Willingness-to-pay for ready-to-eat clean label food products at convenient stores

Abstract

Clean label food products using natural and fresh ingredients with minimal additives have gained popularity in the market. In this study, four types of ready-to-eat clean label food products [red bean bread (bread category), rosemary chicken lunch (lunch box category), lemon tea (beverage category), and sliced mango preserves (snack category)] available at convenient stores in Taiwan are selected for willingness-to-pay (WTP) measurement. A consumer survey was administered, and multivariate analyses (factor analysis, cluster analysis, MANOVA) are applied in data analytics. Results indicate that the increases in retail price for those in the high-WTP cluster ranged from 13.22% (Sliced mango preserves) to 14.06% (Lemon tea). For the low-WTP cluster, the increases in retail price ranged from 3.74% (Sliced mango preserves) to 4.35% (Bread). Findings in this study indicate that product involvement can be considered as the core factor for those who are willing to pay higher percentage of retail prices of ready-to-eat clean label food products at convenient stores. Ingredients and product labeling are important for potential customers to distinguish clean label food products from conventional products in the market.