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Sustainability
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Sustainable Agro-Food Productions: Marketing Strategies and Consumers’ Behavior
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Sustainable Agro-Food Productions: Marketing Strategies and Consumers’ Behavior

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 12199

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Serena Mandolesi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Interests: consumer behavior; agro-food marketing; sustainability; q methodology; eye-tracking; means-end chain; edible insects; consumer acceptance; neuromarketing; environmental sustainability
Dr. Riccardo Testa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 13 - Ed. 4, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: consumer behavior; farm and supply chain management; green economy; sustainable food productions; food policy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to contribute to our upcoming Special Issue in Sustainability on “Sustainable Agro-Food Productions: Marketing Strategies and Consumers’ Behavior”.

Sustainable consumption is one of the SDGs of the 2030 agenda. Most of the definitions which refer to sustainable consumption are associated with green food products, organic farming, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, waste reduction, by-product recycling, ethical and fair consumption, and more. In general, every consumer behaviour which minimizes the impact on the environment or contributes to socio-economic development can be considered sustainable. However, shifting consolidated habits towards sustainable behaviours is not easy, and it is known that it inevitably means increasing expenses for food. For their parts, several studies have demonstrated that consumers have become more aware of the impact of their food choices in terms of economic aspects and environmental and social ones. Furthermore, to enhance such behaviour, recently persuasive marketing strategies as well as innovative technologies and products have been implemented to engage consumers in sustainable issues.

On the other hand, other studies underline that there are consumers not yet ready to change their lifestyle and that they merely reject this radical change because it is perceived as unnecessary. Notably, consumers seem to perceive sustainable agro-foods very differently depending on the category to which they belong. Further, the boundaries of the definition of sustainability are not very clear, especially for non-experts. For these reasons, consumers seem to be very confused about this broad concept.

This Special Issue aims to provide significant progress on uncovering consumers’ considerations, motivations and acceptability towards sustainable agro-food products by enriching the existent literature. Moreover, a deeper understanding of the consumers’ behavior can also provide managerial implications by allowing entrepreneurs and firms to apply effective marketing strategies thanks to the knowledge of consumers’ needs and expectations regarding environmental and social concerns.

Therefore, given the importance of this Special Issue, we invite researchers to contribute original research articles and review articles. Possible topics include (but are not limited to) the following:

  1. Knowledge, beliefs, perceptions and acceptability of consumers towards sustainable agro-food productions and related innovations;
  2. Consumers’ behaviour towards policies related to sustainability;
  3. Consumers’ behaviour towards alternative food networks;
  4. Marketing strategies of sustainable agro-food products.

Dr. Serena Mandolesi
Dr. Riccardo Testa
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable agro-food products
  • consumer acceptance
  • consumer behaviour
  • sustainable practices
  • food choices
  • persuasive strategies
  • green marketing
  • socio-economic development
  • agri-environmental policies

