Segmentation of Colombian organic food consumers focused on the consumption of the Andean blackberry

Abstract

As one of the most traditional Colombian fruits, the Andean blackberry is consumed either fresh or as juice or marmalade. However, recent research findings indicate that farmer and consumer’s health may be at risk owing to elevated doses of agrochemicals applied to produce the crop. Aiming to identify potential market opportunities for organic Andean blackberry, 164 organic consumers were surveyed using the “Gower’s distance” clustering technique for the assessment of 86 consumer response variables. These included consumer preferences associated with the Andean blackberry, the price they were paying for the non-organic product, their willingness to pay for its organic version, and the information they provided on environmental attitudes, perceptions about organic products, lifestyle, demographics, and socioeconomics. Of the three segments obtained from the cluster analysis, namely premium, medium and budget, medium consumers were the most knowledgeable about the benefits of the fruit, whereas those belonging to the budget segment attributed a higher value to money. In turn, premium consumers were willing to pay more for the organic version of the fruit. Regarding organics consumption across the three groups, the budget segment contained the highest number of consumers buying organics every week. The medium segment stood out for their recognition of the Colombian organic certification for ecological foods.