are worth conveying with a differentiated marketing communicational strategy. This secondary school generation undertakes their connection to the particular sustainable and health conscious values, and – at least in a theoretical field – the majority of the students admit their responsibility in shaping the environment and their own health. In the case of conscious consumption, the peculiarities of this generation (digital, “Always on” generation) demand a quite new communicational approach in transporting messages and possibilities of act.
JEL codes: A13, D70, I12, Q56
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Specific Features of Health Awareness for 11-17-Year-Old Hungarian Students After the Millennium Based on Hbsc Research Data – Literature Review
33-44Views:674The aim of this study is to present the health behaviour of 11-17-year-old Hungarian students. In connection with this topic we analyzed international and Hungarian articles based on primer researches and the results of a Hungarian survey as part of an international research, namely „The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children” (HBSC). The aim of the research is to monitor health related habits and health status of 11-17-year-old students, to track temporal and international trends of survey results, and to explore factors influencing health indicators. In this study we present the results of health promoting (nutrition, physical activity) and health compromising behaviours (smoking, alcohol consumption) and their characteristic changes based on five recent surveys (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018). During this study, we made a document analysis based on the previous Hungarian research results. The results showed a prosperous scheme, which predicts a slow but steady positive change, however there is still a long way to go. The biggest problem in the way of life of these children is the lack of conscious behaviour. Most of these children are not aware of the consequences of their lifestyle on their health.
JEL Codes: I12 -
The Competitiveness of Hungarian Micro-Enterprises in the Pasta Market
51-60Views:109By analysing the long-term competitiveness of Hungarian dry pasta making micro and small businesses, I intend to explore its strategic potential. The changes in the competitiveness of the dry pasta sector in Hungary between 1969 and 2019 were analysed with the help of contemporary periodicals from the database of the Hungarian Agricultural Museum and Library. The changes in the competitiveness of the Hungarian dry pasta market over the period 1969-2019 were analyzed according to the six aspects of diamond model: factor conditions, demand conditions, corporate strategy, structure and rivalry, relating and supporting industries, government regulations, change. Looking at future trends in the dry pasta market, the bidirectional impact on the competitiveness of the pasta market will be affected. One effect is to move towards horizontal networking as a result of globalization, making the pasta company that is able to negotiate better in the food supply chain more competitive. The other effect is the trend of local patriotism, which stimulates the development of micro-regions and originates in the initiative of the locals: innovation of flavours, innovation in raw materials, possibilities of Hungarian ethnocentrism. In addition, retail brands are expected to grow further. As retail chains do not pass on any gains from the increase of their export volume to the processors, the manufacturers’ own brand is weakened. The study provides a long-term overview of the changes in the competitiveness of companies operating in the dry pasta market. There has been a tremendous change over the last eighty years with the innovative transformation of the pasta industry. At that time, almost all pasta products were made at home, and today the pasta group is competing for housewives by employing industrial designers.
JEL Codes: M31, M39
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Examination of the Young Athletes’ Eating Habits
79-88Views:533Nowadays, movement and maintaining health are becoming more and more prominent in both public life and the scientific world. In connection with this, we can meet many scientific developments and new recommendations. In the present research, we examined young athletes, primarily in terms of their eating habits, as the compilation of a proper diet contributes greatly to the ability of athletes to achieve the best possible results. The aim of the secondary search was to get acquainted with the young athletes’ health-consciousness behavior and eating habits. The primary search consisted of an online-, and paper based questionnaire as well. As far as data analysis is concerned, we only considered data given by the targeted segment of the respondents, which falls between the age of 15 and 35. For statistical analysis we used descriptive statistics and crosstabs procedure. The results revealed that the majority of the athletes eat 3-5 times a day both in preparation and competiton period. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of athletes find conscious eating important, however, they did not find either the consumption of different health protecive or disease preventive food important. They also do not follow the latest trends in connection with sportfood.
JEL Classification: M31, H12, Z2
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Drivers of Local Food Product Consumption among Young Consumers
21-39Views:297Future trends in sustainable food consumption include, among others, the expansion of short food supply chains coupled with a shift in consumer behaviour, e.g., a growing interest in product information, increased appreciation of trust towards local producers and locally produced food. There is a growing body of literature on local or alternative food to address the problem of consumer behaviour called the buyer's "black box". This paper aims to identify the most prominent drivers for the segment of young consumers for purchasing healthy and quality products: curiosity, uniqueness, and experience. We conducted this study to direct the attention specifically to the buying behaviour of young consumers, as previous research found this segment the most open to sustainable food consumption. A quantitative study was conducted on a large-sample survey with respondents aged 18 – 45 in Hungary. The questionnaire focused on product features, intrinsic and extrinsic motivational elements, and demographic characteristics. The findings of this study can support managerial decision-making and serve as a basis for further academic research.
