• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.47-54
• /
• 2011

This paper presents exploratory research on consumer awareness and attitudesabout organic food, for which consumer demand continues to increase the paper also assesses consumers' organic food distribution channel preferences. By conducting a literature review, a case study has been carried out in order to glean customer behavior, market condition and typesof distribution channels, and development of specialty stores for organic foods. The early research indicates that consumer awareness and customer attitudes toward organic food are mostly positive however, organic food's high price, as well as a lack of organic food stores, cause a negative effect on consumers' purchase intention. Secondly, the U.S. organic food retail channel consists of such mainstream supermarket/grocery stores and leading natural and organic food supermarket chains as Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Sunflower Farmers Market. For the current retail distribution of organic food in Korea, off-line stores are composed of direct management stores and franchise chains. Most of the organic food retail distribution operates through the Internet shopping mall, and are commonly located at retail distribution centers as multi-channel, shop-in-shop stores. Moreover, unlike in the U.S., association and consumers' cooperatives (Co-Ops), and such other member-direct retail stores as Hansallim, iCOOP, Nature Dream,and online shopping malls, are all active in Korea. Thirdly, as a result of an analysis of the present state of the organic food retail channel, as well as building a case for organic food specialty stores, the distinctive featuresand rapid growth of such unique organic food stores as Whole Foods Market, or Trader Joe's successful downsizing strategies, as well as Sunflower Farmers Market low-price approach, show steady industry growth. Moreover, as a result of a case studyof such domestic representative organic food specialty stores as "Olga" and "Chorokmaeul," a similar management style to the United States' "Whole Foods Market" and "Trader Joe's," respectively, can be seen. Similar to the U.S. market, Korean organic food markets should also implement active retail distribution opportunities, allowing consumers to select from various diverse and differentiated choices. In order to accomplish this goal, it is necessary to prepare such measures as sustaining reasonable prices, securing various suppliers for unique products,and improving consumer trust through advertisement strategies that are suitable for each company's branding processes.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.517-526
• /
• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The increased consumers' interests in health and food safety have increased the demand for organic foods. Many studies have been performed on consumers' purchase intentions for organic foods and their influencing factors, and various studies have shown that the prices of organic foods and the consumers' willingness to pay are important influencing factors. This study examined the payment value of organic foods and agrifood consumer competency index according to the food-related lifestyles in South Korean consumers. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis was performed using the 2019 Consumer Behavior Survey for Food. A total of 6,176 participants aged 19 to 74 years (male: 2,783, female: 3,393) were included in the analysis. RESULTS: Three factors were extracted by factor analysis (rational consumption-seeking type, convenience-seeking type, and health, and safety-seeking type) to explain the consumers' food-related lifestyles. The results of cluster analysis suggested that consumers were classified into 3 food-related lifestyles as the 'exploratory consumers' (n = 2,485), 'safety-seeking consumers' (n = 1,544), and 'passive consumers' (n = 2,147). Exploratory consumers showed a significantly higher willingness to pay for imported organic foods (P < 0.05). Safety-seeking consumers had a significantly higher willingness to pay for domestic organic foods (P < 0.05). For the agrifood consumer competency index, exploratory consumers had the highest score, followed in order by safety-seeking consumers and passive consumers. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide basic data in understanding consumption tendency for organic foods and agrifoods based on food-related lifestyles of South Korean consumers.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.915-923
• /
• 2014

This study investigated organic coffee choice motives from a coffee shop market segmentation perspective in order to understand the potential importance they may have upon attitudes and behavioral intentions to buy organic coffee. A factor-cluster segmentation approach was used for this study. An exploratory factor analysis identified five organic coffee choice motives: 'Sensory', 'Environment', 'Trust', 'Health' and 'Price'. Based upon these five choice motives, cluster analyses classified all respondents into three homogeneous subgroups: 'Highly motivated', 'Moderately motivated' and 'Unmotivated'. Analysis of variance tests indicated that attitudes and intentions to purchase organic coffee were significantly different among the three clusters. In particular, two cluster groups representing 'Highly motivated' and 'Moderately motivated' were found to offer the most utility for further organic coffee market segmentation research. Especially, due to perceptions about high price premium of organic coffee, the 'Moderately motivated' group had higher positive attitudes, although, their intentions to buy organic coffee were not higher than those of the 'Unmotivated' cluster. Findings support previous research propositions that high price could be the strongest barrier for people to purchase organic products including the organic coffee business context. This will assist to market and promote pricing strategies for caf$\acute{e}$s and restaurants to optimize organic coffee sales revenue. Implications for all cluster groups regarding unique socio-demographic characteristics and behavioral intentions are discussed. Organic coffee marketers can apply these findings towards the development of effective target market strategies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.629-637
• /
• 2006

This exploratory study is to analyze the status of star menus and suggest the development strategy of star menus in the western restaurants of the tourism hotels in Seoul. The data was collected from the chefs who have been working over 15-years in tourism hotels in Seoul by judgement sampling. The questionnaire was composed of Miller and Pavesic's 'Fifty tips for a successful menu' and Khan's 'The evaluation of menu item development', The 30-menu items were selected from the 1st survey on the menu items that were high in both popularity and contribution margin by menu engineering method. The selected menu items were analyzed by 14 lists: simplicity, ready availability of ingredients, quality, flavor, presentation, preparation, service method, nutrition quality, preference, profitability, serving temperature, descriptive copy of menu and publicity. As a result of the study, appetizer category was recorded the highest score by 4.09. Smoked salmon, Tomato and mozzarella cheese, Cream of mushroom, Cream of asparagus, French onion soup, Grilled beef tenderloin, Grilled rib-eye steak, Roasted lamb rack, King prawn, Seafood spaghetti, Chef's salad, Caesar salad, Organic salad, Fruit plate, Italian tiramisu and Yogurt ice cream were recorded high score. The development strategy of star menu is belows : the menu writer must consider the productivity, effectiveness, popularity and profitability, the regular customers want varieties and creativity in the menu and the operators have to include the star menu items in the set menu.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.225-233
• /
• 2018

In this exploratory study, eight types of microalgae from different phyla (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Chlorella species, Haematococcus pluvialis, Porphyridium purpureum, Porphyridium cruentum, Isochrysis species, Isochrysis galbana, and Pavlova lutheri) were tested for their antibacterial activities against eight target pathogenic bacterial strains. The agar well diffusion method and broth micro dilution assay were conducted to estimate the antibacterial activity. Microalgae cell-free supernatants, exopolysaccharides (EPS), water, and organic solvent extracts were used for inhibition analysis. EPS extracted from P. lutheri showed activity against Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Inhibition zone diameters of 14-20 mm were recorded on agar plates, while the minimum inhibitory concentrations in the broth micro dilution assay were $0.39-25mg\;ml^{-1}$. During this study, haptophyte microalgae, Isochrysis species, and P. lutheri extracts showed the highest activity against most of the tested pathogenic bacterial strains, while most of the extracts were active against the important foodborne pathogen P. aeruginosa. This study showed promising results regarding important microalgae phyla, which will further aid research related to extracts and exploitation of bioactive metabolic compounds in the food and pharmaceutical industries.