Consumer segmentation in the German meat market: purchasing habits

Abstract

Only considering consumers’ store format choice seldom provides sufficient information on their choice of the actual point of purchase for meat: self-service counter or service counter. For retailers, however, it is of crucial importance to know how meat shoppers differ in their store format choice, preferred type of meat packaging and how these differences can be explained. This paper investigates how attitudes and sociodemographics influence consumer segmentation regarding store format choice and preferred meat packaging type in the German meat market. 667 consumers were segmented based on their purchasing frequency, store format choice, and preferred type of meat packaging using cluster analysis. Then, an exploratory factor analysis examined attitudinal factors. Finally, the factors and respondents’ sociodemographics were regressed onto the consumer clusters using multinomial logistic regression. The application of appropriately adapted marketing strategies can help increase patronage in the segments.