Effect of multiple extrinsic cues on consumers’ willingness to buy apples: A scenario-based study

Abstract

Price, origin, and type of production are all known to influence consumer choices when it comes to fresh food. However, the interactions between these factors have received limited attention in the food choice literature. With the growth of online grocery shopping services, another under-investigated issue is the willingness to buy (WTB) fresh food products sold online. Our aim was to partially fill these gaps, by applying a scenario-based methodology. We exposed 324 individuals to 54 scenarios describing a situation in which a character goes to buy apples. The scenarios featured all possible combinations of four within-participants factors: purchase site (traditional market or online grocery shopping service), origin (within 50 km of the character’s home, elsewhere in France, or foreign country), price (low, average, or high), and type of production (organic, sustainable or conventional farming). For each scenario, participants rated their WTB for the apples on sale. Analyses conducted on the whole sample showed that consumers’ WTB was higher for locally grown, organic, and low-priced apples. Furthermore, cluster analysis revealed three consumer segments with different behavioral profiles. Price-sensitive consumers’ WTB was higher for imported apples at a low price than for local apples at a high price. Non-online consumers unconditionally rejected the online grocery shopping service regardless of the apples’ price, origin, and type of production. Organic consumers were more willing to buy imported organic apples than domestic conventional ones. Hence, consumers’ preferences for domestic products should be interpreted in the light of factors such as price and type of production.