Purchasing habits, age effects and Chinese consumers' willingness to pay for chilled pork: Evidence from a random Nth-price auction experiment

As concerns over African swine fever (ASF) in China continue, measures have been taken to regulate the inter-provincial transport of live hogs, yet entrenched non-chilled fresh pork consumption habits make it challenging to expand the chilled pork in the market. To address this issue, our study employed multiple rounds of random Nth-price auction experiments to measure participants' quality perceptions of, and willingness to pay (WTP) for chilled pork under different packaging, storage temperature and duration labels. By comparing the results with physicochemical lab testing outcomes, we confirmed the existence of a quality perception bias among the participants. Notably, consumers who regularly consume chilled meat demonstrated a higher average WTP, while consumers born in the 1980s exhibited significantly higher bids. Furthermore, access to emerging purchase channels positively influences consumer WTP for chilled meat, particularly through branded product purchasing experiences. Consequently, it is recommended that the public sector takes steps to balance the distribution of pork production capacity and supports the development of cold chain transportation technology to meet the growing demand for high-quality chilled pork, especially from younger consumers.