Abstract
This research provides a case study of a niche market in Marina Alta and Marina Baja counties located on the coast of the province of Alicante, Spain. These counties attract foreign residents from Germany, United Kingdom, and Scandinavia who are the frequent consumers of organic products. Accordingly, retailers choose the store location based on demand for organic products and detects a niche market in Spain. In addition, the study reveals the consumption patterns of organic-oriented consumers. In-depth interview is conducted with store managers and a researcher-administered survey is applied to the customers to identify the market. The study reveals the relationship between the presence of foreign residents who are more familiar to organic products and organic retailers’ choice of store location. Results are given and discussed.
Highlights
Organic production is a system of “farm management and food production” without harming the environment, following sustainable agricultural methods to protect the future of human, plant and animal health
The European market for organic food represents 1.5% share of the total food market and amounts approximately €20 billion (European Court of Auditors Special Report, 2012).Consumption and production of organic products in Europe is growing 10-15% yearly (Finch 2006).This may be a natural consequence of several food crisis such as mad cow disease, hormone-laced milk, and e-coli infected food (Finch 2006), consumers’ growing concern for feeding habits, changes in the consumers’ lifestyle (Vlosky, Ozanne, and Forteno, 1999; Brugarolas and Rivera, 2002), and more available information(Straughan and Roberts, 1999)
The purpose of this study is to examine whether there exists a relationship between the presence of foreign residents living in Marina Alta and Marina Baja who demand for organic products and organic retailers’ concentration
Summary
Organic production is a system of “farm management and food production” without harming the environment, following sustainable agricultural methods to protect the future of human, plant and animal health. By this way, organic production helps to preserve and progress the productivity of the land, health of human, plants and animals (Hughner et al, 2007). In addition to the consumer related factors, producers and retailers who make consumers benefit from advantages such as variety of products, convenience to buy, information flow and customer service (Coughlan et al, 2006) try to enlarge the market of the organic products. In Europe, differences in the perception and concern about organic food and mainly the purchasing power variation between countries have shaped two main markets with different speed of growth in the last decades (Chan and Lau, 2000)
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