A Study of the Causes of Price Fluctuation in Apple Commodity and Consumer Shopping Behavior Based on Taste, Preferences, and Willingness to Pay

The profit margin on the retailer’s side is thin, so increasing the consumer’s willingness to pay is crucial for the supply side to earn more profit. In this paper, the authors develop a taste test to see if consumers’ preference for organic and local apples can alter their taste perception for the same apple. The result showed consumer’s preference does change his/her taste preference on the same apple. Besides the experiment, the authors also design a survey to know the consumer’s shopping preferences and the exact willingness to pay. The survey results show that consumers are in support of Local Apples as compared to Organic Apples but are willing to pay more for Organic Apples than Local Apples. Another conclusion that can be drawn is that this survey indicates that there is a huge profit margin for retailers as consumers are willing to pay more for organic apples than the average market price for the apples.