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Consumption behaviour regarding organic food from a marketing perspective—a literature review

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Abstract

There are many publications focusing on diverse aspects of marketing research for organic products. However, so far there have been very few attempts to provide an overall synthesis of current knowledge. The present study therefore gives an overview of marketing research for organic food consumption, enabling the identification of research strengths and deficits. The review analyses a total of 277 research studies published between January 2000 and December 2011. The structure of this review was derived from the concept of the consumer-oriented marketing mix (4Cs), taking into account consumer value and benefits, cost to the consumer, communication and information needs and convenience and distribution. The results of this qualitative analysis reveal a high density of publications, especially for the period from 2008 to 2011. The most investigated topics are cost to the consumer and consumer value and benefits. Nevertheless, there are still many aspects within these research areas that have not yet been addressed, such as ecological packaging, price knowledge and price processing. The research areas communication and information needs and convenience and distribution are also less intensively researched.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding of the study by the German Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung within the framework of the federal ‘Programme for Organic Agriculture and other Forms of Sustainable Agriculture’. We are also grateful to Christine Bickelhaupt, Anette Cordts, Inna Hermann, Victoria Kary, Manika Rödiger, Rosa Schleenbecker, Inga Sonntag and Salome Wägeli for their assistance in literature research and analysis.

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The authors ensure objectivity and transparency in research and that accepted principles of ethical and professional conduct have been followed.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no potential conflict of interest.

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  1. Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Marketing for Food and Agricultural Products, Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

    Sarah Hemmerling & Achim Spiller

  2. Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany

    Ulrich Hamm

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  1. Sarah Hemmerling
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Correspondence to Sarah Hemmerling.

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Hemmerling, S., Hamm, U. & Spiller, A. Consumption behaviour regarding organic food from a marketing perspective—a literature review. Org. Agr. 5, 277–313 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-015-0109-3

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