JEL-Codes: A13, F64, M21, O13, P46 -
A Netnographic Study of Health-Conscious Food Consumption in the Digital Era
19-38Views:681Health-conscious lifestyles and the consumption of foods which are considered healthy are becoming increasingly important globally and domestically. Thanks to digitisation, the consumer has a wide range of new and innovative ways to obtain useful information. Social media and its elements have reformed access to information over the past decade. The main objective of our research was to assess the impact of digitisation on healthy food consumption. In this article, we analysed particular social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram and Youtube) with a netnographic observation and examined the role of influencers in health-conscious food consumption. During secondary research, we clarified basic definitions and analysed recent and near-term trends. In the primary research, the netnographic survey was conducted in two sessions (September and October 2018 and December 2019). The aim was to broaden the research while comparing the results of the two observation sessions. Only Hungarian language sites were used for our observations. We analysed the Facebook pages and groups related to healthy eating. For the terms related to the topic under study (e.g., “healthy lifestyle” and “conscious eating”), we identified the same pages in most cases. So a given page has appeared for more than one search term. The creators of the groups typically include 4-5 keywords in the title at a time. We have analysed the number of hashtags with and without accents associated with health-conscious, free-from and plant-based nutrition. The majority of the analysed hashtags showed a tendency for their accented variants to grow more than non-accented ones in the past year. In addition, we systematized the Hungarian influencers with Youtube channel in the research topic. Based on the results, it can be stated that relatively few influencers operate a channel with a higher number of subscribers in the fields of healthy eating and healthy lifestyle. To sum up, the mention of healthy lifestyle in social media is complex and it is not tightened to health-conscious food consumption.
JEL Classification: M31
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Consumer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction and Handling of Complaints in out of Home Eating Sector
3-18Views:107The contribution of the eating-out-of-home sector to the overall food spending of Hungarian households is very low, especially when compared to other, well developed countries. In order to increase this market – besides the improvement of the elements of macro- and micro-environment – a significant task is to strengthen and improve the consumer satisfaction and loyalty. Consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction is a complex system whose key element is complaint handling. The research team conducted a questionnaire survey in the spring of 2014 in Hungary (Central Hungary and Northern Great Plain regions) with a sample of 1063 respondents of the age group 15+ years. In the survey, the research models and findings of former international research projects were taken into consideration. Our research results are in compliance with the international research results and trends, although differences may be found in the numbers and extent of the Hungarian results. In the Hungarian eating-out-of-home sector, the desired service quality of the consumers exceeds the detected quality of services particularly in the key areas. Despite the frequent consumer dissatisfaction, the documented forms of dissatisfaction, which could be recognized directly by the management (e.g. direct complaints towards the staff, registered opinion on the claims book), are very low. Guests prefer to use the indirect channels of complaint (for example choosing other restaurant, negative word of mouth, or reducing tips), which will result in that the specific reasons of complaints could not be recognized by management of the restaurant. The exploration and registration of the original problems are the main prerequisites of the successful improvement of consumer satisfaction, therefore establishing an active complaint management system should be a key task for the restaurants.
JEL code: D12
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The Actual Questions of the product and the Consumption of Soltvadkert' Wine
125-131Views:22In our work looking for the answer for the next questions: What is the current situation for winemakers nowadays in Soltvadkert. What is the reputation of their wine? What do local habitants think about the wine of their city? What is the opinion about it the tourists? Do the people remember to the counterfeit wine? To know the answers we make qualitative and quantitative survey. We made 5 interviews with viticulturist on Soltvadkert. We asked them about the market-opportunities, the effects of economic crisis, the impact of import wines, the connection between the local winemakers, the trends of Hungarian wine-consumption. The questions for the consumers are the follow: The consumption habits linked to the wine, the knowledge about the winemakers of Soltvadkert, the wine-purchasing habit. We asked 100 local residents and 100 tourists. The result of this survey is the SWOT analysis, which we made and show in this article.
