Surveys of mid-Atlantic consumers conducted by Penn State researchers part 14

Continuing on with the Penn State study on Mid-Atlantic consumer purchasing habits, the researchers asked participants about their gender. Across four surveys, approximately 75% of participants who indicated that they were the primary food shopper for their household were female. Of these primary food shopper participants, they were also asked about where they shopped.

A total of 1,553 (Survey 1) and 1,518 (Survey 4) participants residing in metropolitan areas of New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Richmond were surveyed. Data analysis revealed that a significantly greater percentage of female participants shopped at farmers’ markets (Survey 1; 71.7% of females vs. 65.5% of males) and selected farmers’ markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms as their primary produce retailer (Survey 2; 36.4% of females vs. 30.4% of males), compared to male participants. Results are exemplified in Figures 1 & 2 below.

Figure 1


Figure 2



Press release

As an ag entrepreneur, do you find this data to be true? Are most of your customers female? Do you specifically market towards women? What kind of marketing do you do that is tailored to females?

Exploring the Gluten-Free Market

In recent trips to the grocery store, you may have seen products labeled as “gluten-free” and you may be wondering what exactly that means.

According to Wikipedia, “A gluten-free diet is a diet free of gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat (including kamut and spelt), barley, rye, malts and triticale. It is used as a food additive in the form of a flavoring, stabilizing or thickening agent, often hidden under ‘dextrin’. A gluten-free diet is the only medically accepted treatment for celiac disease, the related condition dermatitis herpetiformis, and wheat allergy.” Celiac disease affects at least 1 in 133 Americans, states Celiac.com.

Since people who are on a gluten-free diet cannot eat products made with wheat, rye, or barley, many products on grocery shelves are off limits. By selling gluten-free alternatives, food producers can tap into an emerging market. Datamonitor (a company specializing in data analysis for the retail and consumer packaged goods industries) reports that there is major growth in the gluten-free market. Global sales are expected to reach more than $4.3 billion within the next five years. The U.S. market is expected to grow by more than $500 million by 2014, which would make the United States 53% of the global market.

If you are a food producer, this emerging market may seem tempting. But you must do the appropriate research before moving into this (or any) marketplace. Gluten-free is not only a diet necessary for a digestive condition; people without digestive diseases are also moving into the gluten-free diet. This may mean a burst in the market place in a few years similar to the low-carb or Atkins diets. On the contrary, you might find in your research that the gluten-free market is solid based on the demand by celiac and wheat allergy sufferers. Datamonitor analyst Mark Whalley says, “Brands should focus on appealing to a broader audience to strengthen the long-term prospects of gluten-free food. However, they cannot lose sight of the fact that core consumers of the products will always be Celiacs, so relying on consumers outside of this demographic in the long term will prove to be a very risky strategy.” No one can tell you which way to go, but by performing adequate research, you can determine if the gluten-free marketplace (or any new marketplace) is right for you.



As an ag entrepreneur, do you currently sell any gluten-free products? If not, have your customers been asking for them? How easy/difficult would it be to offer a gluten-free product?

Surveys of mid-Atlantic consumers conducted by Penn State researchers part 13

In the last post, I discussed some Penn State research involving consumers' willingness to pay for organic produce. To continue on with that subject, the PSU researchers also studied the demographics of the survey respondents.

One question asked participants if they purchase certified-organic fruits and vegetables. Based on their response (yes or no), participants were then tested for any significant differences between demographic groups (metro area, gender, age, ethnicity, income level, education level, number of adults living in household and number of children living in household) to examine if certain consumer segments were more likely to report purchasing certified-organic produce.

Testing revealed that a significantly smaller percentage of participants with an annual income level below $25,000 purchased organic produce as compared to those with an income level of $100,000 or greater (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Also, a smaller percentage of participants age 21 to 24 reported purchasing organic produce compared to participants age 26 to 36 (Figure 2).

Figure 2

In addition, the data showed that a smaller percentage of participants who had received at most some high school education or were high school graduates purchased organic produce compared to participants with either an associate’s/technical school degree, bachelor’s degree, or master’s degrees or higher (Figure 3).

Figure 3

Click here to read the full press release.

As an ag entrepreneur selling (or not selling) organic produce, what does this mean for you? Would you change your marketing techniques to target people in these demographics? Do buyers of your organic produce fit these demographics? Is this data surprising to anyone?

Surveys of mid-Atlantic consumers conducted by Penn State researchers part 12

As a food producer, setting a price for your product can be difficult. When setting a price, you must consider product production costs, competitors, target customers, and product qualities. One example of a production cost (and subsequent product quality) is producing certified organic products. In 2010, Penn State researchers conducted a study on consumer purchasing habits. One question asked participants how much they would be willing to spend on a pound of certified organic apples compared to a pound of non-certified organic apples priced at $1/pound.

As you can see by the graph below, 32.1% of respondents said they were unwilling to pay more for organic Gala apples. Conversely, 57.6% indicated that thy would be willing to spend at least $1/pound for organic Gala apples.



