Nutr Res Pract.  2010 Aug;4(4):332-338.

Consumer behaviors towards ready-to-eat foods based on food-related lifestyles in Korea

• Bae HJ
• Chae MJ
• Ryu K

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine consumers' behaviors toward ready-to-eat foods and to develop ready-to-eat food market segmentation in Korea. The food-related lifestyle and purchase behaviors of ready-to-eat foods were evaluated using 410 ready-to-eat food consumers in the Republic of Korea. Four factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis (health-orientation, taste-orientation, convenience-orientation, and tradition-orientation) to explain the ready-to eat food consumers' food-related lifestyles. The results of cluster analysis indicated that "tradition seekers" and "convenience seekers" should be regarded as the target segments. Chi-square tests and t-tests of the subdivided groups showed there were significant differences across marital status, education level, family type, eating-out expenditure, place of purchase, and reason for purchase. In conclusion, the tradition seekers consumed more ready-to-eat foods from discount marts or specialty stores and ate them between meals more often than the convenience seekers. In contrast, the convenience seekers purchased more ready-to-eat foods at convenience stores and ate them as meals more often than the tradition seekers. These findings suggest that ready-to-eat food market segmentation based on food-related lifestyles can be applied to develop proper marketing strategies.

Keyword

Ready-to-eat food; consumer behaviors; food-related lifestyles; tradition seekers; convenience seekers

MeSH Terms

Health Expenditures
Humans
Hypogonadism
Korea
Life Style
Marital Status
Marketing
Meals
Mitochondrial Diseases
Ophthalmoplegia
Republic of Korea
Hypogonadism
Mitochondrial Diseases
Ophthalmoplegia

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