Bejaei Masoumeh, Cliff Margaret A, Singh Amritpal
Summerland Research and Development Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Summerland, BC V0H 1Z0, Canada.
Food Nutrition and Health, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Foods. 2020 Jul 3;9(7):873. doi: 10.3390/foods9070873.
Purchase behavior and preferences for consumers of fresh apples were investigated using a consumer survey conducted at a special-event apple market. Survey respondents were asked to list apple cultivars they had purchased at the retail market and the special-event market. The special-event market offered many uncommon cultivars packed in clear plastic bags with a fixed weight and price. Respondents were also asked to identify their reasons for selection of each apple cultivar and answer demographic questions. A total of 169 customers completed the survey. Profiles of customers were identified using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and the impact of the change in available apple cultivars on consumers' purchase behavior was explored. Consumers primarily indicated four main reasons in the selection of their apples: visual appearance, previous experience, taste/aroma, and texture. The first two reasons, evaluated before eating an apple, were loaded on the first MCA dimension, while the last two reasons (i.e., eating quality) were loaded on the second dimension in data from both marketplaces. HCA identified five classes of customers in both markets, and results indicated that similar market segments existed within the two marketplaces, regardless of the availability of apple cultivars.
通过在一个特别活动苹果市场进行的消费者调查，研究了新鲜苹果消费者的购买行为和偏好。调查对象被要求列出他们在零售市场和特别活动市场购买的苹果品种。特别活动市场提供了许多不常见的品种，用透明塑料袋包装，重量和价格固定。调查对象还被要求说明选择每种苹果品种的原因，并回答人口统计学问题。共有169名顾客完成了调查。使用多重对应分析（MCA）和层次聚类分析（HCA）确定了顾客的特征，并探讨了可获得的苹果品种变化对消费者购买行为的影响。消费者在选择苹果时主要指出了四个主要原因：外观、以往经验、味道/香气和质地。前两个在吃苹果之前评估的原因，加载在第一个MCA维度上，而后两个原因（即食用品质）在两个市场的数据中都加载在第二个维度上。HCA在两个市场中都识别出了五类顾客，结果表明，无论苹果品种的可用性如何，两个市场中都存在类似的细分市场。
