Analyzing the effects of consumers’ demographic characteristics on the preferences of fresh fruit and vegetables supply chains

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Consumer purchasing habits are affected by various demographic, socio-economic and socio-cultural factors along with the product, price, distribution channel, and advertisement. Diversified and alternative supply chains offer so many advantages to consumers in agricultural product markets. Consumers prefer different outlets for agricultural products because of their personal differences that are formed by the effects of demographic, socio-economic and socio-cultural factors. The impacts of consumer demographic variables on their preference for fresh fruit and vegetables have been insufficiently studied in local literature. Therefore, it has been determined in this research for a deep evaluation. Target population was the consumer’s residing in the city central of Antalya. The effects of demographic characteristics on preferences of outlets in fresh fruit and vegetables supply chains were tested by using the chi-square test. The results indicated that consumer age and marital status had no significant correlation with the preferences. On the other hand, the test results showed that gender, education, income and female employment status did have a significant correlation with the preference for outlets in fresh fruit and vegetables supply chains. Key words: Fresh fruit and vegetables, supply chains, consumer preferences, chi-square analysis.