CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS ON MAIZE FLOUR BRANDS FOODS IN CENTRE BENIN

Abstract

The increasing of turnovers and earnings of maize flour brands food companies depends on how to suit offer on consumer’s expectation and location. This paper has assessed consumer expectations on attributes of maize flour food, and help to locate consumers on consumption chain. The study is based on data collected from 250 respondents in the city of Djidja, Benin. Descriptive statistics, vector error correction model (VECM), Likert scale (LS) and average propensity to consumption (APC) have been used in data analysis. Women were most (70%) involved in the flour consumption chain in the study area. The VECM revealed relevant attributes which were ranking with the LS from the most importance as availability, flour cleanness, price, storage time, and the dryness stage. The APC shows that wealthiest respondents were very exigents on attributes, refered to supermarkets as retail outlets and belonged to low consumption segment; while the low and intermediate income respondents were less exigents, purchased flour brands food in small retail shops, flour kiosks/vendors and road side outlets and were respectively identified on high and intermediate consumption segments. Findings contribute to improvement of marketing strategies including quality, supply level and appropriate policy of maize flour brands distribution for consumer expectation satisfaction.