This survey only asked respondents about organic Gala apples, but this specific example can be helpful in understanding consumers' willingness to pay for organic produce in general. To read more about this study, please read the press release.

When pricing your organic produce (or any product), you must carefully position your price to attract the most buyers. It is extremely important to inform and remind consumers about the product attributes and proposed benefits of your product through appropriate advertising and in-store promotions. Want more help in pricing your product? Check out our Value-Added Marketing Series. We have a publication titled "Product Pricing: What Do I Charge?" which will give you some good info on pricing your product!

Craft brew- Is it right for you?

Beer industry sales as a whole dropped 2.2% in 2009 and 1% in 2010, but craft brewer sales are up 12% (as reported by the Brewers Association). What exactly is a "craft brewer"? The Brewers Association describes a craft brew as "small, independent and traditional. Small: Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less. Beer production is attributed to a brewer according to the rules of alternating proprietorships. Flavored malt beverages are not considered beer for purposes of this definition. Independent: Less than 25% of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member who is not themselves a craft brewer. Traditional: A brewer who has either an all malt flagship (the beer which represents the greatest volume among that brewers brands) or has at least 50% of its volume in either all malt beers or in beers which use adjuncts to enhance rather than lighten flavor."



Some facts about the craft brew industry:
-Growth of the craft brewing industry in 2010 was 11% by volume and 12% by dollars compared to growth in 2009 of 7.2% by volume and 10.3% by dollars.
-1,759 craft-breweries were in existence in 2010 (up by 100+ since the previous year) and over 600 are being planned.
-Craft brewers sold an estimated 9,951,956 barrels of beer in 2010, up from 8,934,446 in 2009 (11% increase).

Is this an industry for you? As always, DO YOUR RESEARCH! The Brewers Association website offers some great materials on getting started in this industry. Their business help includes marketing tools (press releases, a media list program, sell sheets, etc), an export development program, and label approval guidance for the Tax and Trade Bureau. Some other things to think about if you are considering entering the craft brew industry:
-What type(s) of beer do you want to offer (stout, lager, porter, etc)?
-What ingredients do you need and how easy/difficult is it to obtain these ingredients?
-What training do you need in beer-making?
-What supplies do you need(bottles, tanks, boxes, etc)?
-What are your state's laws on producing and selling alcohol?

The above points are just a glimpse at the many, many questions you will need to answer before entering this or any industry. As always, Penn State Extension is here to help you in this process!

Surveys of mid-Atlantic consumers conducted by Penn State researchers part 11

Continuing with the Penn State research I've been writing about the past few months, a series of questions asked participants to indicate their purchasing behaviors towards new varieties of fruits and/or vegetables. If participants indicated that they noticed and purchased a new variety of a fruit or vegetable, they were then asked to indicate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with a list of reasons for purchasing a new produce variety.

For the participants who noticed and purchased a new variety, they reported, on average, that they “somewhat agreed” to purchasing a new produce variety (an average of “5,” according to a scale, with “1” equaling “strongly disagree,” and “7,” “strongly agree”) because of the “visual quality” of the produce, that the “appearance of the produce was appealing,” and that they “enjoyed trying new foods,” as shown in the graph below. Participants also reported that they “somewhat disagreed” (an average of “3”) to purchasing a new produce variety because the “item was featured in an advertisement.” Additionally, they reported being “neutral” (an average of “4”) towards “price” of the new produce variety for choosing to purchase.



To read more about this topic, please see the press release.

As you can see by the graph, "visual quality" and "appearance was appealing" are 2 of the 3 highest ranking reasons for trying a new produce variety. As an ag entrepreneur, how do you showcase your new offerings? As a consumer, how do you agree/disagree with these results? What are your most important reasons for trying a new produce variety?

Get Marketing! Use Foursquare to Your Advantage

For owners of smartphones (iphone, androids, etc.) foursquare is a fun little application to download and use on their phones.  It's a location based application that lets users "check-in" at whatever location they may be at.  Check-ins are shared with other foursquare users, either all users or a smaller designated circle of friends.  For instance, when I come to work I check-in at my building - Armsby Building - as do some of my foursquare using colleagues.  And we've created a friendly competition out of this resulting in me being the "mayor" of Armsby (i.e. I've checked-in most often during a 60 day time period).

But foursquare can be, and is, more than a fun game.  Businesses can use foursquare to their advantage as a marketing tool.  At the most basic level, it can be considered "word of mouth" advertising.  Think of the power in having a foursquare user check-in at your business or market on a regular basis and that being shared with all of their friends!  Beyond that though, you can use foursquare to offer specials to your foursquare-using customers.  You can create a mayor's special, loyalty special, and newbie special, among others.  Think of it as electronic couponing - rewarding those who visit you.

Analysis of foursquare data is also available - a must for determining value in your foursquare use.  You can keep track of the number of check-ins, what time of day check-ins occur, as well as age and gender breakdown - all for a variety of timeperiods.

Hopefully you're intrigued.  If so, check out this article from Mashable.com about how to get started with foursquare marketing.  Foursquare itself also provides lots of assistance and information for businesses on using the application.