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 292 KiB  
Article
Consumer Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Wine—The Chilean Case
by Lionel Valenzuela, Rodrigo Ortega, Daniel Moscovici, Jeff Gow, Adeline Alonso Ugaglia and Radu Mihailescu
Sustainability 2022, 14(17), 10910; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710910 - 01 Sep 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2356
Abstract
Sustainability in production and consumption is increasing in importance in many diverse industries worldwide. The wine industry is no exception. There are many wine-related eco-certifications that incorporate sustainability concepts; however, it is unknown to what extent wine consumers value such certifications in wine-producing [...] Read more.
Sustainability in production and consumption is increasing in importance in many diverse industries worldwide. The wine industry is no exception. There are many wine-related eco-certifications that incorporate sustainability concepts; however, it is unknown to what extent wine consumers value such certifications in wine-producing countries such as Chile. An online survey was conducted in which 526 Chilean wine consumers were asked about their attitudes towards and willingness to pay for sustainably produced wines. Statistical analysis was undertaken using multiple linear regression. It is notable that 76% of respondents had previously purchased eco-certified wines (fairtrade, biodynamic, organic, natural, and sustainable), and there was an evident willingness to buy eco-certified wines in the future—78% expressed a willingness to buy organic wines, and 77% sustainable wines. Furthermore, we asked how much more willing the respondents would be to pay for wines with eco-certification; 22% indicated that they would be willing to pay a premium price, ranging from USD 5 to USD 16 more, for organic wines, while 19% expressed a willingness to pay the same price premium for sustainable wines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agro-Food Productions: Marketing Strategies and Consumers’ Behavior)
20 pages, 2266 KiB  
Article
Consumer Perceptions about the Value of Short Food Supply Chains during COVID-19: Atlantic Canada Perspective
by Melissa Maas, Gumataw Kifle Abebe, Christopher M. Hartt and Emmanuel K. Yiridoe
Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 8216; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138216 - 05 Jul 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2685
Abstract
The recent global COVID-19 pandemic has revealed weaknesses in the global food system, with short food supply chains (SFSCs) and long food supply chains (LFSC) being impacted differently. This raises the question as to whether the pandemic has contributed to a greater interest [...] Read more.
The recent global COVID-19 pandemic has revealed weaknesses in the global food system, with short food supply chains (SFSCs) and long food supply chains (LFSC) being impacted differently. This raises the question as to whether the pandemic has contributed to a greater interest in and demand for locally produced foods. To answer this question, a study was undertaken to explore how consumers perceive SFSCs in delivering social, economic, and environmental benefits and whether these perceptions have been enhanced during the pandemic. A survey was carried out among consumers in Atlantic Canada who purchase food from SFSCs. Based on 80 valid responses, the findings revealed that consumers perceive SFSCs to deliver more social benefits post-pandemic than they thought SFSCs did before the pandemic. Supporting the local economy, food safety, freshness, and product quality are key motivators of shopping from SFSCs. Consumer perceptions about the sustainability of SFSCs did not vary much based on sociodemographic factors. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly alter consumer spending and frequency of shopping from SFSCs. This may affect the SFSCs’ ability to expand operations beyond current levels and suggest the complementarity between SFSCs and LFSCs for more sustainable consumption patterns. The study provides valuable insights into the attractiveness of the local food businesses and the effect of unexpected events such as COVID-19 on consumer behaviors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agro-Food Productions: Marketing Strategies and Consumers’ Behavior)
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11 pages, 286 KiB  
Article
Italian Consumer Preferences for Eucalyptus Honey: An Exploratory Study
by Nadia Palmieri, Walter Stefanoni, Francesco Latterini and Luigi Pari
Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 7741; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137741 - 24 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1669
Abstract
The growing concern for environmental issues has underlined the need to promote sustainable consumption and production. Taking into consideration the three pillars of sustainability, honey should be seen as an important food from a sustainability perspective. Among honey varieties, the eucalyptus one is [...] Read more.
The growing concern for environmental issues has underlined the need to promote sustainable consumption and production. Taking into consideration the three pillars of sustainability, honey should be seen as an important food from a sustainability perspective. Among honey varieties, the eucalyptus one is becoming increasingly popular with people for its aroma and the plant’s therapeutic properties. However, the beekeeping sector in Italy does not yet have sufficient knowledge and understanding of consumer needs with a view to increasing earnings. This paper aimed to analyze the drivers that make people pick eucalyptus honey and tries to investigate which extrinsic and intrinsic quality attributes affect consumer behavior. Data came from an online survey of 403 Italian honey consumers. An ordered Probit model was applied. The results show that consumers consider the taste, viscosity, therapeutic properties, brand reputation, variety, geographical indication, Italian origin, and organic certification of honey as the most important factors that drive the consumption of eucalyptus honey. The findings of the study should help the beekeepers and provide them with the right tools of communication, such as quality or sustainability labeling, thereby increasing their competitiveness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agro-Food Productions: Marketing Strategies and Consumers’ Behavior)
13 pages, 2136 KiB  
Article
Consumer Preference for Yogurt Packaging Design Using Conjoint Analysis
by Fa Wang, Haifeng Wang and Joung Hyung Cho
Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3463; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063463 - 16 Mar 2022
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4698
Abstract
With the growing consumption market of yogurt products, the continuous innovation of packaging design has become the major means of enterprise marketing for fast-moving consumer goods. Because different combinations of packaging design elements affect the consumers in different ways, the contradiction between the [...] Read more.
With the growing consumption market of yogurt products, the continuous innovation of packaging design has become the major means of enterprise marketing for fast-moving consumer goods. Because different combinations of packaging design elements affect the consumers in different ways, the contradiction between the product packaging design and consumer demand has impacted the further development of these products’ marketing. To explore the relationship between the constituent elements of yogurt packaging design and consumer preferences, four kinds of factors to the purchased products’ attributes were selected from the packaging design, including the graphics, packaging colors, packaging shapes and label texts. The consumers’ preferences for different attributes of yogurt packaging design were quantitatively evaluated by the Conjoint Analysis Method (CAM). Consumers showed the strongest preference for yogurt packaging shapes (39.017%), and were the most satisfied with the concrete graphics of cool colors (31.330%); the level combination of attributes most preferred by consumers is that of concrete graphics, cool colors, gable-top boxes and simple labels. The packaging design satisfying consumer preferences gave rise to positive purchase attitudes. Such research results facilitated the understanding of the consumption market and provided the theoretical support necessary for the development of yogurt packaging design to match the consumers’ preferences. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Agro-Food Productions: Marketing Strategies and Consumers’ Behavior)
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