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Growing Demand for Functional Foods – The Customer Perception of the Domestic Cereal Market
23-37Views:108Current scientific research raises questions as to how and why food-market consumer demands have changed over time, in relation to increasing health awareness. As a hypothesis, we assume that today’s customers are more health-conscious and open-minded about healthy food and health-related marketing messages both in Hungary and world-wide. Consequently, customers tend to look for the potential benefits of functional foods. We describe present-day lifestyle trends and the changing habits of nutrition as well as introduce the science of nutrimarketing and functional foods, along with their relevant claims. In our field research, we examine customers’ attitudes and mind-sets regarding the domestic cereal market between 2013 and 2016 with the aid of the Neticle system, an innovative online media-monitoring and analysis programme. Examining and understanding these trending needs could open new opportunities for companies to satisfy their customers with applicable product developments.
JEL codes: I12, I15, M31
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Analysis of the Food Consumer Behavior in the Online Environment: Does Digital Food Consumer Exist in Hungary?
29-38Views:348In recent years one of the major players in the market have changed radically, the consumer. They have been titled as „digitally enlightened” citizens by various researches. The main characteristics of „traditional” consumer’s behavior have been discussed previously by numerous researchers. However research on digital consumers, especially in domestic circles, is still in initial stage.
The main objective of this article is to determine the online consumer behavior trends in our country, in relation to information and shopping in particular of food. At the end of this publication we intent to answer the question asked in the title, i.e. does digital food consumer exist in this country.
In our study we used the online consumer buying behavior process as base. Each step was mapped out by using relevant and current literature analysis. Using national representative survey (N=1000) we examined in detail the food-related online information searches and the shopping opportunities in online shops.
The convenience factor – similar to the description of the literature- is the most advantageous aspect of online shopping. At online shops the other factors examined convergence occurring in the median values show the uncertainty of customers’ purchasing behavior, which results in a lack of trust in food purchases.
Overall, we can conclude that the majority of literature and research on food consumption behavior doesn’t separate properly the online consumer’ roles and most of the emphasis is on the final purchase. Based on literature research, we have attempted to differentiate the digital food consumers based on online behavior in which the basis for the subsequent researches hypothetical fives categories were distinguished. -
Opportunities and Obstacles in the Healthy Food Consumption Area
65-76Views:251The issue of healthy food consumption is an extremely hot topic in today’s fast-paced world. One of today’s ruler trends are the health awareness and health market expansion. The role of the health of consumers is appreciated. People spend more and more to preserve their health. The consequence of conscious consumption is that individuals can keep their physical and mental activity for a longer time remaining their life and accordingly they can be involved in the economic growth. Our central hypotheses were that the financial situation, the level of consciousness and „identity” have a decisive influence on women who assume a healthy eating habit in Hungary. We also presumed a link between health consciousness and financial attitudes, as well as a positive relationship between health consciousness and behavioral intent and normative beliefs. Our results confirm: the income status and the degree of awareness mostly influence the existence of a healthy diet.
JEL codes: E21, H31, H51
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The Megatrend Connections of Food Consumption
19-27Views:301The interest which is shown about food and meals nowadays is high. More and more new magazines, blogs, restaurant reviews and ratings, TV channels, contests and festivals appear in connection with this topic. In this study the new phenomena of food topic is analysed through several megatrend buzzwords. The study tries to draw up a system for the connections of food and meal topic and also tries to present research results about it. Some research results are presented in the study in order to illustrate the behaviour of Hungarian consumer.
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Main Characteristics of Craftsman Sweets Consumption in Hajdú-Bihar Country
59-66Views:112Nowadays consumer trends in chocolate consumption are changing continuously. There is an increasing role of handmade ingredients, higher cocoa content, as well as chocolate is free from preservatives, additives and plant based oils. Therefore, chocolate products are healthier. The present study focuses on the consumption of craftsman chocolate in Hajdú-Bihar county. During our studies we have done primary and secondary research data and information collection. Our research is based primarily on online questionnaires and personal interviews. During the interviews we recieved 348 evaluating questionnaires. The research results show that 58.4% of the people who live in Hajdú Bihar county consume craftsman chocolate regularly. These consumers are mainly influenced by the taste and quality in their purchase. The county’s population is receptive to new ideas and is willing to spend more money on high quality products. The respondents regularly purchase and consume craftsman chocolate.