Is It All about the Price? An Analysis of the Purchase Intention for Organic Food in a Discount Setting by Means of Structural Equation Modeling.

Felix Katt,Oliver Meixner

doi:10.3390/foods9040458

Abstract

In recent years, discount grocery retailers have expanded their global reach and added to their traditional no-frills offerings to also cater to hedonic consumer needs. In addition to a larger product assortment and a more pleasant shopping experience, they now sell organic food, which commands a price premium compared to non-organic alternatives. To understand organic food in a discount setting, this study sets out to examine the factors that influence discount grocery shoppers’ purchase intention for organic food. To study this relationship, this paper tests several factors in a structural equation model, finding a positive relationship between hedonic shopping values, environmental concern, as well as health consciousness and the purchase intention for organic food. In our model, based on a US consumer survey (n = 394), price consciousness exhibited a direct and negative relationship with the purchase intention for organic food. Furthermore, this study found that that the impact of environmental concern, health consciousness, and hedonic shopping value is greater on the purchase intention of organic food than that of price consciousness, even in this discount setting. This study concludes by discussing these results and attempting to outline potential areas for future research, as well as managerial implications.

Highlights

The success story of discount grocery retailing has been widely studied in the last two decades: from studies on their business model and internationalization strategies [1,2] to consumer price attribution [3], loyalty [4], and shopping value [5]
The effect—especially if viewed in conjunction with the positive relationship we found between hedonic shopping value and the purchase intention—is not overly surprising, as it hints at an underlying notion that organic food is a premium product, and discount grocery shoppers act which may be reflected in the lack of a significant relationship between price consciousness and hedonic shopping value
(2) Our findings suggest that the greener image that discount grocery retailers have been seeking to portray may be positively received by their customers, as we found a positive relationship between environmental concern and the purchase intention for organic food in the discount setting

Summary

Introduction

The success story of discount grocery retailing has been widely studied in the last two decades: from studies on their business model and internationalization strategies [1,2] to consumer price attribution [3], loyalty [4], and shopping value [5]. From conquering Europe in the 1990s [1,6] to the current expansion overseas [10], both Aldi and Lidl have written a global success story Through their business models, they have been able to make swift gains of market share in mature markets dominated by supermarkets with a strong brand and service orientation, for example, the United States [1]. They have been able to make swift gains of market share in mature markets dominated by supermarkets with a strong brand and service orientation, for example, the United States [1] Both companies have managed to appeal to what is a very broad range of consumers, from the initial lower-income bargain hunters to today’s “hybrid consumers” [11], with higher incomes and selective spending preferences. In their European core markets, Aldi’s and Lidl’s success has begun to

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