Volume 21, Number 1 Article by Somnath Chakrabarti and Rajat K Baisya March, 2009
Purchase of Organic Food: Role of Consumer Innovativeness and Personal Influence Related Constructs :
Economic reforms in India have led to a substantial increase in consumer income for the affluent sections of society. Many consumers are becoming more concerned about nutrition, health and the quality of food and one of the key ways this concern is getting reflected is through increased interest in organic food products. This paper aims to examine the roles of consumer innovativeness construct, related perceived risk constructs and personal influence constructs in the purchase process for both regular and occasional buyers of organic food in India.A survey of 120 organic food buyers was carried out in Delhi in 2006 through the systematic sampling method in front of major organic food outlets. Through statistical analysis, the paper highlights the interrelationships between the chosen metric variables. It discusses the correlation of the chosen metric variables and the relation of nonmetric demographic variables with the number of categories bought by regular and occasional buyers. It focuses on the channels of communication aspect and attempts to understand the importance of communication among buyers (word of mouth communication) and the influence of interpersonal sources like informal opinion leaders. It attempts to understand the correlations of the applicable perceived risks with other constructs in the category. The paper signals that the main marketing effort of retailers should be targeted at the innovators and early adopters of the category. It also highlights the role of affective commitment towards the store from where organic food purchase is generally made, as this is the most important differentiator between regular and occasional buyers. It emphasises the need for the retailers to develop a detailed understanding about the antecedents of the affective commitment of regular buyers and the need to plan a suitable relationship marketing campaign for them.
Reprint No 09102
